Sometimes I will do lane spliting and filtering ,only in heavily congested areas when traffic is very slow or at a standstill. Most times here in the suburbs traffic is moving too fast to do that all the time.

I don't know why anyone would categorically choose to do or not do something. To me, it's all about context, situation. Most of my commute takes me through busy city streets with lots of slow moving traffic, where I am passing said traffic to my left and parked cars to my right. My main concerns are getting doored, which happened to me when I was on a motorcycle once on the same route, and left-turning traffic through intersections when it's dark. That's about it. I've been squeezed by trucks and buses (not very often), but the traffic moves so slowly, that there's always a way to deal with it. Getting trapped next to or in front of moving traffic is actually one of my least worrisome outcomes -- drivers can then actually see you and normally aren't rabid ******** out to kill you. You just make eye contact, get out of their way as quickly and predictably as you can, wave to apologize, and all's well. The other thing I always keep in mind is the difference between traffic patterns I know and patterns I don't. I am able to be much more aggressive negotiating routes I am familiar with during times of day I normally travel there. There are then countless "hot spots" that I know not to get too crazy with and also places where I know the traffic light timing, road conditions, and pedestrian behaviors well enough that I can approach them with some gusto. Again, everything is an exercise in risk management. No behavior or philosophy will guarantee 100% safety. Know your limits and remain vigilant no matter what you do. Ride safe!

Over here drivers just have to obey the painted line. Doted lines: merge into the bike lane allowed for turning. Solid line: no merging into the bike lane allowed.

No no no, if you do something ******y and illegal you will inevitably get hit.

I do not split lanes. It may be convenient at times, but it spreads ill will, and it's pretty hypocritical. Just think how pissed off you get when you take the lane and a car driver tries to pass you in that lane anyway.

That's a bit different. If you take a lane, you're impeding the flow of traffic (sometimes that's warranted, sure). If you're splitting lanes properly, the traffic should still be able to flow.

These safety nanny debates always end up with the law-abiding types wishing ill on other cyclists.
#bikestockholmsyndrome

I have had motorists cop an attitude when I am in *their* lane but have never had a problem when I split out of their way.
Just sayin'

Same here. I can't remember the last time I had any friction between myself and a vehicle while splittng past them, or them "splitting" past me. No more challenging or frightening than brushing my teeth.

I am starting to believe only cyclists who never split lanes are imagening problems that are rare and expressing those concerns here.

Filtering up along the right curb is a different matter. Plenty of dangers there. I split lanes to avoid those curbside dangers.

I don't split lanes, but I think in this case I probably would as long as traffic is stopped.

I do it from time to time, when i dont the cars give me alot of room behind me, surprising though.

Living in NYC you are bound to split lanes sooner or later. Call me crazy but sometimes I feel safer splitting a lane.

Many people here suggest filtering along the right curb to be a danger.

When I filter, I do so almost 100% along the right curb. If there's a place to turn right, I slow down, make sure the car I'm going past isn't going to turn (driver is not looking where to stop, wheels are straight etc). When on a motorcycle I often filter between lanes, but on a bicycle, if I'm not going along side right curb, when the traffic gets flowing, I have a hard time moving back to the right lane. How do you people handle those situations? Hand signal for turning and going back? Most drivers here go berserk when they see a bicycle outside the right most lane.

The more dense and urban an area is seems to have a lot to do with cyclists' behavior on this. In Chicago, I will certainly split lanes when I feel it's safe, and really, especially when going between meetings downtown during the day, if not for splitting lanes I may as well walk or ride the train - those two options would probably be faster.

I did, last year, have a little accident though - after traffic started at a green light, I cut into a space between two cars in the right lane of the two I was splitting (after signaling my intentions and making eye contact with the car behind me). Turned my head back around to find that the car in front had slowed down significantly - I'm sure it was an extremely important text or Facebook status update. I ended up hitting the back bumper with my front wheel, and laying the bike down in the parking lane - scraped up my knee and elbow and busted my front derailer, nothing worse than that. I've been much more careful since then about lane-splitting and trying to think a few more steps ahead - I also make it a point to steer clear of trucks and buses, both because I don't want to die, and because, really, the thirty people on that bus can totally have the right of way versus the one of me on the bike.

