Governor Brown Signs AB51 -- we are legal yo~!

Surj

Surj

Uneasy Rider
dirty birdy said:
If that's the case, then no motorcyclists would ever be given tickets for it in CA.
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I talk to a lot of people about lane splitting. I have yet to hear first-hand of a ticket for splitting. However, riders can be cited for things like too fast for conditions, for example, for splitting too fast. That hasn't changed.
 
RightCoastBias

RightCoastBias

F8TRED
dirty birdy said:
Guys, I'm splitting hairs, I know.

It's a semantic thing, not a practical thing.

Lane splitting, up to now is not illegal, meaning prohibited by the law. It is however, unlawful, meaning not expressly authorized. Which means cops use their judgement if one is breaking the law.

But practically speaking, I agree, it's "legal" and I do it all the time.
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Things do not need to be expressly authorized to be legal.
 
clutchslip

clutchslip

Not as fast as I look.
Surj said:
I talk to a lot of people about lane splitting. I have yet to hear first-hand of a ticket for splitting. However, riders can be cited for things like too fast for conditions, for example, for splitting too fast. That hasn't changed.
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Surj, this doesn't make sense. Of course you won't hear of a ticket for "splitting" because there is not such a thing. However, I have been cited MORE THAN ONCE for "reckless", when all I was doing was sharing lanes. So really - I was cited for splitting. Oh, and I was cited by the same cop in the same week on the same road.
 
Surj

Surj

Uneasy Rider
clutchslip said:
Surj, this doesn't make sense. Of course you won't hear of a ticket for "splitting" because there is not such a thing. However, I have been cited MORE THAN ONCE for "reckless", when all I was doing was sharing lanes. So really - I was cited for splitting. Oh, and I was cited by the same cop in the same week on the same road.
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I guess I can reword that to meet your criteria—I have yet to personally encounter anyone who can tell me they were cited for splitting at a reasonable speed—no matter what the specific vehicle code was on the ticket. In fact, I can't remember the last time I got more than "I've heard it happens in San Diego" and stuff like that.

So what was your delta? What was the speed of surrounding traffic?
 
Marcoose

Marcoose

50-50
dirty birdy said:
Now, drivers will know that splitting is legal, and hopefully not angrily exercise their inner cop as some Barfers have experienced.
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No and no. Very few drivers knew splitting was already legal and it's hardly a new law that will make drivers aware of the law. How many drivers don't know to turn the wheels to the kerb? And drivers will continue to hate splitting for as long as some riders split like arses.


/dev/null said:
When the people of the United States of America or a lesser jurisdiction (state, county, city) want to modify a particular behavior they pass legislation that explicit prohibits it. So if there is no legislation prohibiting a specific behavior then it is 100% legal. Everything that isn't explicitly banned is 100% legal.
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The last language I saw a few months ago expressly stated splitting could only happen between two lanes traveling in the same direction. That means it's prohibited, illegal, in all other roadways, i.e., the beloved twisties.


dirty birdy said:
cops use their judgement if one is breaking the law.
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Surj said:
I have yet to hear first-hand of a ticket for splitting.
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clutchslip said:
Of course you won't hear of a ticket for "splitting" because there is not such a thing.
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Last year while taking a breather in San Gregorio, Budman and I were talking to 3-4 CHPs. One was a motor. We specifically asked about their take on splitting in single lanes, meaning the twisties. The motor say legal. One other policeman, the nicest among them, said illegal. Whatever judgment they apply and whatever VC they use, it's up to the judge to decide if the citation sticks. Once a CHP was going to cite me for splitting on 92 between 280 and 35, but because I also clipped the DY, he said he was being nice and only cited me for the DY. Which was nice of him, though.
 
clutchslip

clutchslip

Not as fast as I look.
Surj said:
......So what was your delta? What was the speed of surrounding traffic?
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Safe and sane. But, I was on a sportpile and he was on a Hardly lug about that was "nervous" to split on at any speed.

You are making more out of this than is reality. Most have been lucky for many years that no CHP has written them, since it is an easy ticket to write in a number of ways. However, from the leo pov: you need to be a moto-cop to catch a splitter, be there when it happens, and honestly think that it's dangerous, or in my case, just be pissed-off about your crappy Hardly.

This is now over. And I doubt anyone will ever see a ticket for sane splitting, ever again. :party
 
Reli

Reli

Well-known member
A couple people posted that it's great how drivers will finally realize splitting is legal........How will they do that? By randomly stumbling onto the CHP's website? Don't count on it.
 
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Pking

Pking

Humble Rider
With this finally being passed, I wonder how many other states will jump on the lane-share bandwagon with us? I have biker friends thoughout the midwest & east coast and most of them loathe the thought of lane-sharing and would probably vote against it...but will accept riding w/no helmet...go figure. So far, I would think Florida would be next in line since riding can be done year-round like Cali. Perhaps New York? Those mofos could definitely benefit from legal lane-sharing IMO:wow
 
/dev/null

/dev/null

taking a wrong turn
dirty birdy said:
Guys, I'm splitting hairs, I know.

It's a semantic thing, not a practical thing.

Lane splitting, up to now is not illegal, meaning prohibited by the law. It is however, unlawful, meaning not expressly authorized. Which means cops use their judgement if one is breaking the law.

But practically speaking, I agree, it's "legal" and I do it all the time.
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Again, the way the US legal system works is that we do not expressly authorize non-illegal behavior.

It is a practical thing. Take prohibition for example. The 18th Amendment made alcohol illegal in 1920. In 1933 the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment. They did not make alcohol legal they repealed the law that made alcohol illegal.
 
budman

budman

General Menace
Staff member
Reli said:
A couple people posted that it's great how drivers will finally realize splitting is legal........How will they do that? By randomly stumbling onto the CHP's website? Don't count on it.
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So little faith.

Information/awareness campaign
Posters at the DMV.
Info in new drivers classes.

Just a start.

My glass remains half full and nobody pissed in it. :twofinger
 
m0t0_ryder

m0t0_ryder

RYD!
Excellent!
Kudo's to Budman & Surj for your efforts to see this happen!

We still have some of the CHP lane splitting guidelines pamphlets at work.
Won't be too surprised to see these get re-evaluated and re-issued as the "new" splitting guidelines.
 
Zerox

Zerox

Can I be....frank?
Well done. Now, 49 states should expect a mass exodus of motorcyclists as they relocate to California. :teeth
 
2strokeYardSale

2strokeYardSale

Moab on my mind
Sharky said:
I preferred being at the mercy of the cop pulling me over and the "reasonableness" test. Now we are going to get a bunch of chickenshit guidelines that only outline how the tickets are written when you exceed some arbitrary parameter.
One step closer to ruining the last good thing here besides the weather and sooner or later those gov't dirtbags are going to mess that up too.
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+1

:afm199 In my 17 years of motorcycling in California I never heard of any anybody getting written up for unreasonable/unsafe lane splitting.
 
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