OK. Now that is clear. I agree - filtering against the right curb is suicide in so many ways. I even call it "the death curb". My old sig line stated "As far right as safety permits is often the center of the left lane."

Cheers.

I do it whenever its safe, I have a mirror on my helmet and two on my bars, I saloon wear a bright sweater, backpack cover and helmet cover in broad daylight. Gotta make sure they see me.

passing vehicles at the curb is not lane splitting. in fact, i often lane split is to avoid bike lane/bike box right hook risk.
bike boxes have been a deadly failure in pdx.

Very few intersections around here have dedicated right turn lanes. And most of those, the painted bike lane ends about 200 yards before the intersection, which in drivers' minds, seems to mean they can hug the curb now. At those intersections, I will often filter between the rightmost lane and the next lane over. If a car has it's turn signal on, I will stay far enough left to allow them to turn right, otherwise, I take the lane and assume they are going to go straight, and I move back to the right as soon as I'm across the intersection.

Even the intersections with the bike lane painted all the way up to the intersection, though, cars will pull right into the bike lane, even though there are 4-5 cars ahead of them waiting to go straight, and they know they can't fit. I often give them a little love tap on the fender as I go by.

at least you'd get the guy with the red light cam. do you guys really drive that poorly?

Yes. Yes they do.

And that concludes today's episode of simple answers, to simple questions.

Not as bad as drivers in the midwest, though...or snowbirds in the Southwest or Florida. They are bike killers there.

If 1 of them is a right turn lane.....

Well, technically, it is lane splitting. There's someone in the lane and you are splitting the lane to get to the front of the line. All filtering is a form of lane splitting. The bike box lane is just a formalization of filtering and if it is deadly like you say, then 'filtering' to the front of the line would be just as hazardous. If you are going to filter... i.e. lane split like you are implying... on the driver's side , how do you deal with the line suddenly starting to move. It would be easy to get trapped in between two lines of moving traffic with no were to go. A motorcycle might be able to deal with it because they have speed on their side but a bicyclists is stuck.

Sentence the first person to kill a cyclist to life in prison based on the red light camera footage and cell phone records. Throw it into the media and it won't happen again.

In California the vehicle code requires vehicles making a right turn to first safely merge into the right-most lane (which might be a bike lane) before making their turn (unless there is signage for multiple lanes to turn right). State laws vary on this - Oregon doesn't allow motor vehicles to merge into bike lanes and I'm not sure about your state of Washington. The inconsistency makes for confusion on the part of many drivers on the correct procedure.

I typically only lane split when its a "parking lot" and there is separation between vehicle lanes. in the unlikely event that traffic starts to move i've always been able to insert myself into the lane. i am not going to argue that lane splitting is the safest possible manoeuver but passing vehicles on the curb (at speed) is also unsafe.

In downtown pdx the effective speed limit is ~15 mph due to signalling (and red light cams).

I agree. And I never do it. Nor do I filter to the front of a line of cars.

Maybe others have pointed this out to you but what you are describing here is not what many of us think of as "vehicular cycling".

#1 Your bike IS a vehicle. It (and you) ARE NOT a car or a motorcycle. Each of those vehicles are distinctly different types of vehicles as well and, in fact, in most places require separate types of registering, licensing and training for motorcycles and automobiles.

# 2 if you ride your bike "like a car" your thinking will be inappropriate to the actual vehicle you are using. If you ride your bike like a bike and follow the laws of your state you will be better off- this is the problem when the automobile is the predominant means by which a person travels- it can be difficult to transition out of the auto mindset. "Vehicular Cycling" is not riding a bike like you would drive a car. it is: Riding a bike like it is a vehicle with the right to be on the road. This may sound like I'm being overly picky but it makes a difference not only "politically" but in terms of your actual safety.

# 3 learn the laws in your state both in terms of general traffic law and laws specific to the rights and responsibilities of bicyclists and use them as your guide. Some states allow bicyclists to " split lanes".

# 4 and yes, as you point out, USE COMMON SENSE. And be exceptionally cautious and disciplined around trucks, vans, buses and any large vehicle that may have greater visibility challenges.

Nope. Technically, lane splitting means...exactly what it says - splitting LANES. A sidewalk is not a lane. A median is not a lane. A double-yelow line is not a lane. You can only be "splitting lanes" if you are between two lanes. It's all filtering, but it's not all lane splitting. We could argue samantics all day, but the words mean what they mean. Passing cars while riding in the gutter is not lane splitting. It is filtering, or riding in the gutter, or curb-hugging, or anything but lane-splitting. If you split an apple what do you have? Two halves of an apple. If you split lanes there must be two lanes being split. Split something and you get two relatively equal parts by definition:

Verb
Break or cause to break forcibly into parts, esp. into halves...

Noun
A tear, crack, or fissure in something, esp. down the middle...

That is so easy I am surprised you asked. I do it five times a day. Say I am riding 15mph between two lanes of stopped cars and they all start moving. The line of cars are not hooked together like cars on a train, there are gaps between them. Just keep up your speed until you catch up to a gap and merge right into it. In 10,000 tries I have never failed to just merge in, often giving a hand signal that I am moving over but that is irrelevant as there is plenty of space - most drivers leave several car lenths ahead before they even start moving. And now that every A.H. behind the wheel is looking at their phone at a red lignt, the gaps are much larger than before smart phones with viewing screens were prevalent because no one is paying attention to the danged light going green anymore. (I started a thread on that topic - how smartphones have made traffic-jamming at rush hour so much easier for me named "Why I love motorists on their phones").

Obviously you have not split many lanes.

True and funny.

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.