Riding vs Flying -- How many here ride?

Skywise wrote:

Matt Whiting wrote in
:


John Gaquin wrote:


"Skywise" wrote in message


Another favorite tactic is white lining. In a perfect
scenario I white line to the front while everyone is stopped
at a red light. ........The upshot is that
I am only near other vehicles when they aren't moving.


And every time you pull that sort of stunt, you leave in your wake
50-100 car drivers highly ****ed at the next motorcycles they
encounter. That's high school crap, and has no place in the repertoire
of a responsible driver.

Baloney. It is simply a good idea that hasn't yet come to fruition in
many places in the US. Encouraging motorcycle riding by allowing lane
splitting is at least as good an idea as having bus and car pool lanes.


It's has it's pro's and con's. There's a time to do it, and a
time to refrain. There are many times I don't do it because of
an increased risk. I particularly hate starting down the line
and having the light turn green before I get to the front.
Drivers have this awful habit of swerving back and forth as
they accelerate.

I'd like to also ad that I have heard from multiple sources,
including a few cops, that white lining is encouraged for
motorcycle officers. Supposedly it has been found to be
safer than staying back and getting squished between the car
in front and the drunk behind that doesn't see the stopped
traffic.




People should be rewarded for saving fuel, especially when it doesn't
harm others. Allowing motorcycles to lane split doesn't really have any
significant adverse impact on the cars stuck in the line so what is the
harm assuming it is done prudently and safely? I'm not talking about
riding 60 MPH between a closely spaced line of cars, but most
interstates provide at least 6' between cars and that is plenty for a
motorcyle to ride in at 15-20 MPH.


This is an exampel of when white lining should not be done.
Except on rare occasion, my personal rule of thumb is if I
can maintain 4th gear on the freeway, I go with the flow.
And if I do whiteline on the freeway, I keep it to no more
than 10mph faster than traffic. That way if something happens,
like the idiot who decudes to change lanes without signaling
or looking - or the asshole who doesn't liek motorcyclists
whitelining - I only have to lose 5-10 mph to avoid an
incident.

I was talking about riding in stopped traffic.

Matt