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AnonyMouseLeo t1_j5vl5pn wrote

No! I refuse to support this and think it's awful and unsafe. No reason I should be able to drive between cars just because there is lots of traffic.

I have several buddies that really want this to happen and have tried extremely hard to get me to agree, but I don't. I'll just wait in traffic like everyone else. It's a fun but dangerous hobby.

https://wtsc.wa.gov/programs-priorities/motorcycles/

Motorcycles only comprise 3% of the road users in Washington State, but accounted for 15% of all fatalities and 19% of serious injuries in collisions between 2013 and 2017. About 1 in 5 motorcycle collisions result in serious injury or death and on average 75 riders die every year in collisions on Washington roads.

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SquidTips OP t1_j5vlsk8 wrote

What you’ve demonstrated here is that motorcycle fatalities are a problem on WA roads, and that is what lane splitting and filtering demonstrably to reduce.

By educating riders on when and how to safely filter through traffic, motorcycle accidents become less fatal, because they are happening at lower speeds. This reality is born out in the UC Berkeley study linked in the above post: > Lane-splitting motorcyclists were also injured much less frequently during their collisions. Lanesplitting riders were less likely to suffer head injury (9% vs 17%), torso injury (19% vs 29%), extremity injury (60% vs 66%), and fatal injury (1.2% vs 3.0%). Lane-splitting motorcyclists were equally likely to suffer neck injury, compared with non-lane-splitting motorcyclists.

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AnonyMouseLeo t1_j5vosms wrote

I have checked it out, like I said.

California has not released any motorcyclist death statistics, since 2019. If they wanted to prove the numbers went down they could easily do that. Yet they won't release the numbers specifically only for motorcycles? All vehicle related deaths went up in California through 2021. 😑

Here the wiki page about lane splitting and the research across different countries. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane_splitting

No thanks. I don't believe it safer and obviously I am well aware of the topic.

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SquidTips OP t1_j5vz1e9 wrote

Some riders might not understand how to execute it safely, and I would never want anyone to be forced to do it, however I have done it for over 10 years in the Seattle area without a collision or a ticket.

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Designer_Hotel_5210 t1_j5x1g2c wrote

And this is why I would be against it. Some riders not understanding how to do it safely. Why pass a law where people won't know how to do it properly but will do it anyway because they save time on the road. Also just because you did it safely for 10 years means nothing because maybe you were just lucky. Also admitting to doing something that is illegal for 10 years is just another reason why I wouldn't vote for it. While the majority of motorcycle riders follow the law there is a sizable amount who don't and just cause problems and are rude to everyone else.

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SquidTips OP t1_j5x9l55 wrote

I mean, speed limits don't stop everyone from speeding, so I'm guessing the riders you don't like aren't prevented from splitting now, so you're really just punishing the most diligent and law abiding right now.

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muppethero80 t1_j5xkw78 wrote

Not everyone knows how to ride a motorcycle safely. So they require a license to drive one so they know to do so safely. Will this lane splitting require a new license to show the rider understand how to do so safely? No you say? Then no

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