Motorcycle Lane-Splitting Legal, but There Are Limits

Dear Street Smart:

Where is it written in the California Vehicle Code that motorcycles can ride between four-wheeled vehicles on surface streets and freeways? Why aren’t special lanes designated for this purpose, if it is legal? If it is not legal, why aren’t motorcyclists ticketed and why do police motorcycles operate in this fashion?

This practice seems especially unnerving and dangerous when traffic is moving.

Gary V. Hazard

Murrieta

Nothing in the vehicle code bans motorcycles from “lane splitting,” so the practice is legal, according to California Highway Patrol Sgt. Gary DeKinder. However, motorcyclists who ride too fast between cars may find themselves being ticketed.

A reasonable speed would be no more than 9 m.p.h. faster than the surrounding traffic, said DeKinder, who heads the CHP’s motorcycle training division.

If freeway traffic is crawling along at 5 m.p.h., slipping between the cars at up to 14 m.p.h. would be OK. Over that, a cyclist may be nabbed for traveling at unsafe speed.

“Your speed is so much greater than other cars that you are not going to be able to avoid them if something happens,” DeKinder said.

When freeway traffic is moving faster, about 20 to 30 m.p.h., some cyclists make unsafe lane changes. They ride along between cars, then cut into a lane, forcing traffic behind to slow. That’s a ticketable offense. Instead, riders should slow to the prevailing speed and move over when a break in traffic allows, DeKinder said.

For those in autos, mirrors are the best defense against the unsafe motorcyclist who lane-splits.

“You’re going to get a surprise occasionally because we do have people who are splitting traffic at an unsafe speed,” DeKinder said. Drivers won’t be caught off guard if they constantly check their mirrors and blind spots, he said.

Visual clues can also save motorcyclists from automobiles. A driver who turns his head is probably about to change lanes, DeKinder said. Catching that motion can give early warning to a cyclist.

DeKinder also warned cyclists against splitting lanes when more than two car lengths open up between vehicles. “You have to automatically assume or anticipate that someone is going to fill that hole, and that’s when motorcycle riders get hit,” he said.

As for motorcycle lanes, Caltrans spokesman George Hartwell said they would be impractical. You would need at least six feet to build a proper lane--which is half the size of a normal lane. That room would probably have to be taken away from existing lanes--diminishing traffic capacity on the freeway, Hartwell said.

Dear Street Smart:

There’s a very stressful right-turn lane from northbound Superior Avenue to 17th Street, in Costa Mesa. I’ve seen more tempers flare at 7 a.m. due to this lane than you could imagine.

Most cars turn right onto 17th, then make a left onto Newport Boulevard in order to reach the freeway. Many cars line up well in advance and tail each other, so as to block other cars from entering the lane.

This problem can be corrected by allowing right turns from Superior’s center lane. The intersection appears wide enough to allow this. Would you mind looking into this for the thousands of us who commute up Superior every day?

Mark A. Stepanek

Newport Beach

Looks as if you’ll get your wish. The center lane on northbound Superior at 17th will be made to do double duty, allowing right turns also, according to Costa Mesa engineer Dave Sorge.

In addition, the left-turn pockets on 17th that lead to northbound Newport Boulevard will be lengthened. That will allow more cars to turn, Sorge said.

The new striping may be done as early as September, Sorge said. If the city has to hire a contractor, changes might not be done until December.

Dear Street Smart:

Why didn’t Caltrans make the entrance to the car-pool lanes on the northbound San Diego Freeway closer to the junction with the Santa Ana Freeway, the El Toro Y? Cars have to wait until past Irvine Center Drive to get to the entrance. I think this would alleviate some of the backup at Irvine Center Drive. I know Caltrans is planning on rebuilding the El Toro Y, but that will be years in the future, and people need relief now. Besides, how much would it cost to re-stripe the freeway to move the car pool lane entrance closer?

Patrick O’Connor

Aliso Viejo

The El Toro Y rebuilding that you mention is the main reason the lane wasn’t extended. It would get in the way of construction that is set to begin in June, 1994, said Joe El-Harake, the Caltrans car-pool lane coordinator. When the project is finished three to four years later, you’ll be able to take a car-pool lane straight from the San Diego to Santa Ana Freeway, and vice versa.

Extending the lane would also be expensive--about $500,000, El-Harake estimated. That’s because about a mile of pavement would have to be built to make room for the lane.

Last week, Street Smart wrote that those with learner permits could drive a car if a licensed driver 18 years or older was with them, but the DMV failed to mention to this reporter that the rules are different for minors. One reader called to report the omission, and Jack Levenson of El Toro mailed in a copy of his son’s permit, which is emblazoned with the restrictions. Thanks go out to both for the catch.

For the record, those under 18 with a learner’s permit must have a licensed parent, guardian, spouse, driving instructor or adult over 25 in the car for them to drive.

This change was made in 1983 as part of a program to see if safety could be improved by more strictly controlling driver’s licenses held by minors. Other changes make it easier to suspend or revoke the licenses of minors who get too many tickets or have too many accidents.

According to the DMV, the changes have significantly reduced accidents and traffic violations among 16- and 17-year-old drivers. The program has no expiration date, but two bills in the state Legislature propose making the program permanent, according to DMV spokesman Gary Quinliven.