Even though lane-splitting is pretty much inevitable when you’re riding a bike, some maneuvers are smarter than others.
Ah the good old splitting of the lanes. We can probably debate this way into the night but the truth is, you’re doing it at your own risk. And yes, it is a risk because you’re relying on external factors working in your favor.
Did you guys read about that recent study that said lane-splitting is safer than…not lane-splitting? Yeah, apparently by reviewing 6,000 motorcycle-involved traffic collisions, the research showed that lane-splitting bikers were less likely to suffer serious injuries from accidents than those that weren’t splitting lanes.
Doesn’t this sound way too statistical though? Of course more serious injuries happened when the bikers weren’t splitting lanes because that can involve way more scenarios. You can’t stand there and call something safe when that something involves so many unknown variables.
It’s like saying flying planes without ever changing altitude mid-flight is just as safe as anything else, and surely statistics will back this up. However, you will be at the mercy of severe turbulence, bad weather and so on, which can lead to incidents.
Of course, what we’re looking at here is nothing more than a rider that couldn’t have known there was a stationary truck on the first lane, which caused the bus to maneuver around it.
And that’s the whole point. You assume at your own risk. So please, let’s stop calling being safe when it’s clearly not smart.