You know what cops call motorcycle riders?
Organ donors.
That’s because motorcycle accident deaths are 22% to 28% higher than those involving vehicles.
Motorcycles represent only 3% of registered vehicles, but over 16% of all fatalities.
Some of the reasons for the higher rate? Unsafe speed, improper turning and automobile right-of-way violations.
Let’s visit the third one here. Automobile right-of-way. That means that whoever occupies a lane has the right of way.
But what about the abhorrent practice of lane-splitting?
California is the only state in the nation that allows motorcycles to ride between rows of slow-moving or stopped traffic in the same lane.
The problem is – they never just do it during slow traffic. Drive any freeway in California and you’ll have bikers roaring by you at 70+ miles per hour, weaving in and out of traffic, cutting cars off, and a lot of times just narrowly missing clipping a vehicle. Young men on rice rockets who split lanes when traffic is stopped.
CalTrans, in their infinite wisdom (remember they are the geniuses who designed the god-awful mess that is the Valley Circle/Calabasas Road exchange) is now posting signs on their electronic freeway board exhorting motorists to “Share the road. Look twice for motorcyclists.”
Wait a minute? How am I supposed to look behind me for a biker traveling at high speed? What am I supposed to do at that point? They are weaving in and out of lanes. If I move over I have no idea what their direction could be and could really cause problems.
Last winter I was crawling along at five miles per hour in torrential rain, and out of nowhere a fast-moving motorcycle (going too fast for the weather) slipped on the wet pavement and literally bounced off my car. I never saw him coming, and knew nothing until my car jolted from the impact.
I’m supposed to watch for them? Not just watch, but look twice? That’s really safe. Spend all my time looking in the rear view mirror for speeding motorcycles.
Shouldn’t the responsibility be on them to look ahead and assess the road conditions, the traffic, the danger?
Again, it’s CalTrans. The wonderful people who decide to clean the freeways during rush hour. Who close the 405 to do maintenance during the day.
My advice to drivers? Stay the course. Look ahead. And when you hear them roar, the old adage, “stay in your lane,” turns from proverb – to plea.
