Originally Posted by
theGinsue
I rode for over 20 years and finally stopped after my first street bike wreck.
I rode an air cooled bike in 100+ degree temps in the Midwest, dealing with traffic and never had a problem with overheating, ever. Granted, the traffic I was in was not highway backlogs like L.A. or even I-25 on the weekends when there's an accident or a major event going on somewhere, but standard side streets.
I learned to ride with respect for my own safety as well as the safety of others on the road. And while the bulk of motorcyclists on the road still ride like this, I'm seeing an increasing degree of outright dangerous behavior from motorcyclists. Just in the last 2 months (yeah, during the winter when motorcyclists are fewer than in the warmer months) I can't count the number of motorcyclists I've watched zipping in and out of extremely narrow gaps of traffic. In this same period I've watched 2 occasions where a cyclist rode wheelies for 1/2 mile+ in semi-congested (yet good moving) traffic. About a month ago I watched a rider on a fairly new beautiful fully dressed Harley stand up on the seat of his bike and ride it like that for more than 1/4 mile in light to moderate traffic. In each of these cases there was ZERO consideration for others on the road. If folks will do these clearly illegal things without consideration for others, what can we expect from someone who feels entitled to lane split?
A few years back the outgoing Colo Spr city street architect bragged that her major accomplishment while in that position was narrowing the lanes in town to reduce speeding. Since then I regularly look at the width of Colo Spr streets. Just a couple of weeks ago I was sitting behind a 250/2500 series pickup and noted that their mirrors reached the inner edge of both lines for their lane. The lanes are too narrow for the cars/trucks that use them without having to consider that a motorcyclist might want to squeeze through to get a better position through the traffic. The narrowness of the lanes makes it so any minor inattentiveness will cause a driver to at least be on the lane line. Any they want to allow a motorcyclist to try to squeeze through? How many broken mirrors will result from this when cyclists feel their right to lane split was being violated by the uncaring car/truck drivers? (I won't touch on how the small motorcycle license plates, when you can see them at all, are impossible to read as a motorcycle zooms past).
Over 80% of the drivers on the road pull far too close to the vehicles in front of them when stopped in traffic (and while in motion). My daily driver is an F250 Super Duty. I like to "shit & get" and prefer not to have to sit behind a row of traffic waiting at a light any more than the next person. I don't want my vehicle smashed into from behind any more than anyone else either. Why can't I just force my way between lanes of traffic to get up to the front of the traffic to be the first to go when the light changes? I guarantee that once the light changes I'll move as quickly as I can to pull away from the traffic to reduce my chances of being in an accident by some unwitting driver. So what if I'm better protected in my truck than a motorcyclist - we both made the choice of what vehicle to get onto the roads with that day & I don't want to sit in traffic any more than they do, so...
Thing is, everyone on the road - including motorcyclist (and bicyclists!)- need to follow the same rules of the road for EVERYONE'S safety. If we're all obligated to the same rules we have a better understanding of what to expect and how to avoid an accident. When you start making exceptions for this group or the other the expectations quickly change and the probability of hazardous situations jumps dramatically.
At the end of the day, I couldn't give a rats ass about someone doing something stupid on the road and getting themselves toasted for it (that's for them and their families to deal with) - until it effects me and my family. Then, I have serious issues with it. So, no, in case you couldn't tell, I'm absolutely NOT in favor of lane splitting.
