This guest post is from attorney Robert Reeves. It discusses the issue of motorcycles driving between lanes in California. In Texas there is no law expressly permitting or prohibiting “lane-splitting” by motorcycles. However, the Texas Department of Public Safety usually falls back on a general law requiring operators of motor vehicles to drive as nearly as practical within a single lane. So it’s best not to try lane-splitting in Texas, although it is a bit of a gray area here.
Here is the guest article:
Motorcycle lane splitting is one of the most controversial subjects in the state of California. This state happens to be the only one in the country that allows the practice of motorcycle lane splitting. However, that doesn’t change the fact that these are risky practices. The California Office of Traffic Safety recently announced that it will conduct a study that will review lane splitting in order to understand the number of motorcycle accidents that actually involve lane splitting.
The study has been launched by the California Office of Traffic Safety, which says that it will analyze how many accidents are caused by motorcycles splitting lanes. The practice of lane splitting refers to when a motorcyclist squeezes past other vehicles, riding in between the lanes. This is a risky practice, although it continues to be legal in California. Many groups have been very critical of the state’s decision to continue allowing this practice, and believe that it poses a serious danger not just to the motorcyclist, but also to motorists
However, according to motorcyclist groups, lane splitting if done properly and appropriately can be perfectly safe. Motorists have an entirely different theory. According to them, this practice is very dangerous, and increases the risk of an accident involving a motorcycle and a vehicle.
What has made the situation even more worrisome to motorcycle accident attorneys and safety groups is that the California Vehicle Code does not refer to lane splitting at all. This has meant that there is no legislation involving lane splitting, and as a result, there has been a lot of confusion about whether this practice increases the risk of an accident, or is safe. That is the reason why the California Office of Traffic Safety has launched the study. The agency wants to determine whether the practice is safe, and whether it is linked to an inordinate number of accidents.
The California Office of Traffic Safety’s decision to study this further obviously comes in the wake of an increase in the number of motorcycle accident fatalities in the state. In order to study this further, California Police will be watching over certain areas and recording the amount of lane splitting and dangerous effects of this act, for example, between August 16th and September 20th, the Murrieta police will be cracking down on motorcycle safety and studying the amount of crashes and illegal lane changes of motorcyclists.
Since this is such an interesting and ongoing topic, please feel free to leave any questions or comments.
Source: http://www.pissd.com/2013/09/california-agency-begins-study-of-motorcycle-lane-splitting-patterns/
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