Legal or not, “lane splitting” on a motorcycle is utterly stupid IMHO. You have essentially reduced your margin of safety to zero.
That being said, I would oppose any laws against this dumb maneuver. Let these people have their freedom to risk their lives in any way they wish, just don’t expect me to pay the financial costs of their actions. But that’s just the libertarian in me coming out.
I lived and rode in Cali, and The only way I ever did it was when traffic was at a stand still, and then I never went over 10 or 15 miles per hour while doing it, because like this article points out. You never know what folks in cars are going to do.
You decide to split lanes between a big rig and a car who are both doing 55MPH or more, and wind up turned into road paste, you pretty much set yourself up for it.
The problem with that rationale is that if I hit a motorcyclist, then I have the awful trauma of either hurting or killing someone, whether or not they were right or wrong. Also, in my state of Louisiana, and I don’t know if other states do the same, even if the other party was wrong, they still sue the other party, and the insurance companies here will settle out of court rather than run up costs of going to court, and the person in the wrong still gets a payoff.
I lane split...a few times.
But here's the ONLY times I would do it:
When traffic was bumper to bumper...and stopped or barely moving. IOW, there was virtually no chance of someone changing lanes in front of me...or into me. And I never went very fast....
That said...I still had people intentionally squeeze me.
How do I know that...? I made eye contact with them in their side mirrors. They saw me coming...and didn't like the fact that I was moving ahead..and they weren't. I also had people act like they were going to open their doors when they saw me splitting lanes.
“Let these people have their freedom to risk their lives in any way they wish”
The car they smack into could be yours. What other traffic type laws do you want wiped so people can live in “freedom.” Red lights? Stop signs?
A lane splitting motorcyclist probably does not endanger your life. But he does endanger your property. And it doesn’t feel very good to be part of a motorcyclist’s death, even if it wasn’t your fault.
I’m not sure whether I oppose lane splitting or not - another poster said a CHP study showed lane splitting is safer than sitting in traffic - but to support it just on “freedom” grounds implies the motorcyclist is driving in a vacuum, which he is not.