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10-Foot Traffic Lanes Are Safer and Still Move Plenty of Cars

12 points by qzervaas 11y ago

reustle 11y ago
Another important factor is how much of an effect 10ft vs 12ft lanes have on motorcycle filtering (lane splitting). Outside of the US (north america), it is a common practice and known to be safe [1] [1] http://lanesplitter.jalopnik.com/uc-berkeley-study-finds-lane-splitting-reduces-motorcyc-1708755125 http://lanesplitter.jalopnik.com/uc-berkeley-study-finds-lan...
- ubernostrum 11y ago
  That study... is not really what you're presenting it to be. What the study actually found was that if you're sober, wearing protective gear and riding at a speed not much faster than surrounding traffic, then when you get into a collision it's likely your injuries will be less severe. The study tries to correlate those things with motorcylists who lane-split, while openly admitting that they actually correlate with motorcyclists who commute to and from work on their motorcycles. And notably, lane-splitting is not "safer" in the sense of preventing accidents. Lane-splitting as actually practiced has the sole purpose of getting the motorcycle to higher speed than the surrounding traffic, and when you do that you find there just isn't any way to cheat the Solomon curve: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_curve (Wikipedia's scare intro on "cast doubt on its findings" refers to a study which disagrees on the effects of being slower than surrounding traffic, while not disputing the effects of being faster)
  - roflchoppa 11y ago
    It's primarily for air-cooled motorcycles, and to prevent them from overheating = no airflow = no cooling. Although ill tell you this, as someone who rides a motorcycle in the only state in the US where its lawful. Ive seen people get rear ended on bikes because the person behind them was not paying attention (or did not see them, which can also happen, motorcycles blend in with tail lights). I've seen this happen at stop lights, and in stop n go traffic on the motorway. On the motorway the man was wedged in between two cars and his face was stuck in the trunk of the car in front of him, with the car behind pinning the bike down. Oh man i think at stoplights is worse, this guy was pushed into the street into cross sectional traffic. Even when I drive on the highway and am NOT lane-splitting people move over to the left (fast lane) to offer more space for me to get through if i wanted to be. More states should allow lane splitting, it allows the rider to lawfully put themselves in to a position where they are less likely to get squished, but also contributes to less traffic due to having smaller more efficient vehicles on the road. Uber you should get a bike.
  - imh 11y ago
    I think OP is talking more about city streets, so high speed literature and the Solomon curve doesn't apply so much. There are two distinct behaviors here. Lane splitting happens when the cars are moving. Filtering happens when the cars are stopped. As someone who commutes on a motorcycle in the city, I don't care much for splitting, but filtering through a traffic jam is incredibly helpful.
    - ubernostrum 11y ago
      The study about lane-splitting safety, cited by the comment I responded to, was looking at highway riding (hence commuters).

12 points by qzervaas 11y ago

Another important factor is how much of an effect 10ft vs 12ft lanes have on motorcycle filtering (lane splitting). Outside of the US (north america), it is a common practice and known to be safe [1] [1] http://lanesplitter.jalopnik.com/uc-berkeley-study-finds-lane-splitting-reduces-motorcyc-1708755125 http://lanesplitter.jalopnik.com/uc-berkeley-study-finds-lan...

ubernostrum 11y ago
That study... is not really what you're presenting it to be. What the study actually found was that if you're sober, wearing protective gear and riding at a speed not much faster than surrounding traffic, then when you get into a collision it's likely your injuries will be less severe. The study tries to correlate those things with motorcylists who lane-split, while openly admitting that they actually correlate with motorcyclists who commute to and from work on their motorcycles. And notably, lane-splitting is not "safer" in the sense of preventing accidents. Lane-splitting as actually practiced has the sole purpose of getting the motorcycle to higher speed than the surrounding traffic, and when you do that you find there just isn't any way to cheat the Solomon curve: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_curve (Wikipedia's scare intro on "cast doubt on its findings" refers to a study which disagrees on the effects of being slower than surrounding traffic, while not disputing the effects of being faster)
- roflchoppa 11y ago
  It's primarily for air-cooled motorcycles, and to prevent them from overheating = no airflow = no cooling. Although ill tell you this, as someone who rides a motorcycle in the only state in the US where its lawful. Ive seen people get rear ended on bikes because the person behind them was not paying attention (or did not see them, which can also happen, motorcycles blend in with tail lights). I've seen this happen at stop lights, and in stop n go traffic on the motorway. On the motorway the man was wedged in between two cars and his face was stuck in the trunk of the car in front of him, with the car behind pinning the bike down. Oh man i think at stoplights is worse, this guy was pushed into the street into cross sectional traffic. Even when I drive on the highway and am NOT lane-splitting people move over to the left (fast lane) to offer more space for me to get through if i wanted to be. More states should allow lane splitting, it allows the rider to lawfully put themselves in to a position where they are less likely to get squished, but also contributes to less traffic due to having smaller more efficient vehicles on the road. Uber you should get a bike.
- imh 11y ago
  I think OP is talking more about city streets, so high speed literature and the Solomon curve doesn't apply so much. There are two distinct behaviors here. Lane splitting happens when the cars are moving. Filtering happens when the cars are stopped. As someone who commutes on a motorcycle in the city, I don't care much for splitting, but filtering through a traffic jam is incredibly helpful.
  - ubernostrum 11y ago
    The study about lane-splitting safety, cited by the comment I responded to, was looking at highway riding (hence commuters).