Crash while avoiding cut off on 101 lanesplitting

danate said:

This illustrates one of my rules for splitting. Never be alongside a car in their lane when the lane next to you is open. If the lane is open, that's where you should be. Then you can wait for the cars to be alongside each other before proceeding (helping prevent the "cut off" move that happened to you) or you can make an "efficient pass" by travelling diagonally back into the left lane. The latter is more risky as you can still be cut off, however your trajectory will be taking you out of harm's way and can be done faster so there is less time for an unexpected car move.

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I agree, but it sounds like she didn't even have the time/opportunity to get into the open spot in the left lane before getting cut off. Plus she said she waited to see what the car that ultimately cut her off would do, so in that case, what would you have done?

I'm asking because I'm genuinely curious what to do in that situation. I always try to move into open lane spots but if you get cut off before even getting the opportunity to do so, then what? :dunno :confused

Time your splits so that the cars in #1 and #2 lanes have a slight or close to overlap. This way they can't jump you.

Cookie Monster said:

I'm asking because I'm genuinely curious what to do in that situation. I always try to move into open lane spots but if you get cut off before even getting the opportunity to do so, then what? :dunno :confused

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If she was already moving to the left when the car began to change lanes, she would still have more time before contact, even if she had only just begun to move. Part of the problem she experienced is reaction time once the car began to change lanes. Optimistically it would take a full second to begin a response to a car that's coming into your lane. If you've begun to move left as soon as you clear the car to your left, you're way ahead in terms of reaction time and you're creating more space.

Before I split past the car on the left I would have already angled my trajectory into the gap next to it, even if I didn't use the whole thing. I'd also be covering or slightly on the brakes. This allows me several points of exit depending on what the cars around me may do. If there was much of a speed difference between the two lanes of traffic, I'd slow and wait for the two cars to be side by side before splitting or see if the speed delta between the lanes of traffic was too great and would require just matching speed and falling in for a second.

Honey Badger said:

I'm not a fan of sitting on the left side of the lane - cars aren't looking that far over, and they are NOT going to see you, leaving everything to your reactions with almost no chance of them seeing you. Middle-right (not hugging the right side of the #1 lane, but in that tire track) in my experience makes it far more likely that they might actually see me. I've seen bikes on the left side of the lane get "merged into" far more than I've seen it happen with bikes more towards the right of the lane.

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I used to agree with this tactic. The problem is that if the driver toward the right doesn't look, the riders space cushion is not big enough to safely react.

I don't think there should be any hard and fast rule for what side of the lane to occupy. You have the whole lane, use it as necessary, depending on what is going on on that particular road at that particular time.

aminalmutha said:

I don't think there should be any hard and fast rule for what side of the lane to occupy. You have the whole lane, use it as necessary, depending on what is going on on that particular road at that particular time.

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I agree with you. We should maximize our space-cushion: Higher threats get more space, lower threads get less space. On the highway/freeway, there is rarely an unpredictable threat towards the left.

Enchanter said:

I used to agree with this tactic. The problem is that if the driver toward the right doesn't look, the riders space cushion is not big enough to safely react.

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I realize you have experienced the downside of this first hand, so I'm not going to argue right vs wrong, but I think one's chosen following distance can have a lot to do with it as well. If you are closer to the car in front of you, then in order to hit you (depending on relative speeds), the car on the right would have to start their move when the car in front of you was passing them, which is your warning. Or, leaving enough distance and being wary of cars jerking in from a slower lane - again, why I tend to be middle to the right of the lane, closer to the middle gives me quite a bit more margin....but all of this ends up being a moment by moment judgement call, there's no hard and fast rule, because I'm sure if I were to record my entire commute there would be a very wide variety of positioning choices that could be seen based on the circumstances.

Add in a rider's own skill set, familiarity with the bike they are on, and their own, natural reaction times, and the factors become rather great.

I'm also prone to doing a slow weave in my tire track if I'm worried about cars diving into the space I'm about to occupy...human eyes are more likely to notice things going ACROSS their vision, so I will sometimes replicate that a bit if I feel it necessary.

rodr said:

In that particular video speed was definitely an issue. The rider was going way too fast to react to a dumb lane change. He could have been more to the left but it's not at all clear there would be enough room to squeeze by.

