How Can I Get This Law Passed?

[Papi]

—sounds like you don't.

OK. I've already said what needs to be said. My last word is you might be looking in the wrong place. Good luck.

 

[Butch]

The simple answer to get any legislation introduced is to discuss it with your elected representatives.

Have you met your assemblymember, state or national senator, congressperson or their staff?

It is not difficult. We need to do that more.

 

[Surj]

OK. I've already said what needs to be said. My last word is you might be looking in the wrong place. Good luck.

Papi, all I'm saying is that I know how this works and I'm looking everywhere I can.

Again, if you have any specifics you can share—legislators stating they're attacking this in 2014, whatever—I'm sure we'd all appreciate it if you'd share that info. I haven't seen or heard of any evidence of this going on right now—and I spend a LOT of time tracking this stuff down.

 

[Breaking Daniel]

The simple answer to get any legislation introduced is to discuss it with your elected representatives.

Have you met your assemblymember, state or national senator, congressperson or their staff?

It is not difficult. We need to do that more.

That sounds like a feasible thing I can manage. Write my elected officials.

The more I think about this, the more I want a non-biased party to conduct the research on it. Basically, do the analysis and determine if it would be safer, how much emergency lane should be available before being allowed to use it (if at all), would signage benefit the program at all, etc... Kind of like how The Hurt Report was done by USC. I wonder if there is a university group interested in doing this type of investigative research/prediction.

 

[Surj]

That sounds like a feasible thing I can manage. Write my elected officials.

The more I think about this, the more I want a non-biased party to conduct the research on it. Basically, do the analysis and determine if it would be safer, how much emergency lane should be available before being allowed to use it (if at all), would signage benefit the program at all, etc... Kind of like how The Hurt Report was done by USC. I wonder if there is a university group interested in doing this type of investigative research/prediction.

I still don't agree with the idea twofinger) but you could contact OTS or Berkeley SafeTREC. There are people interested/sympathetic to motorcycles at both orgs. However, I imagine they'll have many of the same concerns right off the bat—it may be hard to convince them.

 

[DefyInertia]

(1) this is a horrible idea, and (2) you'll never get it done. But don't let me discourage you. :afm199 Good luck. :thumbup

Again, if you have any specifics you can share—legislators stating they're attacking this in 2014, whatever—I'm sure we'd all appreciate it if you'd share that info. I haven't seen or heard of any evidence of this going on right now—and I spend a LOT of time tracking this stuff down.

Not sure if you're serious or just trying to call him out on an obvous bluff.

 

[Surj]

(1) this is a horrible idea, and (2) you'll never get it done. But don't let me discourage you. :afm199 Good luck. :thumbup



Not sure if you're serious or just trying to call him out on an obvous bluff.

I'm serious—not trying to call him out. I run LaneSplittingIsLegal.com and monitor a LOT of information sources on this topic, and have lots of connections that give me info. But there are tons of folks with other connections I don't have, and if someone has specific information on lane splitting legislation or legislators talking about doing something, I definitely want to know what it is.

 

[Breaking Daniel]

I'm serious—not trying to call him out. I run LaneSplittingIsLegal.com and monitor a LOT of information sources on this topic, and have lots of connections that give me info. But there are tons of folks with other connections I don't have, and if someone has specific information on lane splitting legislation or legislators talking about doing something, I definitely want to know what it is.

I am seriously interested for the fact that if their is a movement to abolish lane splitting, I want to know so that I can oppose it. Whether it's voting against it, attending a rally, or doing a sweet burnout on the legislator who is trying to abolish it's lawn, I'll be there to show my support.

 

[Papi]

Let's try this again:

Thank those who effed it up for the rest of us by splitting over the posted limit or knocked off mirrors or scared the pregnant mom by kicking her door on the fwy. They all played a huge part in bending influential ears.

Note the Bold Underlined text. Take it as you may. I'm on your side, your stickers are for the taking at my shop. I agree with safe responsible lane sharing.

But, beyond my re-quote, realize that a discussion has begun whether you choose to believe it or not. SB350 was just the beginning.

 

[Surj]

Let's try this again:



Note the Bold Underlined text. Take it as you may. I'm on your side, your stickers are for the taking at my shop. I agree with safe responsible lane sharing.

But, beyond my re-quote, realize that a discussion has begun whether you choose to believe it or not. SB350 was just the beginning.

I get everything you're saying, Papi, and I know we're on the same side. I appreciate you having stickers at the shop. I'm really not trying to give you shit here, but I'm not sure why you think I'm not getting your points. I know quite a bit about how this stuff works—there's no gap there.

I know there are always folks talking about banning splitting—this conversation didn't just start, and it's not like I don't believe it. It's gone on this past and will go on in the future.

It originally sounded like you might have some specifics, like maybe "Senator X is talking to Committee Member Y about splitting..." and I'd want that information, but it appears that's not the case. I'm totally with you on irresponsible splitters ruining it for the rest of us, but I guess where we differ is that you seem sure splitting is going to be banned, and I don't see evidence of that and haven't given up on keeping it legal.

 

[Breaking Daniel]

Papi and Monkeyneck, I think we are all better off with both of you on this topic. Even if you disagree as to how imminent a threat to our lane splitting privilege is, it's good to have two passionate guys who keep their ears to the ground for the rest of us. :thumbup

 

[Papi]

Papi and Monkeyneck, I think we are all better off with both of you on this topic.

