[alanmcorcoran]

Sarris,

The law is a bit sketchy, and somewhat selectively enforced.

From the "Driver" manual: Motorcycles may travel faster than traffic during congested road conditions and can legally travel in the unused space between two lines of moving or stationary vehicles, which is commonly called “lane splitting.”

From the "Motorcyle" Manual: Cars and motorcycles each need a full lane to operate safely. Lane sharing is not safe.
Riding between rows of stopped or moving cars in the same lane can leave you vulnerable. A car could turn suddenly or change lanes, a door could open, or a hand could come out of a window. Discourage lane sharing by others. Keep a center position whenever drivers might be tempted to squeeze by you.

From the CHP website: "Lane splitting by motorcycles is permissible under California law but must done in a safe and prudent manner."

There used to be verbiage about not going more than ten miles faster than the traffic, not doing it when the traffic is stopped, doing it only when the traffic was going under a certain speed, etc. but that appears to have been removed.

There is a an ongoing debate about whether you can do it between a car pool lane and the regular lanes. Some say yes, some say no, it's basically up to the LEO that might be giving you a ticket.

I do it for one reason and one reason only - to get home a few minutes faster or to get where I'm going on time. I only split when traffic is either stopped or going very slowly. I've had two mirror on mirror incidents, neither one of which I think caused any damage, nor did I stop to chat about them. Just minor bumps that resulted in my mirror getting pushed forward out of position.

It's probably as dangerous as it looks, but, it's also quite exhilarating (and, I'll admit, fun!) It's much easier to do on the Geezer (one of the reasons I ride the Geezer to work) but I've done it on the Strat on the feeeway plenty o times. You have to be hyper vigilant of the traffic, where it's moving, watch the drivers, watch the taillights, be careful when approaching exits, etc. I have had people deliberately not move over but no one has ever deliberately moved INTO my space (to block) A surprising amount of people WILL MOVE OVER to let you by. Seriously! Most of the time there is enough room to get past regular cars without them doing anything. You have to be more judicious passing Trucks and SUVS. If you get in the right rhythm, in slow moving traffic you can sort of slalom between the two lanes of traffic using the "cushion" space.

Here's a funny story. On my way back from a certain dispensary, with my medicine in my saddle bags, I encountered a backup on my two-lane commuter thoroughfare, La Palma Avenue. I commenced into the breach, zigging, zagging, juking and duking astride the Geezer. Hearing the sound of a "Bigger Dog", I glanced in the mirror and here comes Honda mounted Mr. CHP! The traffic being stopped at this point, and me having been somewhat aggressive with the sneaking through, I wasn't sure what was gonna happen. I meekly pulled over into a gap between the stopped vehicles, and Johnny Law just accelerated right past me.

Bottom line sir: it's like you and ATTGATT. There's no question that you are better off not doing it, but, it's legal, it's fun, and, well, I'm probably gonna do it until I crash into some road raged SUV and have to have his driver side mirror excised from my face. I don't recommend it to those that want to live long.