Are CA drivers finally understanding sharing lanes?????

[Port4mance]

I have been lane sharing for about four weeks on a Ninja 250 from South San Jose to Foster City and have been flabbergasted by the action of carpoolers. While sharing 99% of the people have pulled to the left giving me tons of room to cruise on by. Even cruising at 75-80, being totally content, I have had cars pull to the left and wave me past.
Before these four weeks every experience commuting has been cagers trying to run me over.
Are other peoples feeling this same compassion or are the freeway savages giving me some space because of my "commuter" look on the unobtrusive Ninja 250 and my super protective aerostich??

 

[4tuneit1]

Dont get too cozy, it just takes one to change your perception.

 

[fizzerlee]

wtf lane sharing at 75-80? i one day wish to do that.

 

[Port4mance]

Dont get too cozy, it just takes one to change your perception.

Ohhhh for sure I am definitely not getting cozy. Every day I still encounter a cager that doesn't notice me and squeezes me a little but the "polite" and "appreciative" cagers seem a lot more wide spread.

 

[Port4mance]

wtf lane sharing at 75-80? i one day wish to do that.

Twice today people waved me by cruising at 80. I was following at a good distance and had no intention of passing but both times they pulled over, almost into the shoulder and waved me by. I felt obliged to pass them and go on my way.

Edit: These speeds are based on the speedo of a 250, who knows what my actual speed is.

 

[gixxerboy55]

Must be the little puddle jumper your riding, it's not to threating.

 

[wackyiraqi]

Edit: These speeds are based on the speedo of a 250, who knows what my actual speed is.

30mph

After commuting every day for the past three years or so, I've observed the following:

Some people move over for me when lane splitting, especially since I run a headlight modulator.

A lot of people just weave randomly, so it appears like they're moving over but end up moving right back on me as I pass.

A few see me coming and move over to block me.

The overwhelming majority are completely oblivious to me until well after I've passed.

Like 4tuneit1 said, don't get too cozy.

 

[Junkie]

sounds like you ride the same bike and wear the same gear as I do :laughing

but yeah, a decent number of people move over to let me by.

 

[CnDnMax]

+1 on not getting too cozy
i've only lane shared on a few occasions, never had anyone moved into my path, wait nvm couple times people have cut me off so i couldnt pass, but usually they don't know you are there. ive had a guy in a pickup rev his engine at me and "buck" his truck closer to me because i took his place at the stop sign, i just waited several extra seconds too look both ways haha. oh and another pickup tried to beat me off the line at the stop light, he just used up his tires and didnt really go anywhere :rolleyes . there are still quite a few people that dont like the fact that motorcycles can laneshare.

 

[silverbelt]

You ride on 101 port4mance?

That highway is much more lane sharing friendly than 880, thats for sure.

 

[zeefrenchspy]

on this topic, it freaks me out how sometimes the over-zealous "friendly" drivers will pull over so hard to the left that they're straddling the yellow line with 2 tires fully on the shoulder. I'm always afraid to pass those as you never know what might come up on the shoulder that they'll have to swerve for....

and it's not like a bike takes up that much room either, they literally leave enough room for a car to lane-share by :wtf

 

[VTRZA]

I do 85 to 101 from campbell to redwood city everyday. I see some days where people are being dicks and people are being cool. It just kinda varies. Oh and alot of the times the people being dicks are clueless lanesplitters

 

[DESMOnic]

I have been doing 87N -> 101N -> Sunnyvale for the past 13 months and so far (big knock on the wood) cagers have been more then polite in letting me pass by them. There has only been a couple of instance where I can tell 100% that the driver intentionally moved into my lane.

On the other hand, some of the HD riders, love to ride all over the lane and never move or wave you to pass them. Fuckers!

 

[Mr Kreaky Bones]

I am so slow on the highway, I only ride the posted speed limit. I know I should be going faster, but I am not really in a hurry. When I start seeing brake lights and stopped cars on the highway, then I lane share.

Is it ok to ride the just the posted speed limit?

 

[RhythmRider]

I am a big fan of passing people within their lane when there's only one lane to begin with. I would say people leave room for me about 30% of the time. The rest of the time they either maintain a steady enough lane position for me to pass safely or don't even know I'm there and tend to oscillate in their lane. I've found that most of the time the way people react towards me is largely affected by how fast I'm approaching them and where I'm at in the lane.

 

[iehawk]

Similar thing happened to me... some cars would go to the left side of the left lane.

In my case, it may have been caused by the high beam. So, nowdays once I'm at a good cruising speed, behind a car, I switch back to low beam.

It's a good trend that more cars have started to see us on the bikes. But still, I wouldn't split at 70mph.

 

[B-Cuz]

I won't deny the fact, I've lane shared going 70+, but as a defensive measure. The feeling of being boxed in (vehicle to left, right, forward, and aft) is never comforting while on a bike it's even less comforting, in fact it's down right un-nerving. Hence why I will risk the lane split to escape the tight box formation around me.

In regards to lane sharing in traffic, I've mostly have had positive experiences in the East Bay. Most people have no clue that I'm about to cruise on by while some move to the left to allow room. A select few do close in on the right to tighten the space but I manage and give a nice friendly thank by revving the loud motha fukin pipes to about 12-14k. =P

 

[kaihonu82]

I am so slow on the highway, I only ride the posted speed limit. I know I should be going faster, but I am not really in a hurry. When I start seeing brake lights and stopped cars on the highway, then I lane share.

Is it ok to ride the just the posted speed limit?

Hey! I'm with you! I ride 85 to 101 from Mountain View to San Carlos on my ninja 500r in full gear (and yes, sometimes i feel silly) and I only lane split if traffic is really slowing down like 40-50 mph or less...otherwise i figure, I'm in the carpool lane and I'm already going faster than the cars who aren't in the carpool lane and that's good enough for me

besides...why should I be in such a rush to get to work?!?!

 

[JakesKTM]

The exaggerated move-over made by some drivers to get out of your way is neither safe or necessary. One time on US 50 through Sacramento I was sharing the #2 lane and another biker was sharing the #3. I moved or to the #1 lane to give us a buffer but it didn't matter. Some guy in a pick up truck in the #2 lane saw the other bike and made an exaggerated move to get out of his way, nearly squeezing me into the car I was sharing #1 lane with.

If you are driving and you see a bike coming up behind you, just make sure you are centered in your lane and don't make any sudden changes in direction.

Drivers who make exaggerated move overs get no wave from me.

 

[Poxy]

wtf lane sharing at 75-80? i one day wish to do that.

I wouldn't bother. The time saved splitting at 75 with traffic at 60 is minimal…only a 25% increase.

However the time saved splitting 25 with traffic at 10 is a 250% increase!