Public Comment

Lane splitting is currently and thankfully illegal in the State of California. A bill recently passed the state Assembly to legalize this annoying and dangerous activity. Please don't vote for this legislation. Lane splitting is incredibly dangerous and endangers the lives of bikers and others.  

Most bikers zoom past you coming within inches of your car. You can't even read their plate numbers as the plates are small. They brush your car, sideswipe you and speed off, never to be caught and held accountable. Don't legalize an obviously dangerous impatient method of driving by bikers. 

The rationale for this bill is faulty. They claim they worry about being rear ended if they don't lane split. What about the likelihood of more accidents as you squeeze between cars. Most lane splitters not only engage in this crazy activity, they speed when doing it. Can the CHP catch a speeding lanesplitter, especially one who is fleeing an accident they have caused? 

I am an attorney and practice personal injury law. I can only imagine the vast increase in claims, litigation, and court cases as insurance companies and claimants try to sort out how an accident happened due to lane splitting. Bikers will lie about their speed. They will claim they were only going 10 miles above the flow of traffic. They will never admit they were flying through a narrow space, endangering themselves and others. 

This legislation is poorly thought out and a headache waiting to happen. 

People who drive motorcycles make a choice. If they are in an accident they have little protection and suffer more serious injuries than if they were in a car. This is a choice they have made. Now, under the phony guise of safety, they are asking that they not only endanger their own lives, but further endanger the lives of others by lane splitting, in essence creating a lane of passage that is unsafe for all. 

Their real motive is to alleviate their impatience and not to have to deal with traffic like the rest of us. But at what cost to us and to them?