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Yeah, splitting the lanes is legal alright, which is A-OK with me, especially in freeway commuter traffic stuck in a jam where average speeds vary from 15 to 35 mph. I have MANY TIMES had to drive 40 miles at an average speed of 15 mph. I look at those guys on the bikes splitting lanes and beating my time, and I say, God bless 'em -- more power to them! They're getting to where they want to go in half the time, and by not driving cars, they're freeing up more space for the rest of us.

That said, I'm also of the opinion that IN THE EVENT of an accident caused when a car switches lanes at the moment that a splitting-lanes biker is there, it should automatically be assumed that the biker was driving too fast for safety. The biker knows the risks he's taking by splitting lanes, and it puts far more onus on the auto drivers to keep an eye peeled than it does on the bikers to assume cautiously safe speeds. If bikers wants to keep the privelege, they should be willing to cede legal right-of-way, so to speak, to cars changing lanes, and it should be reflected in deciding who's at fault come insurance-bickering time.

"That said, I'm also of the opinion that IN THE EVENT of an accident caused when a car switches lanes at the moment that a splitting-lanes biker is there, it should automatically be assumed that the biker was driving too fast for safety. The biker knows the risks he's taking by splitting lanes, and it puts far more onus on the auto drivers to keep an eye peeled than it does on the bikers to assume cautiously safe speeds."

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I would say that in the strictest sense of the word what you described is truly an "accident". If lane splitting is legal where this takes place...and the car driver makes every attempt to detect a biker between lanes then this should be ruled as "no ones fault".

This is just my opinion....

Makes sense to me. I ride, I like bikes, I've had both metrics and Harleys and the last thing I want to do is to hit a bike! but changing lanes can be tricky enough without a quite but fast bike splitting lanes just as I'm making my move (and I always signal, you'd think that they might notice); I've nearly hit bikers two different times in the last month. The BMW's are the worst, some are whisper quiet...