This is a quick (sped up) glimpse of a portion of my commute in the Bay Area. Traffic was admittedly worse than usual on this day, but this type of traffic is not uncommon either. Feeling thankful for being able to ride, and for Bay Area motorists who generally leave motorcyclists more space to split/filter when they are able to (and can actually see them).
To my fellow riders - splitting is a privilege that we are lucky to have in CA, let's continue to treat it that way! There will always be a few bad apples out there who can give any group a bad name, but if the rest of us ride responsibly and in a respectful manner, hopefully this will be enough to keep our reputation as riders untarnished and our relationship with other motorists a positive one.
To my fellow motorists - thanks to those of you who check your mirrors often and signal before changing lanes, this helps riders tremendously. For those of you unfamiliar, splitting is 100% legal in CA. Official rules/guidelines still have not yet been set, but the previous rule of thumb published by the CHP is to limit speed differentials to no more than 15 mph, and to not split above 50 mph. These guidelines were corroborated by a lane-splitting study published by Dr Thomas Rice et al from UC Berkeley in 2015. They found that splitting within these guidelines is actually safer than not splitting at all. Additionally, splitting reduces the amount of congestion on the road for everyone involved!
23 авг 2024
