Does Lane Splitting Contribute to Reducing Motorcycle Accidents?
Lane splitting is a practice adopted by motorcycle riders, mostly to tackle the heavy traffic scene. However, this practice is regarded dangerous and hence, is illegal in every state of the United States except California. Note that if a person got involved in an accident while lane splitting, even though they will be eligible to file a claim against the opposite party with the help of a credible motorcycle accident attorney, the compensation amount will be relatively low. In fact, the settlement amount will depend on their share of fault.
Lane splitting is made legal in California in January 2017. Currently, other states are mulling over whether or not to legalize lane splitting and are seeking guidance from California. Of course, the main question is does the practice of lane splitting contributes to reducing the number of motorcycle accidents. To know more details about the same, refer to the helpful points given below.
Lane Splitting
Lane splitting is the practice of riding your motorcycle between the lanes when the traffic is slow or stopped. It is to be noted that lane splitting is also known as white lining, stripe riding, filtering, etc. When it comes to California, most bike riders tend to do lane splitting even before the practice was legalized. As a result, the CHP (California Highway Patrol) designed certain guidelines in association with the same for the safety of the riders. However, with the introduction of the new law, these guidelines are removed from their website since the authorities are crafting new and better guidelines on lane splitting.
Does Lane Splitting Play a Role in Reducing Road Accidents?
Almost every cyclist and biker tend to support the idea of lane splitting since they cite is as a safer alternative than being stuck in the traffic for long hours. Usually, bikers tend to do lane splitting when the traffic is inching along or stopped. However, the risk, in this case, is that most passenger vehicle drivers are likely to be distracted at this time since they tend to eat, play games on their phones, groom, etc., when stuck in long idle traffic.
This issue poses a high threat of motorcyclists being hit by other passenger vehicles from behind while lane splitting. To avoid this, motorcyclists are requested to do lane splitting only when the visibility is better and are not in congested traffic. However, some studies report that if done properly, lane splitting can reduce the number of motorcycle accidents. In California, you have every right to claim for maximum compensation from the opposite party if you got involved in an accident while lane splitting.