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Yeah I would never lane split that fast. Makes me nervous just watching. Or be in that lane position going that fast. When traffic is that slow I slow down considerably.

Smash Allen said:

For example, approaching a four-lane intersection with a red light. Two lanes each direction. The left lane has 2 stopped cars, the right has 6. Don't 'split' past the four cars on the right but take the center or left-side of the left lane and then as you pass the third car on the right gradually enter the 'split'.

EDIT: another tip would be to watch the distance between the front wheel of a car and it's lane. if the gap between wheel and lane is constantly changing or starts to change it's a good indicator that the driver is either a fucktard, about to lane change, or both

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Nice tip and I understand your explanation. Yes. I generally would avoid 'splitting' next to a line of cars alongside an open lane. Too scary.

jjgirl13 said:

I tried to straighten out, wobbled all over (front and back). I was unsuccessful at stabilizing my steering. I tipped to the right, still wobbling, pulled left, still wobbling, did a relatively slow drop on the left. Maybe 5-10mph.

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I assume that you were coasting (no brake, no gas) during this "wobbled all over" phase. Am I right?

If not, what were you doing with brake/gas? Were you on the brakes (front, rear, or both?) the whole time until you dropped the bike? Off the brakes at some point? Coasting or got back on gas at some point?

A bike could be unstable while coasting. Getting back on gas may stabilize the bike, thus the saying, "when in doubt, gas it."

Gary856 said:

I assume that you were coasting (no brake, no gas) during this "wobbled all over" phase. Am I right?

If not, what were you doing with brake/gas? Were you on the brakes (front, rear, or both?) the whole time until you dropped the bike? Off the brakes at some point? Coasting or got back on gas at some point?

A bike could be unstable while coasting. Getting back on gas may stabilize the bike, thus the saying, "when in doubt, gas it."

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The problem is, I'm not entirely sure. It's quite possible I was gripping my clutch lever as well. I think that makes it coast right? Or at least affects the braking? I know I was still applying the brakes till the stop, because I was trying to let my bike down as gently as possible. I did not get back on the gas however. That probably would have helped stabilize, but I think at that point had fixated on my swerving bike rather than the road ahead.

You squeezed yourself into a position from which you had no escape.

A better approach would have been to slow down and wait to see how the situation would unfold. It's common for a car to make a lane change immediately upon reaching a vacant space in the destination lane. So give the driver first opportunity to take the lane. Then, after he's made his intention clear, overtake either on the left or right.

DataDan said:

You squeezed yourself into a position from which you had no escape.

A better approach would have been to slow down and wait to see how the situation would unfold. It's common for a car to make a lane change immediately upon reaching a vacant space in the destination lane. So give the driver first opportunity to take the lane. Then, after he's made his intention clear, overtake either on the left or right.

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As a simple rule, I approach slow and pass quick.

As I approach cars ahead, in my lane or adjacent lanes, I approach with a small delta. In heavy traffic, even as slow as 5mph difference.

I do not want to be in a situation where I am going too fast to react, whether it is controlled braking or a quick swerve.

As I am next to a car, I will speed up. No point in hanging next to a car, unless there is a car close ahead. In that case, passing or splitting vehicles may be a bad choice.

Another thing is your perception of speed and distance.

If you struggle to tell the difference between 10 and 20 mph, or whether 20 feet at a certain speed is enough of a gap to execute an emergency maneuver, I would be very careful riding in a way which puts you in emergency situations regularly. Like lanesplitting.

When I lanesplit, I have to make constant calculations of my speed, speed of vehicles all around me, traffic from 50 to 500 yards ahead, road conditions and highway turns, and of course, manage my fears and maintain focus.

It is an approach I think anyone lanesplitting over 10mph should have.

Each situation is different, but I've found in most circumstances like this that accelerating out of the way is better.

Trying to brake and change direction is difficult. If using front and rear brake, to help level out the bike under braking, you won't have as much weight on the front and it'll be easier to change direction. I do so when I've found myself coming in too hot to the next turn, but still need to stay in my lane and make the turn.

