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Lane-splitting for motorcyclists and cyclists is definitely legal in California (subject to several restrictions -- speed of traffic, speed relative to traffic, etc), which is per Wikipedia the only state in which the government has published documents indicating that they interpret it as legal.
I don't know if there's a specific law prohibiting lane splitting in Texas, but my understanding is that it's seen as illegal activity here, such that even if there isn't a specific law prohibiting it, there's doubtless something general which can be made to fit.
Thanks, I found the article yesterday thanks to the CA friend who told me it was legal. I agree with what you say-- in TX, they will find something to prove we are on the wrong side of the law. Searching on "lane splitting Texas" shows that the motorcycling community is greatly interested in seeing this legalized.
BikeATX wrote:I do this really out of safety purposes... I like to be in front of the cars before the light turns green and because I don't quite like sucking on fumes. Sometimes, I'll hang back if it looks a bit tricky to navigate.
I'm not sure of the legality either, but for safety purposes, I think the best course of action is to stay in the car lane in line with the other cars. What if while you're sliding up between cars to get to the front of a left turn lane, the light turns green? Suddenly you are stuck between two lanes of moving traffic with no room for error.
Yes, this has happened to me quite frequently on my commute in CA. Basically, I would look back at the driver in the left turn lane to make sure he/she noticed me, and then get in front of him, and ride hard so as to not inconvenience him/her too much. Not ideal, but traffic is usually still quite slow, so it is not as bad it seems.
Thanks!
The "scoff-law" perception is exactly what prompted me to post. A colleague at work basically "assumed" that I did not do that, and went on to tell me that it pisses him off a lot. Back then, I thought for sure it was legal in CA, and told him that although I don't know for sure, it could be legal in TX. Now I'm not so sure. As doesn't matter now on my commute here, I'm leaning towards waiting in line, in an attempt to improve our collective reputation :-)
I just moved here from California, where I was told that it was legal to ride in the space between stopped cars. For example, at an intersection where you want to turn left, you ride between the left turn lane, and the go-straight lane to get to the front of the line, and wait between cars, before you take a wide left turn when you get a green light. Although I found this suspicious, I've never confirmed this, and I trusted my commuting guru-mentor, and started enjoying this nice advantage at lights. Apparently it is okay for motorcycles to do the same in CA.
Now that I live in Austin, I wanted to check if Texas also allowed this "jump ahead of the line" for bikes. Searching on the web I find that the traffic laws are almost word-for-word identical between California and Texas, and there is no mention of passing between stopped traffic, or even to the right of stopped traffic in a single lane road without bike lanes, for the purposes of taking a left turn, or going straight. It does seem to be legal to pass to the right of stopped traffic to take a right turn, in my reading of what I found on the Web.
Can someone please clarify? FYI, I've got a single left-turn light on my commute, and for now, I've been waiting in line. It's not a big deal on my commute.
Thanks!
Arvind Raghavan
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