part of the intent of lane splitting is to keep traffic moving. getting a motorcycle thru the congestion leaves more space for other vehicles. if you get a ticket for violating a white line, you ned to go to court. white lines are "suggestive" not regulatory.

 

Lane SHARING (don't call it splitting!) is legal in CA simply because it's not illegal. Like most things, if there's not a law against it, it's ok. Common sense applies in spades, because it is up to an individual officer whether to cite, based on his opinion on your behavior. If you're splitting at 20+ over car speed, or moving in and out of lanes, expect to be pulled over. If you're traveling at 15 or less over, and moving in a straight line, you SHOULD be ok. Lane sharing has come under the gun from time to time, but the CHP argues FOR it, as it allows their motor officers to get through traffic jams, and generally reduces congestion.
As far as moving to the front at intersections, I do this primarily to avoid being stuck in jams (daily life here in Santa Rosa), and to avoid being rear-ended. As far as I know, this falls under the same 'lack of vehicle code' as freeway sharing.

 

Maybe it goes without saying, but don't spend time next to cages in their lane.
Don't 'share' at 60+ MPH
Be careful when there is a gap in traffic, people try to squeeze in and don't see you.
Many drivers are cool with it and will give you extra room, but watch out for that pissed off guy. I watch their faces in their mirrors to try to gauge their reactions.

Also watch for the guy on an enduro on small sport bike splitting at 30+ over the traffic speed on the other side of your lane. Cars will move over for him, and not see you right next to them.

All in all, its about common sense. You will find that getting through traffic makes you want to ride all the more.

 

This subject comes up all the time. Someone says it's legal, someone says it's not legal, someone says there's a law, somesone says it a vehicle code. someone says it's not written, someone quotes some code, some say it 5mph over, some say it legal only in a traffic jam/slow speed.
I'm still curious, and I don't get "it's Lane SHARING (don't call it splitting!)". I've yet to share a lane; I always weave back and forth over the dotted line which is changing lanes/splitting. Maybe sharing sounds better.

 

Hi eleutheros. Not sure what you don't get. You can lane share legally, but you can't split lanes legally and weave back and forth. You could get cited for unsafe lane change.

 

Thanks Eyespy. My comments are about seeing ahead between lines of cars where I'm going to go in between. I'm either on the right side of the carpool lane or between the fast lane and the next one to the right. Because of wide cars, big mirrors, small cars, and cars hugging the line, I can never stay on one side of the line or the other for more than two cars. So that seems like splitting rather than sharing. I understand your point about changing lanes too much. Thanks

I did a little internet research today. The sites below seem to sum up the subject. So for riding in Ca. the law is that there is no law. However, the CHP officially says it's ok to split/share lanes. Any accident or injury splitting/sharing will give the rider some blame and not much sympathy from the courts. You can get a ticket for going too fast between cars, or weaving, and other stuff at the descretion of an officer.

http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/answers.html

http://www.bike-law.com/PracticeArea...-Splitting.asp

http://www.calhsta.org/library/cacode.html

http://www.whybike.com/blog/index.php?p=73

http://www.laneshare.com/content/view/24/34/

http://www.chp.ca.gov/html/motors.html

http://www.moto-rama.com/html/legal___safety.html