“Lane splitting is legal,” or “Congratulations Caltrans!”
I never thought it possible for Caltrans to screw up the I-580 interchange with Airway in Livermore any more than it already had.
I was wrong! 
Today, I received an online notification to work with a Special Ed Pre-School class, and decided, on the basis of my experience (and that of a school’s Vice Principal) yesterday, that I would ride my 2000 Honda Shadow Spirit VT1100C to the assignment, to take advantage of “car-pool” lanes (I prefer to think of them as “motorcycle lanes” ) and lane splitting, which is LEGAL in California. As the Wikipedia article states, “Lane splitting by motorcycles is generally legal in Europe, and in Japan and several other countries, and is illegal in many U.S. states, but is considered lawful in California.” The practice was ILLEGAL in Ohio, “the Buckeye State” or “The Police State,” depending upon whom you believe. (What would YOU call a state that has a section of I-71 that the truckers have named “Radar Valley?” (Note added May 4 [Kent State Shootings Anniversary day], 2011: If you consider my comment to be EXCESSIVE, please consider THIS quote from the movie, “The Cannonball Run” (1981):
Ohio approaches the enforcement of traffic laws with a sort of “religious fervor and zeal.” And yes, I’m from Ohio….)
The Wikipedia article describes lane splitting as:
“…a two-wheeled vehicle moving between lanes of vehicles that are proceeding in the same direction. More narrowly, it refers to passing stopped or slower moving traffic between lanes at a speed greater than surrounding traffic. It is also sometimes called lane sharing, whitelining, filtering, or stripe-riding. Alternatively, lane splitting has been used to describe moving through traffic that is in motion while filtering is used to describe moving through traffic that is stopped.”
Sound dangerous? It IS! … and perhaps a bit mad. But we are all mad here….
Nevertheless, I chose this morning to ride the motorcycle and expose myself to the almost countless subspecies of the “common” and “variegated” California “maroon” on the highways, about which I have written earlier.
I should add only ONE more item of preamble, and that is that ALL of my interactions with the Livermore Police Department have shown officers to be highly trained, professional, well-educated (increasingly so), polite, and honorable people that ANY community would be pleased to call their own. I know that I am!
So, I proceeded northward on Isabel this morning toward the interchange with I-580, lane splitting as necessary. Caltrans, has gradually destroyed the intersection of Airway and I-580 by introducing, first, ill-timed metering lights on the entrance ramps (at FIRST, the sensors could not even DETECT motorcycles) and then, by altering traffic patterns. I found, to my surprise, that a newly constructed entrance ramp was open, although the badly timed light before it (why is there a light there anyway?) and a subsequent reduction to ONE lane, had backed up traffic about 2-5 miles from the I-580 interchange itself.
As I merged into the single lane, I found myself in front of a Livermore Police vehicle (4-wheeled) that admonished me, over a loud speaker, that the road was a single lane. I yelled back that “Lane splitting is legal in California.” However, I went no farther in distance or further in speech, since I neither stand in the paths of oncoming trains nor wave red capes at (colorblind) bulls. My parents wisely warned me not to argue with the police, even when they are dead wrong. I went around the NEXT car after a woman (who knew her traffic law better than the officer, or was less frustrated) stuck her arm out the window and waved me ahead! Then, I took the next left to get the heck AWAY from the officer, who was making me late for a classroom of little Special Ed kids.
The office FOLLOWED me for a couple of blocks to make sure that I did not “spit on the sidewalk” (difficult, from within a full-face helmet, … and breaking a law in front of a cop is for people MUCH younger and MUCH less intelligent than myself!), and then I backtracked back to the next I-580 entrance ramp EASTWARD (passing the “Share the Road” sign with the bicycle on it ), lane split, and got onto the highway, which was AMAZINGLY FREE of congestion! Nice job, Caltrans!
Some engineers should never be given computers, because it INCREASES the amount of damage that they can do! Such engineers are often found in bureaucracies, like Caltrans.
Eventually, of course, I managed to get to the school and my Pre-School Special Ed kids, just in time, no thanks to Caltrans or one particular police officer. I was probably NOT ticketed because the officer KNEW that lane splitting is legal in California. Had I been, I would have shown up in court and won.
He was just probably frustrated with Caltrans’ incompetence, ALMOST as much as I was! (He was stuck with 4 wheels, and I had already chosen to go with 2!)
Congratulations, Caltrans! In the words of “BS” corporate speak, “You have exceeded my expectations!” I think that phrase is still “good,” because most people who run corporations lack the imagination to come up with slogans very quickly. Now, let’s not make that intersection any worse (the intersection is currently UNUSABLE at rush hour) before you make it any better! The intersection is ALSO MUCH different from the satellite imagery on Google Maps.
On the way home from school tonight, I put 1.263 gal of regular gas (at $4.179/gal, at CostCo!) in my Honda Shadow, which gets about 50 mpg. I think about all of those 4-wheelers IDLING for 2-5 miles, wasting gas, polluting the air, and wonder why municipalities are not advocating the use of motorcycles and motor scooters to save fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
(Note added May 24, 2011: I wanted to mention that I spoke with a Livermore motorcycle officer last weekend at motorcycle safety training that the department conducted on the streets around Carnegie Park in Livermore, where I was working in the Livermore Art Association’s Gallery. We talked about lane splitting and case law, and I thanked them for sponsoring the training, because it will save lives. There were booths of motorcycle vendors and accessory vendors, and two bands played. It looked like everyone had a good time and our signs attracted a HUGE number of visitors into the Gallery and History Museum.)
-Bill at
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