Lane Splitting in Laguna Beach, CA
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- Two League of American Bicyclists certified traffic cycling instructors demonstrate the advanced traffic cycling skill known as "lane splitting" -- slowly riding between lines of creeping or stopped traffic -- which can be quite safe if the cyclists do not ride too fast or in ways that are unpredictable. Lane splitting is often used by motorcyclists to pass slower motorists, and this technique is just as effective for cyclists. Lane splitting is also legal in CA, and illegal in most other US states, though often used by cyclists in congested major urban cores such as NYC, Chicago and Boston.
Thanks Fred,
Brian and I both make an effort to employ good technique every time we ride, and lead by example by showing with video, how skillful traffic cycling looks from the cyclists' perspective. It is especially gratifying to receive praise from our peers.
Fantastic example of how to do it right. Very smooth stress free and quite dull, as it should be.
Thanks, both of us were using helmet cameras and microphones. I mixed both of our audio tracks and the background music during the video editing and combined it with my helmet camrea footage of Brian for the final result.
We are looking for changes in lateral position of the lines of vehicles, particularly the line to the left, as it is a little harder for them to see us. Yes, congestion is our "friend" but only to the extent that it keeps traffic confined to the two adjacent lanes. Please understand that such congestion is exceptional in southern California, so we don't lane split a lot, and only do so to avoid sucking fumes for half an hour compared to 5 minutes of splitting.
Sorry it took so long to respond; I've been very busy... I also pull a trailer to do grocery shopping, and I usually find that when I pull the trailer, drivers give me a wider berth when passing. When in a narrow lane, I do ride in the center or left of center in the lane, and I have found that drivers don't pass me too closely. I have also found that I am treated the same way as an individual as Brian and I are treated as a close-together pair.
If you watch closely, we are definitely paying attention to lanes. Lane splitting is an advanced traffic skill that can be practiced safely if a number of pre-conditions are met:
1) Cyclist must be comfortable controlling lanes, merging within lanes and making lane changes.
2) Traffic must be very slow moving and congested, otherwise staying in the queue is convenient enough.
When these conditions are met, cyclists can safely split lanes, where it is legal, such as in California.
Target fixation can be cured, or rather it can be used to your advantage. Instead of focusing on the mirror, focus on the place in the road where you want your tires to be. You are still fixating on a target, the right target, the place you want to go. I do this when picking a line when lane splitting. I focus on the line I want to use to avoid cars/mirrors, instead of the cars/mirrors themselves. It works great, and you can practice by riding along lane stripes, or other easy "targets".
Regarding intersections, we have to be very careful when entering intersections to ensure that left turning or right turning drivers see us, so Brian (leading) was being very cautious when entering intersections.
Wow I love all your videos. They are very informative. I feel like I can ride my bicycle anywhere after watching your vids. I just have a couple of questions about bicycling Laguna Beach.
How do you handle the traffic in South Laguna where the cars zip by at 40-45+ mph? Do you just ride in the middle of the right lane in those conditions and is it safe to do that by myself?
The CHP, and local jurisdictions allow it in CA. It is illegal in nearly all other states. We were aiming to show that low speed lane splitting in very low speed traffic can be practiced at low risk, provided the cyclists are comfortable transitioning between lane control to lane splitting.
In California, motorcyclists, and cyclists can legally split lanes to pass slower traffic. However this must be done with care. In the video you will notice that we were moving at les than 10 mph, often half that speed when the overall traffic was creeping along at a walking speed average. Drivers in creeping traffic in Laguna Beach don't open left side doors, so that isn't an isue, though they do open right side doos, which is why passing at the right edge is pathalogical.
Regarding lane changes, the traffic is so dense that lane changes happen only when gaps occur, andthat is somethingthe cyclist must watch out for when sliptting. Even when traffic does make lane changes at under 10mph, the relative threat is not very severe because the splitting cyclist can brake, speed up, or maneuver to avoid the lane change.
I'm a motorcyclist, and I really, really wish this was legal in Chicago. You wouldn't believe how awful traffic can get here. In the summer, motorcycles will overheat just sitting there, and you can begin to feel the effects of the heat (nausea, lightheaded, etc.). Plus, I feel invisible and trapped. It's just all around unsafe and unwise.
Then again, Chicago drivers are aggressive, angry, unpredictable, and distracted. And many are aggressive towards me on the bike as it is...
@KPKaccountt - Most states have laws explicitly prohibiting driving between lanes or requiring driving within a single lane. For example, here is UVC section 11-1303....(c) No person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles.
And section 11-309. Whenever any roadway has been divided into two or more clearly marked lanes for traffic ...(a) A vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane...
Very cool video. Thanks for posting it. Were you guys talking to each other over mics or are we just hearing the guy with the camera talking?
Q.2 How would you advise bicycling through Laguna Beach with a 2 wheeled bicycle trailer? I've always wanted to pack some beach supplies in a bicycle trailer and ride to Crystal Cove (in North Laguna), but I've worried about how to deal with traffic in those conditions.
