Crash while avoiding cut off on 101 lanesplitting

[Pluot]

I have posted the gist of my crash in general, but I am posting here for an analysis.

Was commuting to work on 101 around the 87 merge going North; I'm not good at guessing car speeds so I'm not sure how fast cars were going, but it was faster than the average Wednesday traffic. I was going around 40 mph, my guess is my Delta was around 10-15mph at the time I went down. On average I think I am down the middle as far as average compared to other lane splitters I see. Delta of 10-20mph max (20mph guesstimating, in faster flow traffic).

Had one car to my left, was just passed that car by a car's length or so. There was a big gap in the carpool lane right ahead, maybe three or four car lengths. I saw the white car that cut me off in front of me, slightly to the right. I made the call that he didn't look like he was going to switch lanes, so I started a slight acceleration to pass him.

The white car then unexpectedly did a quick lane change into my lane. Turned on blinkers after he crossed the white line. I was in a slight state of shock. He was maybe 10-20 feet in front of me. Again, I'm not good at gauging distance. I just knew if I hard braked, I would still run into him. So I honked my horn, and tried to swerve around to the left of him while he was halfway into turn. At this point I think he slowed down when I honked my horn, because I did not have enough clearance to swerve around him and the car behind me. He did not stop his lane change. I tried to straighten out, wobbled all over (front and back). He by then had pulled way ahead in front of me. 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.

Broke off my aftermarket left handlebar mirror. Seems no other dmgs to bike. My body is starting to ache randomly three hours after. I was wearing full gear, thank goodness. Picked up bike, then rode to work.

I probably could have gone five miles slower. But I really don't think I was lane splitting at an unreasonable or dangerous speed. Suggestions on positioning and any other feedback appreciated.

 

[El Feo]

Did you not brake at all?

 

[aminalmutha]

Dunno if there's any one particular thing you did wrong. Just sounds like more practice; threshold braking, changing direction quickly, etc.

One thing I do recommend is not stiff-arming the bars when you brake hard. Squeeze the tank with your legs and support yourself with your legs and back instead of your arms. Keep your arms and grip loose. This reduces the likelihood of overcorrecting makes it easier to provide the proper steering/braking/throttle/clutch inputs when required.

 

[tzrider]

Caroline, when you passed the white car, did you hold the line you were on (as if continuing to split) or did you move to the left to take the whole lane?

 

[rodr]

Glad you're OK. Welcome to CA. :teeth

I do think best to occupy that open slot asap to maximize space between you and anyone who might dive into it.

 

[matjam]

There was a big gap in the carpool lane right ahead, maybe three or four car lengths. I saw the white car that cut me off in front of me, slightly to the right. I made the call that he didn't look like he was going to switch lanes, so I started a slight acceleration to pass him.

Speed wasn't the issue, it was your position in the lane.

In this specific scenario, you should have passed the car on the left, entered the lane, and then move to the left hand wheel track in the carpool lane.

As you had already started to move to the left hand side of the lane, when the guy makes the sudden lane change you would have been in a good position to either gas it to get in front or brake a little to let him into the lane.

This shit happens all the time.

Don't ride in the right hand wheel track when passing cars on the left. Get to the left of the lane, and create a "buffer" of space between you and the cars in the right lane. Don't sit in the right hand track like the guy in that video did. It gives you so very little time to react.

Also glad you're ok

 

[tzrider]

^^ Exactly the above.

Also, when entering a split, the rear-most cars are often staggered so that one could conceivably change lanes into you. Use a similar tactic of approaching the gap from an angle. If the rear-most car is on your right, approach the split from the left side of the lane to his left, then fade to the right to enter the gap once you've "shown him a wheel."

 

[Pluot]

I'm unsure at what point I started braking. Most likely started to brake, then possibly braked through my swerve. As I recall, I was trying to get into a position to pull to the left to take the space up, but I was caught in a position to be sandwiched between the car behind me and the one that cut me off as I had barely passed the car on my left. I would have been cutting off the car I had just passed by a few feet if I took up the full carpool lane. (Maybe a half a car or car's length past the one on my left). There was insufficient time to go to the left hand track. Gas it to get in front or brake a little to let him into the lane is my usual response to this occurence, but I was too afraid of (and probably not skilled enough to avoid) being sandwiched sideways between two cars to recover with two sharp turn manuevers to straighten out.

 

[Pluot]

^^ Exactly the above.

Also, when entering a split, the rear-most cars are often staggered so that one could conceivably change lanes into you. Use a similar tactic of approaching the gap from an angle. If the rear-most car is on your right, approach the split from the left side of the lane to his left, then fade to the right to enter the gap once you've "shown him a wheel."

I'm not sure if I follow. What is a rear-most car? And I don't think I understand what it is to 'show a wheel.'

 

[rodr]

This shit happens all the time.

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.

 

[matjam]

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.

Would have given him more time to react, if he had let off the throttle, moved to the left, and then continued.

 

[tzrider]

I'm not sure if I follow. What is a rear-most car? And I don't think I understand what it is to 'show a wheel.'

You've probably noticed that when you approach a split from behind, the cars at the back of the line in each lane (what I called "the rear-most cars") are not necessarily abreast of each other. They may be staggered; perhaps the car on your right is a little behind the car on your left. This creates the possibility that the right-hand car will change lanes on you right as you attempt to enter the split.

