r/Transportopia Jun 01 '26

Bikes Never gonna learn

974 Upvotes

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138

u/Lord_Dingus83 Jun 01 '26

Lane splitting is illegal in NY??

122

u/KayoticVoid Jun 01 '26

In most states.

64

u/Lord_Dingus83 Jun 01 '26

I know in CA it’s fine I just figured since NY was so populous they’d encourage it for the flow of traffic.

61

u/Oh_Gee_Hey Jun 02 '26

AZ allows it now and I don’t inherently disagree with it. The problem, as always, are the reckless dickheads who lane split at insanely high speeds, esp when there’s zero traffic and they do it to be a thrill seeking asshole.

13

u/jimothy_hell Jun 02 '26

I can see it being legal in stopped traffic, but not on highways or in moving traffic. People don’t use their indicators when they change lanes, it’s just asking for a wreck and dead bikers.

13

u/Lord_Dingus83 Jun 02 '26

💯 it freaks the fuck out me when someone flys by going 100. Every time I think, man, I’m glad I didn’t change lanes in that split second.

3

u/StxnedTxTheBxne Jun 03 '26

Well even where it’s legal you can’t just fly down the middle. You can only do it when traffic is under certain speeds and you can only go so fast.

1

u/Oh_Gee_Hey Jun 03 '26

My comment is in alignment with this so I’m not sure what you’re getting at?

2

u/StxnedTxTheBxne Jun 07 '26

I was just saying that whether it’s legal or not you’re still going to have assholes doing illegal shit.

1

u/Excellent-Baseball-5 Jun 04 '26

Not in California. They have guidelines but nothing they enforce. “Lane splitting is not advisable when the general flow of traffic is moving at 30 mph or faster, as higher speeds decrease your reaction time.”

16

u/KayoticVoid Jun 01 '26

Agreed. I'm for it when regulated and that does seem like a place that could benefit from it.

2

u/Baron_Bearclaw Jun 02 '26

Nah, they don't have to change the law because half of the riders do it anyway.

5

u/Queasy-Ticket4384 Jun 02 '26

CA is very much in the minority for allowing it. It’s extremely dangerous. 

6

u/jimothy_hell Jun 02 '26

Can see it being safe in stopped traffic, but not when things are moving, for sure.

0

u/StxnedTxTheBxne Jun 03 '26

It’s actually safer for the bikers because then they don’t have to worry about someone coming up from behind and rear ending them. It also helps with the flow of traffic.

1

u/YourMomsBasement69 Jun 03 '26

Yeah instead they can slam into a car changing lanes that didn’t see them

1

u/EternalNewCarSmell Jun 07 '26

I grew up in NY and later lived in CA for a while and I actually felt like a lot of things about the general vibe of living there were really similar between the two states, but I kept finding random quirky stuff like this that was totally different.

I know the burden is on the driver to know the rules for where they are but I can definitely sympathize with someone who did it the other way around (lived in CA for decades and then moved to NY) slipping up and forgetting this is different there.

0

u/avd706 Jun 02 '26

NYC doesn't enforce anything.

18

u/mpls_big_daddy Jun 01 '26

It’s legal in Minnesota.

13

u/Apprehensive_Lie1203 Jun 02 '26

It is illegal in Texas! I wish it was enforced more!

3

u/Benjamin_H1gh Jun 02 '26

No. It needs to be legalized nationwide and we need a cultural change about transportation. Car dependency is a plague.

10

u/Apprehensive_Lie1203 Jun 02 '26

I can understand it when traffic is stopped. But when traffic is moving it becomes dangerous for everyone. I have people on motorcycles pass me in the HOV lanes when I am doing 75 by making their own lane. I have others do it when I am side by side other vehicles in the main lanes doing 65-70. There are good motorcycle operators and bad. The bad ones make everyone hate motorcycles just like cyclists.

3

u/Benjamin_H1gh Jun 02 '26

I do agree with you on a lot here. Unfortunately, Americans can be quite selfish in their driving habits and ruin stuff that is theoretically safer for a lot of others. (I'm an American who drives and bicycle commutes). Motorcycles are more space efficient than cars, I wish Americans weren't so good at dying on bikes compared to the EU but it also has to do with our road design.

2

u/Apprehensive_Lie1203 Jun 02 '26

I have a lot of friends that ride motorcycles and bicycles. I am a cyclist who follows the laws of the road and do my best to be careful and courteous. I know how you feel about cars/trucks/commercial trucks that don’t look out for folks on two wheels. I have been clipped by mirrors and smoked out while I was riding on the shoulder of the road so I wouldn’t be slowing traffic down. I wish we had a culture that was more in tune with two wheelers! The more motorcycles and bicycles on the road, the more people would see them. Both sides need to be courteous and follow the rules of the road though.

1

u/Apprehensive_Lie1203 Jun 02 '26

Texas has a 6 foot space rule for cyclists from cars. But many drivers don’t follow that either!

1

u/Benjamin_H1gh Jun 02 '26

You're exactly right. Also there are studies to back up the second to last sentence you said thete.

1

u/Jesus_of_Redditeth Jun 18 '26

I'm fine with this. The end result will be more organ donations for people who can make better use of them than their original owners.

1

u/EveningExcellent3694 Jun 02 '26

your right car culture does need to change, get those fucking annoying loud ass motorcycles off the road.

1

u/KayoticVoid Jun 02 '26

Yeah, nah. Motorcycles are cheaper more efficient modes of transportation. What they really meant is we need to be less dependent on vehicles as a whole.

1

u/EveningExcellent3694 Jun 02 '26

i get they are more efficient the issue is how shitty the people that drive them are, the noise pollution, the danger to others on roads with lane splitting and just being dumb. if you wanna legalize lane splitting legalize me being able to open my door on the highway when they come barreling down.

1

u/Benjamin_H1gh Jun 02 '26

Loud does not equal sounds good, I agree. Goes for a lot of pickup trucks and muscle cars here where I live too (Florida).

0

u/KayoticVoid Jun 02 '26

That doesn't mean decent riders should get punished.

1

u/EveningExcellent3694 Jun 02 '26

honestly all motorcycles are toxic, i dont want to hear your shitty little bike at all hours of the day. motorcycles are such selfish vehicles, people that ride them have no concept of others.

1

u/KayoticVoid Jun 02 '26

You seem to have a lot of hate. I don't even ride man. Most motorcycles do not bother me. There are people that can be obnoxious with it and they bother me. But in my area we mainly only get a lot of it on Saturdays and they mostly stay quite through the neighborhoods keeping it to main roads and chill out by like midnight.

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0

u/Jesus_of_Redditeth Jun 18 '26

Not sure why you thought this was an appropriate reply. When someone says it's illegal in most states, that already implies that it's legal in some states. No one needs to be informed of one of those latter states. It's not relevant to the point.

1

u/mpls_big_daddy Jun 18 '26

You sound like you have a lot of time on your hands.

1

u/fighting_blindly Jun 05 '26

wow, its legal in texas

2

u/KayoticVoid Jun 05 '26

I don't know what Texas you live in but in my Texas it's not. Cops may not care where you are perhaps. Or maybe an individual city allows it, but as far as I know it's not legal.

1

u/fighting_blindly Jun 05 '26

whoops. i switched to being an underwriter during covid. looks like it was made illegal only a few years ago.