Do motorcyclists seem callous about speeding when splitting lanes?

Spend a few hours in Seattle and you’ll see cars do it too.

There’s an aviation saying that probably applies which is that there are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.

In stopped traffic it doesn’t bother me much. In fast moving traffic I think it is a horrible hazard. Many drivers on the road suck at predicting where faster drivers where take opportunities to move ahead of traffic. These drivers often are less aware of what is around them in my experience. Add in motorcycles are often not seen in the road to begin with, and many drivers don’t give motorcycles extra space. Now, we are suggesting motorcycles from seemingly out of nowhere weave through traffic when most drivers assume there is no room for lane changing by vehicles. Don’t forget a little weaving inside of a lane isn’t that uncommon in the day of a distracted drivers so the “line” the motorcyclist chooses might get blocked suddenly.

Not good.

As the ER doctors say—donorcycles. God Forbid.

First of all, as your first sentence points out, it’s not all motorcyclists so a categorical statement is no more applicable to motorcyclist than it is to all automobile drivers.

And the California Vehicle Code does not “permit” it nor does it set a speed limit on it, it just does not prohibit it.

I don’t like it much as a driver, but I am not the one taking the risk. And next time it seems like a risk to avoid “an extra 5–8 minutes”; consider all the texting drivers who are weaving in and out of the stop and go traffic trying to be at the exit 5 seconds before the next guy.

Distracted drivers are a much bigger problem.

Motorcyclists in general are a bit more daring but most keep it reasonable and are typically more aware of their surroundings. White-lining is common in heavy traffic and I have no problem with it. A miscalculation by the biker will cost the biker much more than the car. Let the biker beware.

Giant, heavy, powerful engines on an unsteady platform of two wheels? The gurantee that you will crash at some point during your life? The lack of utilitarian space? Ape-hangers?

I’m not sure there’s much of anything I understand about motorcycle enthusiasts. But they would same the same of me.

Folks do a wide variety of things to experience “freedom”. Dodging between cars at high speeds is one of them. All I can say is good luck. Hopefully you don’t hit a door.

They (we) call those motorcyclists “squids” A.K.A. soon to be deceased or x-motorcycle riders. They don’t represent us and are a drag on the motorcycling community. I have been riding 15 years and never split lanes. Being a motorcyclist usually makes you hyper-aware and a much better driver

@zenvelo Distracted drivers are a much bigger problem.
Distracted drivers don’t make the plight of motorcyclist who darts between cars at speeds they can’t stop if a vehicle changes lanes in front of them at the last minute; if anything, they are adding to it.

@ARE_you_kidding_me They don’t represent us and are a drag on the motorcycling community.
For me personally, they do not drag down the whole riding population but they do their part. Some riders ride at a reasonably safe speed, others seem like it is a game to see how many vehicles they can pass in a minute or each mile. Today I saw one cyclist have to move over to let another cyclist through because the first cyclist wasn’t lane splitting fast enough. When you have a gap open larger than a peanut and some vehicle is trying to dart in there, sometimes two at the same time, if that opening forms while the cyclist is three vehicles back and the driver trying to get in that slot doesn’t notice the lane splitting cyclist, it is a disaster waiting to happen and it will fall more on the cyclist because they are going to get messed up worse even if it is a glancing blow off the fender.