Anyone else ride to the right of center in carpoo lane (he said poo)?

[Darkness!]

To all the commuters out there, when you're in the carpool lane, where do you spend the most time? I almost always find myself gravitating towards the right tire track or right of center area of the lane. My thought being, if traffic slows all of a sudden (course you shouldn't be close enough to kiss someone's bumper anyway, but...) then at least I can swerve and lane-split (sorry, share) immediately. Whereas if I'm ("all" the way) over to the left of lane #1/Carpool lane it feels less safe to me. Thoughts, comments, diatribes? Vitriolic or otherwise?

Yeah, I had to look that one up too. Great word though...

:dunno, this has prolly been covered buh fore and if it has...aw shucks, bummer. Thought I'd throw it out into the pit to get chewed over and/or rassled with again.

 

[Morphine]

If there's an emergency lane, I'd use the left hand side of the carpool lane. My reasons are if someone merge into my lane (I try not to stay side by side or within others' blind spots), I'd still have some buffer zone. Also, if traffic stop to a halt in front of me, I can bail to the emergency lane (also check my 6 when I brake hard like that). When traffic slow to the point where I want to lane share, I scoot the right (where the right wheels of cars are) check my 6 and proceed to it.

If there's no emergency lane, I stay to right half of the lane.

 

[sanjuro]

Where the cars are least likely to hit me.

 

[tuxumino]

I swerve like a drunk, lane position changes depending on available space and perceived threats.



he said poo

 

[Motech]

I can't imagine the mental rigidity required for adherence to a default freeway lane position on a bike. I won't adhere to formations in a group, why would I ever consider it solo?

 

[crick]

I swerve like a drunk, lane position changes depending on available space and perceived threats.

same. i stay on the right to see downwards or ready to split, but i usually stay on the left to avoid lane divers. if there's no car on the road, then i violently swerve between all the lanes to present my manly dominance of the road.

 

[BURNROPE]

So Cal has 24/7 carpool lanes. I usually ride to the right so I can slpit between the fast lane and carpool lane, because the carpool lane is as constipated as the rest of the freeway. Up north I vary my position depending on conditions.

 

[Sane_Man]

I can't imagine the mental rigidity required for adherence to a default freeway lane position on a bike. I won't adhere to formations in a group, why would I ever consider it solo?

This.

You are entitled to have the entire lane when you are on a motorcycle. Ride like you own your lane. I use the entire lane depending on the condition of the road. If you primarily stay in one portion of the lane, someone is going encroach on the part you aren't using. You do not want to be left with the portion of the lane next to the guard rail if that happens.

 

[orbframe]

no matter which part of the lane you ride in be cognizant of the blind spots of traffic around you.

 

[Bravnik]

If I'm behind cars trying to split and the lane to my right is moving at a speed close to the carpool lane I ride on the right side close to the line. I do this in traffic as well. If I'm in the carpool lane and no cars in front of me I always ride in the left most side of the lane.

If the carpool lane is moving at a good clip and the other lanes are bumper to bumper, I will stay back from the car (if any) in front of me and stay to the left. If they are going really slow for carpool lane I will get close to them and stay in the right most side of the lane and split when I get a chance.

The point of my riding is to always stay where the other cars can see me at all times. The last thing you ever want to do is be behind a car in the carpool lane and be so close a jumper from the right can't see you as they will jump behind the car you are following as they can't see you till they already commit.

 

[russ69]

If you don't stay to the left and "command your lane" someone will pass you on your left, guaranteed.

 

[Zippy994]

I'm always on the right side of the carpool or #1 lane for several reasons.

1. If the guy ahead of me slams the brakes on or if we come up on stopped traffic, I can easily scoot around him and lane split if I have to.

2. I want people in the lane to the right of me to see me, see my lights, as I'm coming up on them. I'm always scanning my surroundings, looking at drivers' eyes or body movements in their mirrors and through their windows. So if by chance they somehow miss seeing my brights coming up on them, I'm able to spot them contemplating a lane change before they act.

3. We have a lot of 2- (EDIT: foot wide) "shoulders" on the far left side of the 101 down here with a maybe 4 foot K-rail separating one direction from the other. I prefer to keep as much distance as possible between me and cars going 75mph+ the other direction under those conditions.

 

[Ant]

No.

Left side.

Why?

Because I don't trust that any car is bothering to use their mirror looking for riders.

 

[LTran125]

only time i find myself on the left side is if i see another rider approaching me from behind so i move to left to give the rider room if he/she wants to split lanes or pass me.
Other than that I'm all over the lane depending on traffic and speed.

 

[SLu]

I generally find the left side to be safest in HOV lane during commute hours. It gives me a bit of cushion when someone decides to merge in. There's almost always a couple of feet of shoulder should you decided you need to use it.