The phrase "showing a wheel" is a racing term that means you have pulled abreast of another rider (or driver) and that the front portion of your vehicle is in his peripheral vision.

 

[BeksNY]

I'm not sure if I follow. What is a rear-most car? And I don't think I understand what it is to 'show a wheel.'

Drawn out in Paint with amazeballs artistic skillz. Note that red and blue cars are not perfectly parallel, but staggered. The blue car would be considered the rear-most. And the yellow blob is your moto.

 

[ScottRNelson]

One other hint that might help you next time.

I make it a point to observe the front wheels of all cars that might be a threat to me. In this particular case, when you see the left front wheel starting to point to the left, you know they're coming over. You'll see that happen before you notice the car actually moving to the left. I also do that for cars at a right angle to me, to notice when they've started rolling toward my space. Cars intending to turn left in front of me, same thing. If their tires are pointing straight ahead, they can't cross my path, but once they've turned a bit, I give them a great deal more caution.

Take some Advil and read my hints about braking practice in the other thread. :cool

 

[Smash Allen]

I'm not sure if I follow. What is a rear-most car? And I don't think I understand what it is to 'show a wheel.'

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'.

Showing a wheel refers to putting yourself into someone's line of sight so they know you are there.

tzrider you were quicker than me

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

 

[tzrider]

On another topic, vision while splitting is critical. I use my eyes in a very specific way when splitting, keeping my focal point quite far ahead and maintaining a wide field of view. I do not scan or move my eyes.

Here's why: When we move our eyes the brain briefly shuts off incoming visual information to reduce motion blur and after-images. The phenomenon is called saccadic masking or saccadic suppression.

Saccadic masking, also known as (visual) saccadic suppression, is the phenomenon in visual perception where the brain selectively blocks visual processing during eye movements in such a way that neither the motion of the eye (and subsequent motion blur of the image) nor the gap in visual perception is noticeable to the viewer.

Source

A Keith Code article for Motorcyclist Magazine expanded on it in terms that are meaningful to riders: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/less-more-visual-experiment-code-break

Even prior to this article, i'd gotten into the habit of keeping a wide field of view while splitting, keeping track of cars on both sides of me without moving my eyes. This gives as early a warning as possible to movement from either side that may be encroaching on the space you're about to enter.

While splitting, I check my mirrors once in a while, but only when I think there is enough time to take a glance without missing something that could suddenly happen immediately in front of me.

 

[Pluot]

Drawn out in Paint with amazeballs artistic skillz. Note that red and blue cars are not perfectly parallel, but staggered. The blue car would be considered the rear-most. And the yellow blob is your moto.

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

 

[Owl]

Also, when entering a split, the rear-most cars are often staggered so that one could conceivably change lanes into you. Use a similar tactic of approaching the gap from an angle. If the rear-most car is on your right, approach the split from the left side of the lane to his left, then fade to the right to enter the gap once you've "shown him a wheel."

this is one of my biggest red flags when riding/splitting on the freeway.

an exaggerated example is when you're just starting to approach a log-jam of cars and they haven't quite sorted themselves out yet (this can be freeway or even up to a red light). sometimes there's one lane with a looooooong line of cars almost or completely at a stop and in the next lane over the cars are either moving along slowly or the line is much shorter.

motorcycle rider is coming up in either lane and can easily move over into the lane with the shorter line. car drivers who are impatient/want to get into the shorter line don't check their mirrors or do any head turn and simply pull out into the next lane (often without signaling).

when i come up to situations like this i (1) reduce speed, (2) pick my head up to increase my view, and (3) move into a lane with good buffer between me and slower/stopped traffic. this has saved my bacon more than once.

OP glad you're OK. :ride

 

[danate]

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

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.

 

[Honey Badger]

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.

Very much this....he was going by with what looked like a 20+mph (looked more like 40 a few times - when he was splitting) delta to the slower lane - moving into a gap in front of the car in front of him was a dangerous place he put himself - cars dodge into those all the time.

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.

Everyone has what works best for them, but that's been my experience in over 10 years of daily commuting in the bay area on moto, albeit all of it on a sportbike (other style bikes may perhaps have more luck in other positions due to superior lighting and less ability to adjust quickly - not sure as I've never commuted on anything else).

this is one of my biggest red flags when riding/splitting on the freeway.

an exaggerated example is when you're just starting to approach a log-jam of cars and they haven't quite sorted themselves out yet (this can be freeway or even up to a red light). sometimes there's one lane with a looooooong line of cars almost or completely at a stop and in the next lane over the cars are either moving along slowly or the line is much shorter.

motorcycle rider is coming up in either lane and can easily move over into the lane with the shorter line. car drivers who are impatient/want to get into the shorter line don't check their mirrors or do any head turn and simply pull out into the next lane (often without signaling).

when i come up to situations like this i (1) reduce speed, (2) pick my head up to increase my view, and (3) move into a lane with good buffer between me and slower/stopped traffic. this has saved my bacon more than once.

OP glad you're OK. :ride

Many times this ^^^ those are the most dangerous times I've seen, and have helped clean up the rider/bike that didn't choose to follow that advice so well. All it takes is once.