All that said, if I'm not in a rush, I don't mind waiting in a line either.

I'm not talking about riding on a sidewalk. A lane has two sides so if you go down the right side of a lane of cars, you are splitting the lane just as you'd be splitting it going down the left side of a line of cars.

Perhaps it's the gentility of New Orleans but a stunt like that here would be met with, at a minimum, honks and hand gestures. More likely with the car trying to make the bicyclist the baloney in a car sandwich, as you said earlier. People don't like the way that bicyclists ride around here anyway and your kind of antics would send them over the top. Lane splitting down the right, i.e. filtering, would be more acceptable to motorist around here then filtering down between two lines of cars. And I would consider it safer than being trapped between two lines of cars moving off a light.

No, I haven't split lanes. I think it's a foolish practice.

By that logic cars are splitting lanes too. This is a really odd way of looking at it.



I happened to be thinking about this today on the way home. I live in NYC and my commute takes me through certain parts of Brooklyn. Along about 3/4 of my route, I am faster than the car traffic. That is to say, whether I'm sneaking past a stopped or crawling line of cars or if I find myself between two non-parked lanes of traffic (nor typical), I usually look for a way out of whatever problems arise by proceeding forward, rather than looking behind for a way out. I wonder how many folks who are understandably apprehensive about "lane splitting" commute in places, where car traffic is generally faster than bicycles.

Do I split lanes? Only when I filter a red at 25mph. I also salmon, trout and guppy. God I hate bike lingo.I thought lane splitting meant riding down the middle of the double yellow lines and yes I do that also.




Btw guppy is riding like a newb or a drunk, cars will give you a mile.

I am not talking about riding on a sidewalk either. A sidewalk is not a "lane". Ergo, riding between a lane of cars and a curb/sidewalk is not splitting anything. It is filtering. Splitting lanes can only happen between two lanes of cars.

You can call a peach an apple if you want to, but when a restaurant patron orders a peach cobbler and the waiter brings them apple pie there will be a discussion. Yes, they are both desserts, and made of fruit, but thanks to the gift of language and vocabulary we generally get the food we order. And I often SPLIT a dessert with my wife - creating two pieces of apple pie. I have never split a slice of apple pie and ended up with half a peach cobbler.

Splitting lanes requires that you ride between two traffic lanes populated with cars. There will generally be cars on both sides of you either in motion or stopped at a signal, wreck, cop, whatever. There would be no reason I can think of to split empty lanes - just ride inside the empty lane of your choice. So defining splitting empty traffic lanes is unnecessary as no one bikes between empty lanes. Therefore it could be said that splitting lanes = splitting motor vehicles in travel lanes. Riding between travel lanes and parked cars, sidewalks, curbs, bike trails, cow paths, ditches, or sound barriers, may be called filtering, but not lane splitting.

For good measure, I will paint one more picture. You are riding down a two-lane highway in the country. Your wheels are on the right fog line (no shoulder). Cars are passing you on the left in the travel lane. Is anyone splitting a lane here? Nope. Everyone is lane sharing. Then you come to an accident and a long traffic jam. You pass 100 cars as you bike along on the right edge of the road. You are still not splitting jack even though you are filtering to the front. But if you ride down the double yellow line BETWEEN those two lanes of traffic...viola! You are now splitting lanes.

Foolish is in the eye of the beholder apparently. Now please excuse me as I must have a slice of apple pie now.

After watching that I am so thankful for where I live. You see more cars in one day than I see in 2 years. I woudl quit riding if I had to ride in that.

I'm a car as far as I'm concerned when I'm on my bike. I usually ride with panniers now that I've found people are nicer when you have 2 huge yellow bags on the back.

On the unicycle it's another story, I will lane split occasionally, but probably worse is I'll hop from road to sidewalk and back again where it's convenient. I'm slower moving, but much more maneuverable on the uni.

To each their own on lane splitting. Running red lights is a much larger issue.