While I lived and rode in Spain where lane splitting is legal I noticed a couple of things. Cars were more courteous to motorcycles and allowed room for them to pass. I was shocked the first time a car moved over in his lane on a two lane road to allow me to pass him using part of his lane, this was a normal occurrence. Lane splitting in heavy traffic seemed just as dangerous as it did in Cali. Something I never tried nor wanted to try. I think people abuse lane splitting. Should not be used to speed through traffic like a maniac. Going at 5 or 10 mph I can understand, still not something I want to try.

Onto the main subject of using the shoudler I have done it twice in deadlock traffic going about 5-10 mph, but I was a little nervous doing it. Once we did it because some cager kept coming up on us really fast and close. Wanted to see what people felt about using the shoulder in traffic jams on highways since I have seen cops like others have stated not care about riders using the shoulder.