Everyone thinks that when a driver jumps into a slot and has some interaction with a moto, that they didn't "look". Of course they looked or else they would not see the slot. They don't "see" is the problem. Make yourself seen. When lane splitting, hi beams on, have aux LED's mounted low and slow down. The driver's brain is looking for big boxes with wheels moving at a speed close to their own, not small objects darting around. If you slow down and give the drivers brain time to recognize your presence, they will be less inclined to make that jump. Slowing down also gives you more time to react to dangers and lowers the impact energy of a collision. Seriously, slow down. If you see drivers frequently jumping in front of you, you're going too fast. Do the math. How much time do you save splitting at 25 vs 35?

I mounted a set of Advmonster LED aux lights low on my forks and frequently people, riders and non riders alike, tell me how conspicuous I am.

I found my internal speedometer to be waaaaay off. I've had some close calls, but got luckier than you, and didn't end up on the ground. Still, it was enough to scare me. I felt that my inability to perceive my speed and the speed of others relative to me was part of the problem. I always felt like braking wasn't an option because I was going too fast or didn't need to because speed wasn't the issue. I always felt like I needed to revert to evasive maneuvers.

The hubby and did some exercises in the car where he would drive a certain speed, and I would drive a certain speed, so that I could get a better sense of what my deltas actually were when I was splitting. I found out that I was going A LOT faster than I thought. I was generally going at least 20 mph faster than the husband at a "natural feeling" lanesplit and often went double that. A 10-15 mph delta is a really slow pass--it's like what it would look like if someone was running quickly past you when you were standing still. You might or might not have been holding that delta, but my guess is that you maybe were going faster than you thought and ran out of road and time before you could act.

It's just another thought... avoiding bad positioning is a great 1st step to avoiding another crash, so awesome advice thus far. However, knowing what your speed actually looks and feels like, and what you can do in terms of braking and maneuvering at x or y speed might be really helpful to you. It couldn't hurt...

Two excellent points from dravnx, quoted for emphasis:

dravnx said:

Time your splits so that the cars in #1 and #2 lanes have a slight or close to overlap. This way they can't jump you.

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dravnx said:

Everyone thinks that when a driver jumps into a slot and has some interaction with a moto, that they didn't "look". Of course they looked or else they would not see the slot. They don't "see" is the problem. Make yourself seen. When lane splitting, hi beams on, have aux LED's mounted low and slow down. The driver's brain is looking for big boxes with wheels moving at a speed close to their own, not small objects darting around. If you slow down and give the drivers brain time to recognize your presence, they will be less inclined to make that jump. Slowing down also gives you more time to react to dangers and lowers the impact energy of a collision. Seriously, slow down. If you see drivers frequently jumping in front of you, you're going too fast. Do the math. How much time do you save splitting at 25 vs 35?

I mounted a set of Advmonster LED aux lights low on my forks and frequently people, riders and non riders alike, tell me how conspicuous I am.

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DucatiHoney said:

I found my internal speedometer to be waaaaay off. I've had some close calls, but got luckier than you, and didn't end up on the ground. Still, it was enough to scare me. I felt that my inability to perceive my speed and the speed of others relative to me was part of the problem.

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The slow-your-roll video by KazMan is a great reference on what speed delta feels like. Ride next to a row of parked cars. Relative to the parked cars, your speed on the speedometer is the delta. Ride at 10 mph, 15 mph, 20 mph, 25 mph, see what it feels like. Then, imagine if you have time to react if one of them started to pull into your path. Moving traffic is a more dynamic situation.

After watching the video and compared to how I split this morning, I realized that my speed delta while splitting is fairly modest - less than 15 mph most of the time. :ride

jjgirl13 said:

Nice! I did a drawing of my crash following your paint example.

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The red line shows where I would have been, in the lanes. That placement does a few things;
1) possibility that the red car would have seen me in either their rear view or side view mirror
2) As I pull in front of the black car, to return to the fast lane, I'm already turning away from the red car... just in case