There’s no question why there are so many motorcycle riders in California: We have sun all year round, there are so many scenic roads, and the weather is almost always nice. That said, with more motorcycles comes a higher chance of getting involved in a motorcycle accident.
The sad truth is that while a car accident may be somewhat minor, a motorcycle accident is almost always serious. Cars provide protective shells for drivers and passengers, while motorcycles leave riders vulnerable. At Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas, we can help those injured in motorcycle or car accidents, as well as those left behind by fatal car or motorcycle accidents. Read on to learn more about the practice of lane splitting or call us at 909-982-0707 to set up your free consultation.
California has recently changed its lane-splitting laws
In most countries in the world, lane-splitting is a common practice that residents don’t think twice about. However, the U.S. is one of the only countries in the world that has taken a strong stance against the idea of lane-splitting. For many years, California was the one exception. While we didn’t have any official pro-lane-splitting laws on the books, most counties allowed it.
The lack of specific laws caught lawmakers’ eyes and in 2016 they passed laws that finally made the rules official – or did it? The new law doesn’t actually create any specifics for lane splitting. It doesn’t specifically allow it, nor does it ban it. So what does it do? It gives the State Highway Patrol the authorization to come up with their own guidelines on the legality of lane splitting. Essentially, lawmakers told the SHP that they could create their own laws.
This was good news for motorcycle drivers who wanted to feel safer and more confident when lane splitting, but the unfortunate part is the guidelines have yet to be developed. The California Department of Motor Vehicles used to have general guidelines for lane splitting on their website. However, those guidelines have been removed. Does that mean that it’s now officially illegal to lane split? And what about those people who need help understanding guidelines?
The only thing we know for sure as of today is that the highway patrol can – and does – issue tickets for lane splitting – but only when they feel that the driver is acting unsafely. To the best of our knowledge, there have still not been any tickets issued specifically because of lane splitting.
Just how safe is lane splitting?
We can’t really gather statistics on how safe lane splitting is because it’s not practiced in very many places. There’s plenty of anecdotal data and strong opinions based on those, but we haven’t seen any real data. There are plenty of drivers who feel unsafe with motorcycles speeding by when they’re in traffic, but bikers say that it helps them quickly get out of one of the most dangerous situations for bikers: heavy stop and go traffic.
At Law Offices of Fernando D. Vargas, we hope the guidelines will be cleared up in the near future. In the meantime, if you or someone you love was injured in a motorcycle accident, give us a call at 909-982-0707 to set up your free consultation.
