What is Lane Splitting? In U.S., there are some traffic laws that conflicts and applies state by state such as lane splitting which is only legal in California and the rest of the states still prohibits this type of practice for some reasons. Lane splitting is a traffic practice where motorcycle riders can merge over or in between lanes or rows of slow moving vehicles or on completely stopped traffic in the same direction, for others, it is called as whitelining or stripe-riding. The reason why the state of California legalized this is for the riders to save time through bypassing passable traffic through motorcycle, and thought that is safer option rather than being in rest behind large vehicles which is right under huge vehicle drivers’ blindspot. In some extended researches fron Univeristy of California in 2015, lane splitting is only optimal when vehicles along are moving at 50 mph or less and when motorcyclists doesn’t overspeed ang contest with the moving traffic at 15 mph.
What are its risks? New riders are at risks when practicing lane splitting as they may be surprised by the pace of huge vehicles beside them and may lose focus, this is true as well to young drivers as there is an existing chance for them to be surprise by motor or doesn’t have full control over the vehicle and may end up gushing up rider’s side and result in an accident called sideswipe.
Lane Splitting in Years - 2.6% of all drivers who practices lane-splitting has been involved in accidents, majority of these numbers are struck on their side mirror which accounts for 34.6% and 11.1% has sustained minor injuries while the other 9.9% sustained significant injuries.
- On rush hours of a day, in the same group of lane-splitting drivers, 14.9% of them hit vehicles or were sideswipe and another majority nearly been involved in an accident with a vehicle.
- 20.5% of those who practice lane-splitting said that they travel 15mph or more than the surrounding traffic to avoid being run over while another 32.9% of the riders said that they stay stationary while traffic is in full stop as well and 31.5% said that they practice lane-splitting depending on the situation.
In California, when you have been involved in an accident with a lane-splitting driver, the liability depends on who has the faulty positioning in the event of the accident or what are the driver’s mental status at that point — if they were either drunk, distracted, or just plain driving negligently or recklessly. While in other states where it is illegal such as Ohio, when you practice or attempt to lane-splitting, you are fully liable to any damages inflicted by the accident happened even if it does seemed not your fault and if the other driver is either drunk or distracted, it comes down to comparative negligence law mechanics.
Call your Attorney If ever you or one of your family members has been involved or has experienced an road accident as a victim that has render to sustain significant injuries caused by lane-splitting, you can always refer help from a professional experienced injury lawyer to smoothen things out as your hired lawyers can help you decide from their factual and legal advices.
Ryan Injury Lawyers is an Ohio based injury lawyer that represents victims of personal injury caused by car accidents, medical malpractice due to medical professional’s negligence, and even wrongful death against large companies, agencies and even individuals. We have 40 years of experience doing our service in this field and evidently successful with our civil litigations. Call our office now for free legal consultation.