If the traffic in front of me suddenly slows down, it's usually someone trying to get in or out of the HOV lane. For that reason, I don't split when the traffic suddenly slows down.

 

[Gnarly Cranium]

There's a lot of debate on this one.

I personally stay on the right side.

A lot of people feel it is safer to stay on the left, farther away from the cars in the next lane over, but any attempt to use that position makes me feel as if I am covered in fucking ANTS. I need to be able to see ahead, to identify potential lane-divers by their behavior on approach. I just can't bring myself to hide on the left and pray that cars that I can't see aren't going to jump out at me, and that the extra 5 feet of space will somehow make up for the fact that I have made myself blind AND even more invisible than usual.

Maybe the sensation is an illusion or a bad habit, not sure, but it's how my instincts run so far.

 

[Karbon]

I position myself in an area that gives me the largest space cushion. Most of the times circumstance dictate i should be closer to the barrier. I find a concrete barrier is about a billioj times more predictable than cagers.

Hoping and relying on others to notice you is a foolish and passive approach of navigating through traffic.

As the situation dictates, as far as sighlines go, remember you can alway cope by slowing down and backing off, standing on you pegs or tilting your body and your head. You dont have to stay planted on your seat.

 

[Sane_Man]

There's a lot of debate on this one.

I personally stay on the right side.

A lot of people feel it is safer to stay on the left, farther away from the cars in the next lane over, but any attempt to use that position makes me feel as if I am covered in fucking ANTS. I need to be able to see ahead, to identify potential lane-divers by their behavior on approach. I just can't bring myself to hide on the left and pray that cars that I can't see aren't going to jump out at me, and that the extra 5 feet of space will somehow make up for the fact that I have made myself blind AND even more invisible than usual.

Maybe the sensation is an illusion or a bad habit, not sure, but it's how my instincts run so far.

This is exactly how I am.

I never stay in a static position to other vehicles so I never worry about anyone not seeing me if I stay in a certain lane or portion of a lane. The 1001 peeves that other riders complain about cages merging on them, cutting them off, stopping to quick, etc, has never happened to me because most of those things I predict drivers will do, so once they do it, I'm already out of harm's way watching for the next thing.

 

[ST Guy]

Your biggest danger, especially as the time for the commuter only lane comes to a close, is from people suddenly cutting into the commuter lane because they're tired of being stuck in traffic. So, the best place to be is to the left. Any other considerations can be taken care of best by maximizing following distance.

FYI, I likely wouldn't be here today if I had the habit of riding to the right. Riding to the left bought me that extra few feet that allowed me to avoid running into a bozo who suddenly jerked the wheel to the left and popped out right in front of me. Riding to the right not only gives you less time and space to avoid someone popping into the commuter lane, but it also makes it more difficult to watch their front wheels or their steering wheel or their head (assuming they make a half hearted attempt to look). By far, the best place is to the left. No other positions stand up to scrutiny.

Some will argue that the drivers can better see you in their side view mirrors if you ride to the right. That makes two big assumptions. 1, that they actually check. 2, that the mirrors are adjusted properly.

As for moving around in the lane, sure, that is effective at times. But only when he traffic lightens up to your right. If it's packed, what do you gain by moving over to the right? Nothing. All you do is increase the time you're in a more dangerous position.

 

[Darkness!]

If I'm behind cars trying to split and the lane to my right is moving at a speed close to the carpool lane I ride on the right side close to the line. I do this in traffic as well. If I'm in the carpool lane and no cars in front of me I always ride in the left most side of the lane.

If the carpool lane is moving at a good clip and the other lanes are bumper to bumper, I will stay back from the car (if any) in front of me and stay to the left. If they are going really slow for carpool lane I will get close to them and stay in the right most side of the lane and split when I get a chance.

The point of my riding is to always stay where the other cars can see me at all times. The last thing you ever want to do is be behind a car in the carpool lane and be so close a jumper from the right can't see you as they will jump behind the car you are following as they can't see you till they already commit.

+1 on this ^

That's pretty much what I do as well. FWIW, I try to stay hyper aware of driver's blind spots and move through them or past them fast. Long years of being a bicycle commuter has served me well on a modersickle as I'm always lookin at wheels and people's heads whenever I'm splitting. I try to have two fingers resting lightly on both the brake and clutch levers thanks to Gary J and his book. Doing this should, in theory, help to keep me from lockin the front AND rear in a panic stop situation. Maybe...:toothless

I recently went to a local school parking lot last Sunday and worked my way (slowly) up to a hard squeeze of the brakes from about 30 mph where the back tire is lifting up just a bit. Kinda freeaky but it really gave me some perspective on just how fast a modern sportbike stops. And that's with the OEM lines and calipers with old pads. It'll be time to replace the pads soon and when I do, I"ll switch out the rubber OEM lines with spiegler SS lines and fresh fluid.