@KPKaccountt - The police in CA allow motorcyclists and bicyclists to do it, though CVC 21658 could be interpreted to exclude such practice. In every other US state laws like the ones I cited from the Uniform Vehicle Code, which serves as the model for most US states, are enforced to prohibit the practice. Look at the DMV websites of most US states and they show the practice to be illegal. California is the exception among US states. Check out the wiki article on lane splitting for more.
What are you looking at & for while you do this? Perhaps the thing to fear is an unsignalled lane change ... but people seldom lane change into substantial other objects like cars. So... equal congestion in both lanes is your friend?
Any special considerations at intersections?
not that it matters but just FYI the zeros u used in the date at the beginning r actually letters in dennmark and norway its same as ö here where I live
@KPKaccountt - Apparently you don't understand the answer I gave, since "lol i believe that,i mean since when ?" is a child's response to factual information. My mistake.
What happen at the very end with the motorist?
@LevinMedia - The CHP and motorcyclists are comfortable with lane splitting and frankly, it not a big deal. Lane splitting is not a common practice, except in urban cores and a few highways like PCH. Trouble? Did you watch the video? We didn't have any trouble. Regarding your hostility about route selection, it's the purview of the legislature to tell cyclists where we can ride. PCH is less hilly and faster than Gleneyre so I consistently use it; that's pragmatism, not infatuation.
@SinfulMessiah - Lane splitting or not, motorists hog the road and jam it for miles on weekend days. This is a much larger disruption than a cyclist controlling a lane, which is both legal, and safer than riding in the double hazard zone (door zone + too-close in lane passing zone) to the right of the right line of motor vehicles. If a bicyclist is controlling the right hand lane, then make a lane change. Motorists delay cyclists (and motorists) more in Laguna Beach than the cyclists ever do!
Excellent lane splitting technique.
\/ Dumbunny is jealous.
@SinfulMessiah amen brother.
@djbroncoroc - I never said it was cool. It's simply a method to pass a very long queue of congested traffic.
@AnHeroDesu - Glenneyre is much better suited to powered vehicles because of the steep hills. Let the cyclists use the more gently graded roadway of PCH. Or to put it more bluntly, only the state legislature can tell cyclists which public roads they should not use; it's not anyone else's place to tell cyclists to avoid any public road for which they have access and CVC 21 uniformity protections. I have just as much right to criticize your use of PCH as a motorist as you do mine as a cyclist!
What evidence do you have to support this claim? There are no "motor roadways" in California. Caltrans is allowed to limit cycling on controlled access highways, but CVC 21 combined with CVC 21200 do not allow the restrictions you suggest. What language do you imagine the CHP is sponsoring?
@2ndarymotion - We were moving faster than traffic in the video, so what's your point? Arrogance about sharing? You mean us not getting out of the way when you want to move faster is arrogance? If so, then make a lane change to pass; this is called driving. Have you heard of it? As a matter of fact we DO OWN THE ROAD AS MUCH AS YOU DO, and maybe even more so, since we are not required to have a license to do so. I have never bounced off a car on the Modjeska grade; your claim is a lie!
I completely disagree. In other vids, you say be a vehicle, control lanes, then here, you advocate not paying attention to lanes. I say we need to be visible as possible, which is correct, then you say splitting lanes is ok?
When traffic is heavy, why not stay right? You cant control when a car changes lanes or when someone throws out a door. Most drivers are more prepared to see a bike on the right compared to having a bike split lanes.
If other vehicles can't do it we shouldn't do it.
@LevinMedia - What you call entitlement, I call rights. I ride where I'm legally allowed, and typically choose rotes that are direct and low risk, and I expect others to respect my choices, just as I respect theirs to use other routes and/or different behaviors. You can ride on Glenneyre, or in Peoria if you like, and never split when traffic jams; that's your decision, and your decisions have nothing to do with me and my choices.
@SinfulMessiah - In this video, the motorists were "hogging" the lanes, not the cyclists who were carefully passing all the trapped hogs! I find it rather amusing that a video showing cyclists not slowing anyone, in an environment dominated by motorists hogging the road, illicits a response complaining about cyclists "hogging' the road. SinfulMessiah is guilty of a double standard; he doesn't see motorists hogging, only cyclist hogging...
@CyclistLorax Just because the law allows it doesn't mean it's a good idea. When you combine your attitude of entitlement (displayed in your replies below) with oblivious drivers, you're asking for trouble, which you're getting. Frankly, I can't understand cyclists infatuation with PCH in Laguna... Glenneyre parallels PCH one block inland and it's normally devoid of traffic and parked cars. It's not like you get some view of the beach on PCH that you don't get on Glenneyre.
@AnHeroDesu - God dammit you motorists, take Glenneyre not PCH.
So very dangerous, this is illegal in the majority of the USA.
This doesn't seem safe at all.
wow, i thought you were ah motorcyclist. =[
@TheRealBaldman - You are a real sick puppy, wishing others harm, and you are none too bright, since a side-walk is a walking facility on the side of the roadway, hence the name side-walk; get it? Cyclists OTOH are drivers, and have the same rights and duties as any other drivers of narrow width vehicles, so if motorcyclists can lane split, so can cyclists. I wish for just one moment you could be smarter, so you could grasp just how sick and idiotic you appear to the rest of humanity.