It sure startled me the first time I saw it. It'd be interesting to know how a law that seems so crazy came to be.
Gradually, other bikers began to follow them or just follow suit.
I don't know if they made it legal just so the law could continue to do it or if some other factor came into play.
Today's riders, and their bikes, are a whole new mind set and I avoid them like a bad cough. But, even so, they're less obnoxious than a herd of spandex clad pedal pushers convinced that they get extra privileges because they're good for the environment.
I know, I know!!! Even though some modern rice burners are liquid cooled and have radiators and such, motorcycles didn't for most of the 20th century. They were air-cooled (many still are) and need to keep moving to generate air-flow over the engine. In traffic jams, air-cooled motorcycles could overheat and actually damage the engine. Lane-splitting allowed motorcycles to ease through traffic jams where they had room.
I’ts really quite simple. The law does not forbid “lane-sharing” It is not lane-splitting. Lane splitting is the act of riding the Bots Dots, lane-sharing is using the extra space in the 10-12ft lane that a car isn’t using. Typically the fast lane is the lane of choice for this maneuver.
I can count on both hands the number of times its saved my life, because inattentive “cagers” decided to ignore safe following distances and not be aware of the slowing traffic in front of me. The most memorable was a Volvo wagon rear-ending the Corvette I was following, until traffic came to a screeching halt. I lane-shared, and the Volvo impacted the Corvette instead of me and the Corvette!