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Commuting Thoughts

iehawk

iehawk

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 4, 2005
Location
Union City
Moto(s)
S1000 R
Name
Al
I commute on my motorcycle almost every day. I always think of the possibilities every time I lane-share, often wonder at those who go much quicker than I am, especially after several years ago, a motorcycle went down behind me, following me lane-splitting. And I'm a slow one.

How far back can a driver see? It's different when the cars line up nicely like this, which is not too often.

How big would a motorcycle be by the 1st car, 2nd, 3rd, 4th?

Imagine if the car right behind is closer to the middle line.

For reference... look at the mirror's font size (object...), compare it with your car passenger mirror... add the distance from the driver's seat to it. Drivers concentrate mostly up front and only check the mirrors in seconds at a time. That's without checking their phones.

Imagine if it's night time, dark, all headlights are on. Can you still differentiate a motorcycle between them?
 

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I mean no disrespect, but what is this post about?


Is it just a generic "be careful out there"?
 
gixxerjeff said:
You're giving other drivers way too much credit for having their head in the game.
Pro tip: Most don't.
Assume you're invisible and respond accordingly.
Click to expand...
Agreed. It also assumes that people have their mirrors adjusted to allow them to easily see down the gap between lanes. Mine are not. The outside mirrors of my cars are adjusted in a manner that requires me to lean my head over 8in or more to see down the gap on either side of the car.
 
greenmonster said:
There’s a reason why lane splitting is illegal most everywhere else.
Click to expand...
I am willing to bet it is legal in more places than not. Yes... the US is behind on this and some goober a long time ago thought it was cheating so it got made ilegal. Supposed safety by a non-riding goober would be my bet.

Other States are catching up... slowly. I believed that would take place after CA codified it. Happy to see it.
greenmonster said:
I love the fact that I can do but it makes me nervous as hell.
Click to expand...
The beauty is you can or choose not too. :flag

I am not a moto commuter so don't face the choice often, but when the opportunity is there I am taking it!
 
You are absolutely invisible.

Your revv bombs do nothing.
Your hi viz clothing and flashing high beam do nothing.

Cars and drivers will act however they want without the slightest concert for your being.

You are not seen coming up lane splitting, from either the driver's or passenger side lanes.

Act accordingly.

I had a laugh as I was leaving SF on 101 yesterday headed for the bay bridge when 2 CHP motos on beemer appeared on my left, when I saw him next to me out my peripheral and he gave a whisper of a revv bomb while passing, like a unicorn fart, not audible more than 2 feet from their tailpipe.

I commuted from SF to Mountain View and San Mateo via moto for decades from the mid 90s to mid teens usually splitting 101 for half the ride at least.
Never hit or crashed, but definitely gave up one or two of my nine lives for close calls.

I would not want to be doing it now in the age of cellphone obsession
 
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I still commute by moto everyday from Turlock to Modesto. Every year traffic is getting worse and even if I leave a couple minutes later then my scheduled time I'm splitting most of the way.

I've had some close calls but I know what I signed up for, I could always choose to ride because it's convenient. With blind spot detection, although it's an aid I've noticed that a lot of drivers solely rely on that and rarely look over their shoulder. Plus the cell-phone useage!
 
iehawk said:
I commute on my motorcycle almost every day. I always think of the possibilities every time I lane-share, often wonder at those who go much quicker than I am, especially after several years ago, a motorcycle went down behind me, following me lane-splitting. And I'm a slow one.

How far back can a driver see? It's different when the cars line up nicely like this, which is not too often.

How big would a motorcycle be by the 1st car, 2nd, 3rd, 4th?

Imagine if the car right behind is closer to the middle line.

For reference... look at the mirror's font size (object...), compare it with your car passenger mirror... add the distance from the driver's seat to it. Drivers concentrate mostly up front and only check the mirrors in seconds at a time. That's without checking their phones.

Imagine if it's night time, dark, all headlights are on. Can you still differentiate a motorcycle between them?
Click to expand...

Assume they do not see behind them. At all.

I ride like I am invisible, and I ride as predictably as possible. This gets me around blind drivers while also telling alert drivers of my intentions. I've found this combination to work quite nicely.

If I am trying to split, I position myself next to the line looking for room. If I am not splitting, I stay in the middle 2/3 of the lane keeping an eye on my mirrors.

I always have an exit plan. If I need to use that exit plan I have done something wrong and will later think about why it was needed and if it can be avoided in the future.
 
Remember this: Loud Pipes Save Lives.
I have (not too loud I hope) aftermarket pipes on my motorcycles for the above reason. It seems to help. People react to the sound by pulling over many times.

I only split when traffic is stopped or nearly so. At my age I have no time for any reaction if something goes wrong. I see people split at 45-50mph all the time. I'm slow and will get out of the way, but at speed no one has the reaction skills to avoid anything.
 
I regularly split from Fremont to Sunnyvale when I was working. For me, it was the only way to maintain sanity.
 
iCommute by motorcycle... daily.

I cannot imagine not splitting.
I cannot imagine sitting in stop and go traffic in rush hour in this summer heat between big rigs & Teslas...
That sounds more dangerous than splitting.
 
"I just ride for fun, I don't want to turn it into a chore like driving is for me" I say to myself. "I'm not jealous of every single motorcycle I see on the road while commuting," I insist.

Once I muster the courage to lane split, it's over for the Prius. :laughing
 
I barely write and my writing skill has decreased significantly and took me a while to figure out the new interface here. I hope this can clarify a bit more. :)

Trying to illustrate how invisible we are really. Most of us are drivers too, so we know. I do ride like I'm invisible, it has served me well and I won't do it any other way. Thought it was clear enough in the first paragraph... "I often wonder at those who go much quicker than I am...", should've added while lane-splitting, how some take chances on others not swerving or lane changing. Even if one has the reaction time, is there enough time to balance the brake, the bike, and avoid?

I'm also seeing this from a driver's perspective, as vigilant as I am looking out for riders, a few would sneak up fast on me.

The mirror image is an ideal way... also zoomed in and not moving. That's why then I added if viewed from the driver's seat, cars in different positions (1st to 4th), comparing cars/motorcycles to the font/letter size... cars are small, a motorcycle is even tinier to a dot.

I used to be a proponent of adjusting my left and right mirrors way out to cover the blindspot too... but have had a car move toward me while I was lane-splitting by its rear quarter panel... I was in his/her now inner blindspot. So I eventually learnt it's just switching the blindspot inward. I could lean to cover it, but what I do now is I adjust both mirrors to be more in the middle, so I lean half way in to see the car body and half way out to cover the blindspot. Much easier for me for the same wide coverage.

Loud pipes save lives to a point... learnt this too when I was riding a friend's Zero. People move all across since that thing doesn't exist to anyone's ears on the road. 😂 But too loud, it's your turn to not be able to hear anyone else outside your vision+peripheral (learnt that one too from another friend's bike with a very loud pipe).
 
iehawk said:
Even if one has the reaction time, is there enough time to balance the brake, the bike, and avoid?
Click to expand...

This is exactly my worry. I see guys flying between lanes with no chance of avoiding a sudden lane changer.
They are either stupid or over confident.
There have been times I’ve had to move over for these jackrabbits.
I don’t care if I’m slower than them.
 
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