you don't get to drive on the shoulder just because traffic is backed up

[Demovictory9]

[Hoyt]

1. Nothing ticks me off more than some A-hole doing that. But not road rage ticked.

Emergency, maybe. Acting like an entitled jerk, nope.

[Demovictory9]

2. this suv is going way off road and long line of cars using the shoulder

[Hoyt]

3. Good. Luckily, I don't hit that kind of traffic anymore. But 40+ years of it before.

[Dial H For Hero]

5. One of the funniest things I ever saw was someone who tried to do this,

But didn’t realize that there was a raised strip of concrete a few inches wide that ran parallel to the road. They managed to get the tires on one side of their car over it…and wound up high-centered, unable to move an inch.

As I slowly passed them, they had the throttle maxed out, tires spinning furiously an inch off the ground.

[lagomorph777]

22. Maybe he just needed to smash the gas pedal a little harder.

[luckone]

6. I hear that Only thing more maybe for me is motorcycles who do

white lining during heavy traffic
Equally jerky and just if not more dangerous than blocking the emergency shoulder . Cmon people drive safe or stay home / find an alternate mode if you can’t handle the congestion

[moonscape]

8. Lane splitting is legal in CA though it

annoys me. I get the arguments for it in heavy traffic. When on the freeway going the speed limit, motorcyclists doing that tend to startle me.

[winstars]

9. I couldn't believe it when I was told its legal for motorcycles to do that but it is. CRAZY.

[moonscape]

10. Yeah, I think we're the only

state though others are looking at it.

In rushed and congested traffic it makes sense in that it reduces the congestion by not adding more car lengths, but going highway speeds?

[luckone]

12. it is illegal here and yes highway speeds is what I meant . Some of your traffic is at

parking lots speeds so if everyone is slowly creeping for many miles maybe it makes sense
Some real public transportation to take off some of the traffic load is sorely missing out in many areas of CA imo and makes more sense but every place is different

[haele]

21. Lane splitting is only legal when traffic is going under 15mph. And it has to be done safely.

I.E, the cyclist has to watch for lane switchers and is only supposed to be splitting the lane for no more than a few hundred yards to get to an open lane or exit and not going at high speed. I don't remember exactly the proscribed distance, it's been 15 years since I got my motorcycle operators licence.

If a donor cycle rider is splitting lanes unsafely or at high speed in slow or heavy traffic, they are also considered more liable for any accident they are involved in. Most riders forget that part of the licence booklet, but CA insurance companies certainly don't.

Not that CHP enforces lane splitting rules unless someone is really being dangerous.

Haele
(Who used to commute 28 miles a day to work on a 175cc Genuine Buddy scooter for about 5 years...)

[moonscape]

23. That's actually not accurate.

https://www.kqed.org/news/11680481/10-things-you-need-to-know-to-understand-lane-splitting-in-california


1. It’s legal

One of the biggest misconceptions is that when motorcyclists are lane splitting, they are breaking the law. They're not.

"The practice of lane splitting or lane sharing has never been prohibited by California law," said Sgt. Larry Starkey, who runs the California Highway Patrol's California Motorcyclist Safety Program. "So therefore it's always been an acceptable practice."

According to the 2014 study, only 60.7 percent of vehicle drivers knew that lane splitting was legal.

Motorcyclists who are lane splitting still have to obey speed limits and other rules of the road, and can be ticketed if they don't lane split responsibly.

[DemocraticPatriot]

11. Glad I don't have to drive in California, or some place like that...

Things are not so congested in humble Lansing, Michigan, except maybe during the 5pm rush hour...

[Straw Man]

13. I spent eight years living in Tokyo, commuting by motorcycle.

Lane-splitting is legal there. There are so many bikes on the road that traffic jams would be much worse without it. The car drivers expect it -- it doesn't freak them out the way it does here. However, it's also much, much harder to get your motorcycle license in Japan, with a difficult road test that covers skills such as maneuvering in tight spaces at low speeds, so motorcycle riders are able to lane-split without bouncing off people's cars, etc.

[obamanut2012]

16. Lane splitting is illegal here

But they do it, as fats as they can, and most with no helmets. On I-95.

[sarcasmo]

4. Chicago drivers drive between the right lane and cement wall/shoulder.

94 was backed up and it was 94 degrees on the car on Monday.

[herding cats]

7. ATX 2018 a jerk doing this caused an accident at a stoplight I was at which totaled my car.

It was a brand new car I'd saved for 6 years to buy. Under 3 months old and the person who hit me had no insurance.

They pulled out of an apartment complex into the shoulder going right and drove like it was a lane for a mile. A person turning left clipped them and sent them upside down into the right side of my vehicle. There were 5 vehicles totaled in the wreck. I miraculously steered through the stopped traffic (which parted like the proverbial Red Sea) and was the only vehicle which didn't subsequently hit another one.

Ultimately, 3 people tried to sue me. 3 f-ing people! Including the person who hit me at a stoplight. Me, the one person who inflicted no damage on another vehicle, everyone else hit someone else other than me. My insurance laughed them all off.

That event cost me over 4k excluding lost work and medical copayment which I wasn't reimbursed for since they didn't have basic liability.

Bad drivers still chafe my butt.

[Demovictory9]

14. perfect illustration of why driving on shoulder is dangerous

[North Shore Chicago]

15. With this kind of congestion,

the authorities SHOULD have allowed the shoulder to be used as a lane. Makes sense to me.

[obamanut2012]

17. No, that is for emergency vehicles and stoppage ONLY

Why in the world do you think this okay?

I live in SOFL, our traffic can suck, and I have seen so many times ambulances not able to reach someone because of assholes who do this, but for some reason you think this kind of lawbreaking and dangerous should be allowed?

[North Shore Chicago]

18. Valid points.

[Silent3]

20. I've actually heard of places where the should is legally turned into an extra lane...

...during rush hour. Maybe the emergency vehicles were never able to get through very well anyway? At any rate, if it becomes legally allowed, it isn't lawbreaking anymore. Unwise, yes. Lawbreaking, no.

[sanatanadharma]

19. There was a time when I drove buses for Greyhound

I worked a few years out of Colorado and drove day trip skiers from Denver to various slopes.
When my right lane traffic backed-up in stop and go situations, I would see, in my right mirror, cars moving to the shoulder to pass others. So I enjoyed doing the same, moving into and blocking the shoulder with half the bus. I did not pass, but no one else did either. We all arrived to our destinations in our due time.
Those who, when in the same boat as all others, demand special treatment are maga-egotists who believe no conspiracy theory can be true except their own conspiracy theory.