Like Surj, I to have been involved in small political issues and motorcycle activism as well. This is a hobby, not a career. Preferably out of the public eye.

You can see some rare "public" examples of the work I did back in 2007 forward on the CalOHV youtube channel, or "not public" the road laws (city codes) I wrote prior in small cities like Mtn View and elsewhere from the 1990's forward. I've also worked on legal stuff at the Fed level with my largest focus on certain "agencies" and tracking corruption/extension/wrongful use of law-power since the 1990's and dissection of the NEPA, Codification at Municipal levels, Court movements, David v Goliath kinda stuff.

Again, most of what I do is unseen or without public knowledge. It's pressure through legal channels, lobbyist, insertion on Committees up to DC, or planting a lawyer in front of Dept Secretary's if needed with volumes of discovery pending suit so they make a phone call and do what we ask. Some of that cost a lot of $ x7 figures++.

In my previous posts, I've tried to explain to you guys (and Surj) that not all discussions are heard or even known by most involved. While Surj is strong in his efforts and doing a great job, his information is filtered mostly to public information only. I'm sure he gets off the record bits and bytes, this is SOP. But please, do not ask me for more again than I have already added. This isn't rocket science guys, do your own sniffing around or buy your own politicians. Already gave you all you need to know in bold underlined words.

Again, and this is clear, in re this issue, you all have a big problem. SB350 was only a start. It was to place small fairly un-noticed un-biased placeholders around an uncontrollable issue. It is not the end, yet only the start. "Placeholder" law changes give future access to changes that are later buried in future State level SB's. Those items are rarely discussed publicly yet performed under pressure (favor). What will be discussed and masked under "safety" is what you should be looking at.

Surj, thanks again for your efforts. You are doing a great job keeping the masses informed. Keep plugging away man. :thumbup

Others, please, keep your passion. Working on this stuff from the outside must be a relentless action most citizens never bother worrying about. They should. It's not really hard, it just takes lots of time, some well planted resources and every now and then a nice lawsuit to bring alignment and clarity.

Have fun, and go do some good Gents!

 

[afm199]

I'll certainly reiterate that if you have access to influential ears you'll get far more done than if you have only desire and a website. I've seen that in my business and been the benefactor once.

 

[slydrite]

Some far simpler fixes to your "problem":

Step 1) Get better at lane-sharing
Step 2) Take 280 instead of 101
Step 3) Stop worrying about things you can't possibly hope to control/affect

 

[Klavdy]

Well. it's 2015, doesn't look like lane sharing is going to be banned in CA any time soon, and in Australia, another three states and territories have made it explicitly legal.

 

[mrzuzzo]

In Moscow (Russia) all bikers and emergency vehicles ride the left shoulder on the highway without issues. I personally preferred it to lane splitting as cars are less likely to drive into you and know where to expect you.

If it can be done there it can be done here. But it won't.

 

[Patryk996]

From the riding perspective, I feel it could easily be feasible. There is a ton of room on a lot of stretches of Bay Area freeways there. Sure they are a little dirty with road debris, but after a couple hundred riders roll over it (with a few possible flat tires incurred) it would be as clean as the rest of the roadway. It would be ZERO dollars because we wouldn't need to repaint anything. The law would simply need to say "It's okay for motorcycles to use that lane." That's it + a whole bunch of other mumbo-jumbo to better define when/where/how, but basically just make it to where a CHP cant pull me over for using the left emergency lane to pass commute traffic as opposed to splitting. I'll wager a bet that cagers during the commute would greatly appreciate not having us splitting and off to the side where they don't have to worry or pay attention to us at all (as if they do pay attention anyways lol).

It all sounds easy in my head at least. I just need to know how to try it and if it has already been attempted.

Yeah, sorry man: I ride this most mornings to and from work. I wouldn't use the left e-lane even if I could. It's not worth it -and I'm not about to sacrifice my tires to pick up trash --not to mention the potential for me to crash from a flat and fall under a car in the HOV. Nor would I want anyone else to.

Reasons not to:
* Varying lane widths (to the point where the lane disappears entirely during the double HOV lane areas [this would basically mean you'd have to merge in with traffic again; there's no run-off for that merge either. You either make it or you're hitting a wall or stopping on the highway. All very bad scenarios]).
* Debris (cars wreck daily -to the point where you could supply autobody shops with bumpers if you picked them up in the middle of the night).
* Cars stopped / broken down / pulled over.

Drivers (should) already expect us to split lanes. As someone who has recently moved here from the east coast, That ability is a "god"-sent. I'm hugely content with being able to split lanes. Honestly, I'm surprised at how many people move over for me. I wave to nearly all of them in thanks (not being sarcastic).

I genuinely appreciate your desire to enhance our safety and rights on the road -and I applaud you for being passionate enough about it to want to pursue this, but as an experienced rider with 15 years of street riding under my belt, my personal opinion is that this is not a safe idea without dumping a lot of tax payer money to build up the road to properly support a dedicated motorcycle lane. Anything below that just increases the danger you'd be exposing yourself to.

If you're uncomfortable splitting lanes, slow your speed to a crawl until you gain that confidence. If you're going over 35 when splitting lanes in heavy traffic, you're asking for it. People will change lanes in front of you because the difference in speed is just too great and they won't see you coming (granted; some people are just f**king a$$holes and don't look also).

Not trying to offend, just offering an outsider's opinion.