What's up with lane splitting???

[HRCrider]

So I'm new to Colorado, and I'm under the impression that the fuzz says lane splitting is a no-go in this state. So is lane splitting illegal and if so how often do you guys do it anyway???

In Cali a rider technically cannot split 5mph faster than a car travelling no faster than 20mph. Riding down Arapahoe the other day I noticed several bikes sitting in traffic in the opposite direction because of some soccer games. The lanes there are plenty wide to cut through and in the process reduce traffic backup.......so what's the deal???

[towneh]

greetings HRC,
sorry to break this to you but lane-splitting is not legal in the state of CO. i have enjoyed that option on the CA interstates on several occaisions... the cage drivers of CO wouldn't give an inch of passing space to anybody!
--sad but true--
hayabusa henry

[Boy Scout]

See: http://www.cosportbikeclub.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=16533

[elmog]

There are a bunch of high-profile bikers in the city. We need to solicit the help of Peter Boyles or Nighthorse-Campbel to lobby to make it legal!

Traffic is getting out of control in Denver and the Springs, something that would encourage biking/scootering would go a long way to helping some congestion.

Lobby for Lane-Splitting! God Bless America!

[Dub]

There are a bunch of high-profile bikers in the city. We need to solicit the help of Peter Boyles or Nighthorse-Campbel to lobby to make it legal!

Traffic is getting out of control in Denver and the Springs, something that would encourage biking/scootering would go a long way to helping some congestion.

Lobby for Lane-Splitting! God Bless America!

I don't know I'd do it even if it were legal. CO drivers don't even seem to notice us when we have an entire lane to ourselves and we're in direct view of the driver through his window. Plus, even though lane splitting doesn't hinder the forward motion of cages, those f'ers attitude of "can't have anyone get there before me" means they'd be swerving towards you just so you can't get through.

Now that I think about it, I'd probably be hesitant at first to even do it in CA. And their drivers are used to it...

[Cleveland]

if it were legal, you would do it.

[Scribbler]

Technically it's not lane splitting, but lane sharing. In CA any 2 vehicles can share the same lane if there's room. Nor does it help the flow of traffic or reduce congestion (have you SEEN the traffic in CA?).

I don't know that I'd support lane sharing in CO. I can't count all the times I was tempted to split lanes, however realistically I couldn't justify making it legal vs the tradeoff for the countless vermin in cages and bikes who wouldn't get along and wind up tangling.

[HRCrider]

Yah I know up to two vehicles can share a lane in CA, but everyone still calls it splitting... As for bikes not reducing traffic I fully disagree, two vehicles next to each other take up less space than two vehicles behind each other. Plus when you have a stack of cars packed a mile deep at a light I don't see a problem with moving to the head of the line. Any motorcycle sharing the road with cagers that is able to reduce it's own time from point A to point B has to be reducing overall congestion because a bike takes up less space in less time in a 1 constant area of space.

In Cali it would take me 40 minutes to get to work in a car and about 25 minutes on a bike. This was not because I was blazing between cars on the highway but because I cut through all the cars at red lights. So I guess what I'm rambling on about is that yah if traffic is becoming a issue, lane splitting is one way to help reduce the problem.

[ryan]

i concur

[descalera99]

I'm also from so cal and most of the people there will actually move over for you. It does encourage more people to ride to work on a bike instead of a big SUV.

[Stuart Little]

yup yup, went out to CA with a friend a couple of months ago and I had known about lane-sharing/splitting btu I didn't know at all the lights once those cars were stopped we were allowed to make our way up to the front of the line so to say...and most of the drivers were okay with it. but this was ocean side and san diego, not LA.

[firefghtr]

what do you think doctor smith?
I concur, do you concur?

[purevol]

im from new york, and well, if there is a bunch of traffic, i am going to "filter" - i did have a cop like wave his finger at me, as i filtered past herr - i just waved and kept going!

[Kitty Kat]

Cool - guess I have to learn to "lane split" since we will be in S. Cali in two weeks - yeah!!!!!!


We will be living about 30 miles from Scott's work - he is definitely planning on riding everyday. We wanted to live near the beach and hopefully the commute won't be too bad.