I read an article in the Business Section of The Los Angles Times of how a man ditched his car for a bicycle to combat paying high fuel prices. The man griped about the dangers of riding a bicycle on the busy streets of Los Angeles. He’s noticed how drivers don’t pay attention to anyone else but other drivers, or their cell phones, or applying make-up, or eating breakfast, etc.I read an article in the Business Section of The Los Angles Times of how a man traded his four-wheeled vehicle for a two-wheeled bicycle to combat paying high fuel prices. The man griped about the dangers of riding a bicycle on the busy streets of Los Angeles. He’s noticed how drivers don’t pay attention to anyone else but other drivers, or their cell phones, or applying make-up, or eating breakfast, etc.
The man’s testimony immediately made me think of a specific incident where I was commuting to work on my XLC 1200 Sportster Custom and the traffic was pretty thick. In California, splitting lanes is legal and saves time, but you need to do so with extreme caution!
While splitting lanes between two cars, I noticed a very large minivan directly next to me, veering in my direction as if he didn’t see me. I had to brake and then swerve behind the other car that was directly next to me just a split second before. The man came to his senses and swerved back into his lane but he came within inches of hitting both me and the other car. If I were in between, I’d have ended up the filling in a car sandwich. Luckily, I was paying attention. I sped up next to the violator and noticed he was reading a book. I stared at him in disbelief until he noticed me. He put the book down but this idiot was completely oblivious to his surroundings. I was shocked, angry, upset, and confused. I had to pull off the road. I could have been killed.
Let us know your thoughts or share with us a similar story of how you’ve encountered a near death experience on your bike.
I’ve seen a driver merge onto the fwy. and drift across 2 lanes chasing my friend & his wife into the fastlane, never realizing he almost took out a couple on a bike.Been merged on by blind old people and taken out at an intersection by a motorist turning left while blabbin’ on her cellphone.We are INVISIBLE to rush hour cage drivers!!!
In 1981 my wife and i where hit by a drunk driver,my wife flew in the air 138feet from point of impact. I went 122feet both of us required many surgeries,my wife more then me. But because of some drunk driving kid we are alot older now and have terrible arthritis and can predict the weather
better then any weatherman.Thank God
we both lived and are still rolling along on my Harley Nightrain.
p.s. When you see it coming like we did don’t close you eyes just hold on
and never let go, never give up !!
There is always going to be drivers out there that just don’t care. facilitieman1
Yup, I split lanes every day for 2 years… had a couple situations that made the ole heart race a *** but i took er easy overall… I even pulled over to let faster bikes pass me….. Awareness is definaletly the key to successfull lane splittin’. I chose to take the back roads home now, takes a bit longer, but what the hay…..good luck out there.
Commuting in Southern California almost demands that you split lanes.
Is it dangerous? Sure is.
Can you get hurt? Absolutely.
My old riding buddy and I were on our way home from work. He was following me through traffic on the 91 east freeway through the 605 north interchange. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper and we were splitting lanes. I had just come out into an open area and looked at my mirror to see where he was. When I looked up, there was a mini-van that had come over and panic stopped.
Put a nice dent in the van, tore up the bike a bit, had a bunch of road rash. But, I went out that night, got layed and had the bike back on the road within a week.
If you’re lane splitting. You have to accept the possibility that you may get hurt…
I think we all have had close calls by drivers not paying attension. That being said, how can you split lanes knowing that divers will not notice you? You are half the problem. Legal or not it is never safe or a good idea to split traffic.