Originally Posted by
spare_wheel
I think a common theme here is that those who are splitting do so when there is a line of motionless vehicles thus making risk of sideway movement irrelevant. Anything that promotes efficient movement of people without increased risk is fine with me.
That has not been my observation of lane splitting. I've seen it happen with when the line of vehicles is moving or when the line of vehicles is starting to move as well as when the line is stationary.
Originally Posted by
JoeyBike
Thank you!
And big trucks can't easily change lanes in slow moving gridlock either. If there is enough room for a truck to move into the next lane "through" me, then there should enough room for me to move over too.
The added danger of course are the big exposed wheels on trucks. It is almost impossible for a cyclist to get actually run over from the side by a passenger car drifting over the line but highly likely an unaware cyclist could end up under the wheels of a big truck very quickly from the side. I am presuming this is the fear (justified) for lane splitting past a moving truck.
A truck, which fills the lane more than a passenger car does, doesn't have to move much to either side to catch a filtering cyclist. And, as I said above, the line isn't going to be stationary forever.
Originally Posted by
Andy_K
Yeah, that's the big thing for me.
About four years ago I was riding in a bike lane passing a line of recently motionless vehicles that had just started moving and one of them right hooked me. Since then, I vigilantly watch out for gaps in the line of traffic to my left (anything that might allow a car coming the other way to turn left or a car going my way to suddenly start moving) and once the line of traffic starts to move at all I don't pass or ride beside any vehicle anywhere near a possible turning location.
My point exactly.
Originally Posted by
JoeyBike
So we are talking about cyclists splitting between the lorry and the curb where a turning truck will use up every inch of free space and perhaps drag a couple of wheels over the curb as well??? That is certain doom. I don't consider riding in the gutter the same as lane splitting although it would be considered filtering. Maybe we have a communication breakdown (language barrier) here.
In the USA, the term "lane splitting" only includes riding on the dashed white lines between the auto lanes. "Filtering" means advancing between vehicles lanes OR next to vehicles curbside. Huge difference in chance of getting rolled over. There is an entire YouTube vid of unfortunate people on bikes, scooters, and on foot getting crushed by turning trucks (wish I had never watched it) as they daydreamed along without a clue. And yes, the truck driver won't have a clue he has run over a person as he rolls along.
Lane splitting trucks/buses is much less dangerous than filtering while hugging the right curb. I agree 100% if this was the intended message.
Most people aren't going to filter on the left side of a vehicle. You might but... I've observed that most people filter to the passenger's side of the vehicles which is usually against a curb or a right turn lane. And lots of them do it with a moving line of cars. I've seen some crazy people who filter left turns then sit between a left turning car...in a position where the motorist doesn't expect anything...and a moving line of traffic just waiting to be turned into a grease spot between two cars.