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Lane Splitting in Ohio


franklyfresh

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My friend from highschool hasn't had a job since he was 16. He has a nice 2500 Duramax, a brand new Jetta Sport Wagon, a 1JZ Powered 3 Series BMW, and a pristine 2003 BMW M5 and a VERY nice apartment. On top of that hes got some stupid couple grand a month allowance on top of him having a joint bank account with his rich ass dad. He is a stay at home son and doesn't do jack shit for the stuff he has and has had since highschool. (Lets not turn this into a parenting discussion, they have shown me how not to be parents.)

 

Life isn't fair. Deal with it. I've learned that at a very young age. It isn't an excuse.

Edited by TimTheAzn
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As far as lane splitting goes, if it isn't common place to see lots of bikes lane splitting or filtering, cagers aren't going to look for it.  It's not something they are accustomed to.  I am a constant mirror checker in my car (and even on the bike), but most people don't pay enough attention.   

 

As far as legalizing lane splitting in Ohio, it's been discussed many times.  Those who are competent at doing it, already do it.   Legalizing it only going to encourage novices to attempt it and while I can agree that lane splitting is safer for motorcyclists, novices attempting it might not be for those individuals.  

 

My theory on this is the same as legalizing marijuana.  I don't think necessarily legalizing it is the best option, BUT, don't prosecute those who do it. 

 

Just my two cents. 

Edited by DerekClouser
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My theory on this is the same as legalizing marijuana.  I don't think necessarily legalizing it is the best option, BUT, don't prosecute those who do it. 

 

 

 

That is actually what happened in California with lane splitting.  It isn't specifically 'legal'. What happened is years ago the chief for the highway patrol whet very public saying it was not 'illegal' and his officers would no longer write tickets.  That then caught on with the rest of the leo's.

 

And gradually cagers got used to it, bikers learned how to do it and it was all smooth. Your concern for disaster if we go all in at once is well founded.

Edited by Tonik
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everyone always uses that argument anyways that people in cars will "open their door".....people that are that fucking petty are usually big fucking entitled pussies...they arent going to be opening their door on a biker, theyre going to nudge the car over if anything to block the path....im sure its happened a few times, but ive never met or talked to anybody thats ever had that happen to them, so im not sure why thats the go-to caution

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I have never had a door open on me but I have had asshats block me or try to more than a few times. I had one guy go all the way on to the shoulder to block me one time in stopped traffic on the turnpike and I was only trying to get about a quarter mile to the next exit that I could see. If someone was to ever hit me on purpose they better hope I do not get up because I will also get arrested for smashing in their face in with my helmet.

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I've been taken out hard by car doors twice on a bicycle 1 driver door, 1 passenger door. It's a very quick stop. Once still wearing my leather moto jacket because I was cold after riding the moto home. Still got a scrape on the shoulder through the padding from the edge of the door. I'm more worried about the people not trying to hurt me, dumping out coffee,spitting. Also hit a pedestrian who jaywalked out from the front of a bus.

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As someone who learned to drive in Ohio and later in life had a job that I travelled this country, the first time I experienced lane splitting in CA it scared the crap out of me.

I was sitting in rush hour traffic on an interstate out of San Francisco. Nice day, window down arm out of the car and along comes a motorcycle whizzing past me. WTF?! It really startled me. Couple minutes later another does it, then another and so on. At the time I didn't ride myself and didn't know it was legal. Now I"m getting pissed. So much so the next day I mention it while at work and they laugh at me about being so upset.

So you can imagine a person living and driving here their whole life, oblivious to things around them when stuck in traffic and here comes a bike up beside them. They will most likely retaliate in some way. Just saying.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

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So you can imagine a person living and driving here their whole life, oblivious to things around them when stuck in traffic and here comes a bike up beside them. They will most likely retaliate in some way. Just saying.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

Yet the people that do lane split in Ohio are not experiencing retaliation.

Forum threads that discuss splitting in non-CA states usually evolve this way. Lots of folks chiming in with hypothetical dangers, but the people that practice filtering seem to be getting on just fine.

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That is actually what happened in California with lane splitting.  It isn't specifically 'legal'. What happened is years ago the chief for the highway patrol whet very public saying it was not 'illegal' and his officers would no longer write tickets.  That then caught on with the rest of the leo's.

 

And gradually cagers got used to it, bikers learned how to do it and it was all smooth. Your concern for disaster if we go all in at once is well founded.

I'm pretty sure lane splitting is explicitly legal in California. It's even in the DMV handbook for motorcycles. They have some rules regarding how many mph above the flow of traffic you can split lanes at and what speeds are considered eligible for lane splitting.

 

 

I've been splitting lanes on the highway and occasionally on the local streets for the past couple weeks and no negative incidents yet!

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I rarely truly split lanes but will crawl down the median or berm when worried about overheating my Triumph. I'd love to see legal lane splitting here but there would definitely need to be an "awareness campaign" to get drivers to give us room.

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I'm pretty sure lane splitting is explicitly legal in California.

It's not.

California law does not allow or prohibit motorcycles from passing other vehicles proceeding in the same direction within the same lane, a practice often called "lane splitting," "lane sharing" or "filtering."

http://www.chp.ca.gov/programs/lanesplitguide.html

Edited by Tonik
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The police can use the hard shoulder, and even the soft shoulder to give chase if they so choose, so don't think you can't get pulled over for it.

Not saying that you can't get pulled over. Am saying there is a very low probability. Don't ask me how I know this.

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Whats up guys new member from the cincinnati area, what does LEO mean?

lol i had a bad experience going to cycle specialties and passing thru bridgetown a dumb ass opened his door on me while i was lane splitting thru non moving traffic. had to slam on the fronts even though i was going like 7 mph, dude was a hater. 

that was last year... the other day i lane split on dana intersecting reading rd and got to the front of the line and saw a cincy cop, they didnt do a thing and just kept on driving. 

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