Safe Lane Splitting Speed?

[Hornet]

5char

[21]

Meh i think i'll slow my splitting down a bit after today.
North on Kwinana a car decided that he wanted my lane and my arm and mirror came in contact with his mirror.
Jesus my arm still hurts now.

Not good mate, thankfully I haven't had that yet, but splitting lans has save me once odley enough. pulled out to split and a P plater filled my spot and hit the anchors, the truck that was behind me turned the sadan into a hatch instantly, I was lucky, and thankful for it.

[thro]

Depends on the width of the space, but i'll split up to around 60km/h or so.

I don't feel a desperate need to do it at any speed higher than that....

Maybe this will change now i'm working in perth and may have to actually get to places on time, rather than driving around here on days off tho

[lee]

Lee's right

never gets old, that

[MuNch]

There isn't and cannot be any defined answer for most things motorcycles do. You as a rider have to assess the situation and ride accordingly. Having said that for every situation there is a correct speed and correct position to be in it just requires your judgement as a rider to find that.

Personally I will FILTER through stationary traffic and will SPLIT traffic at up to 40 Km/h. Too many drivers do not use indication or mirrors or even headchecks, and splitting by them at speed will not only put you in danger it will also annoy drivers, further adding to the already growing problems we have as motorcyclists.

But its your ride, and we aren't here to tell you what you can and can't do.

[shmoo]

My commute only includes 50 and 60km/hr roads so I only split at slow speeds - usually when the traffic has completely stopped.

I dont have a lot of experience splitting at speed so would avoid it generally anyway.

[Mr M00se]

Well Captin I did get passed today by someone on a hornet with a rear box, now they were moving

[Satan1]

I find that the slower the speed, the faster the cages will change direction, making it more dangerous. I prefer to split when they're doing either 0km/h or more than 60. In between and the fuckers tend to indicate their actions instead of their intentions.

+1 I feel more at ease splitting when traffic is going more than sixty. Are you more at ease when you are going 30 or 70 on the freeway? when its 30 the drivers are far more iratic

[Tornado]

I tend to filter at the lights mainly. On the odd occasion when I am in peak traffic, I will sneak through if the traffic is moving up to about 30-40 kays. But you have to watch for cagers who are constantly looking for a better deal in the other lane. The other lane is normally like a dodgy affair. Seems like a good idea till you do it.

Safe speed isn't measured in Kilometres per hour!!

[thro]

Depends on the width of the space, but i'll split up to around 60km/h or so.

I don't feel a desperate need to do it at any speed higher than that....

Maybe this will change now i'm working in perth and may have to actually get to places on time, rather than driving around here on days off tho

Heh.

been riding to work for 3 days now in peak hour (as opposed to riding where i like during the day when every bastard is working)... erm.. "safe splitting speed" appears to have changed. a bit.

Have noticed heaps of people moving over when higher than the speed limit, so...

[Eukanuba]

be aggressive when you split, and own the road.. otherwise, the cheese graters will get ya..

and, if you ride a postie bike on the freeway in peak hour.. and you dont move over from on the line ( i.e. you're not splitting at speed ) let guys who will, take over.. you'll find they open the lane up.. and make it safer for ya.. ( cos cagers dont respect a ct110 )

[woody]

just don;t do it on a wednesday morning at about 6.20 between powis and vincent on the freeway heading south. you'll get booked for reckless. i know

woody

[cruelcheffy]

Depends what I feel like and how much in a hurry I am.
But generally I agree with most people here. I start splitting when traffic slows to around 40km/h and stop at about 50 to 60.
I have had to pull the emergency anchor too many times coz some wanker changed lanes or just wanted to scare me!

[Tenchi]

There is no safe lanesplitting speed.

Personally I try to maintain about 30km/h faster than the traffic... It also means that once I'm passing a car and they move behind my "cone of attention" I'm minimising the time that I'm still in danger - splitting at the same speed as or only marginally faster than the traffic around you is fkn dangerous.

Pretty much my opinion too - most splitting is one extra risk to the myriad of dangers a rider is exposed to. It's entirely my comfort level to split at that speed - 20-30 km/h is 5-8 metres per second; that means on average I spend about 0.5 - 1s in the danger zone next to a car. To me that is a long period of time to be there - I've seen Perth drivers do a complete lane change in less than 1s.

I'll split between 20-30km/h faster than traffic, up to 110 km/h if it's "safe" (car travelling at 80/90, right over the RHS of the lane - it's like a written invitation). The only exceptions I can think of are:
* when I'm trying to make a point to two drivers sitting at the same speed below the speed limit in the right and left lane for a good 5 km on the freeway with traffic backed up behind them - splitting usually results in the right lane driver taking action. High speed pass at 120 in this situation is ok to me;
* to get out of dangerous or emergency situations (e.g. if there's a huge truck slamming his brakes on your way and you're not convinced they're going to stop in time on Orrong Rd., as above for a jiffy van, perth taxi, Hyundai Excel, Holden Commo driver, etc. not singling out anyone...);
* To get out of any situation where your safety is compromised by bad driving (e.g. when an arrogant driver is tailgating you and invading your survival space);
* When I don't feel like it - then I won't split at all. I have a personal opinion on instinct and gut feeling I'll keep to myself, but the general idea is if you're not 100% comfortable splitting then you shouldn't be doing it.

In regards to arrogant/road rage drivers tailgating, I consider this an exceptional reason to break the rules because anything is better than hitting the pavement - I'd rather lose my bike and licence being labelled a hoon for speeding and reckless than lose my life because I didn't do enough to get away from a bad driver.

[Moorby]

I see a black r1 break the sound barrier when he splits... each to their own i guess

as the traffic gets quicker my splittin gets quicker but after 80kph or so i'll just slot back into the lane

[CT90]

be aggressive when you split, and own the road.. otherwise, the cheese graters will get ya..

and, if you ride a postie bike on the freeway in peak hour.. and you dont move over from on the line ( i.e. you're not splitting at speed ) let guys who will, take over.. you'll find they open the lane up.. and make it safer for ya.. ( cos cagers dont respect a ct110 )

Respect my authorita!

[thro]

be aggressive when you split, and own the road.. otherwise, the cheese graters will get ya..

+1

Have noticed that heaps of people actually make way for you at 130 ish

[Cbr1k]

Its the speed difference thats the problem. I split traffic no matter what speed they are going. (If a big bloke on a old CBR1000F goes flying past you its me ) I generally try not to go more than 30kph faster than the traffic I am splitting.

[Eukanuba]

I've noticed that some days, you get em all moving over for ya.. and i wave respectively.. to say thanks..

other days, they just all want to kill you.. like friday ( just gone ) - every car out there wanted to kill me.. so i just went past clipping mirrors and kickin panels on people shutting down my line.. bastards !

you know what's worse, when you tell people what drivers do - even tho they dont ride, they say ' wow, that's so dangerous and stupid ! '.. ( the lane shutting, not the splitting.. ) and i normally get ' yeah, i wish i could go down the middle.. I envy that '..

[thro]

Hmmm friday was ok for me Had 3-4 cars move over on the way to work, and a couple on the way home... tonkin/roe hwy...

Actually, on the way home on roe i had some guy in a stereotypical p plate hoon mobile VS commodore move well over and the shotgun passenger give the thumbs up and wave etc


edit:
Yeah i'll always give the thumbs up to those who move