Chances are at one time or another you have been sitting
at stop light, waiting for the light to change, and a motorcycle
comes pulling up beside you! "How RUDE", you think to yourself, "Why
doesn't that jerk just wait in line like the rest of us". Perhaps
you've even contemplated swerving a little in his direction when the
light changes to put a little scare in him! Well, what the biker is
doing is called "lane-sharing", and it is legal in the vast majority
of states and municipalities in the United States. It is also
perfectly safe when done properly. Don't get mad at the biker. He
doesn't want to stay at the rear of a long line of cars when he
doesn't have to. Neither would you , but you have to because your car
won't fit between the vehicles in front of you. The biker also
doesn't want to breathe 20 cars worth of exhaust. It's much healthier
in the front. And, most importantly, by going to the front, the biker
is able to get ahead of the pack of automobiles, giving him/herself a
safe riding zone.As an added bonus, that biker is now one less
machine taking up space in the line, and improves the traffic flow.
Besides, motorcycles accelerate much faster than cars, and the biker
will be soon be long gone and will not impede your travel in any way.
As for the swerving bit, it is a felony to deliberately attempt to
injure someone with your vehicle. Check it out! It's the Law.
Of course, this manuever must be performed SAFELY to be legal. Do you recall at one time or another being on the freeway, tooling along at 65 mph and all of a sudden some jerk on a bike doing 90 mph zooms between you and the car next to you riding the line! What you just witnessed is not legal, because it is not performed in a safe manner. However, had you been stopped on the freeway, or just barely crawling along in stop and go traffic, and a biker rode between the cars at a safe and sane speed of say 5 to 10 mph faster than the cars, that would be legal. And, keep this in mind; despite how long you've been out there, despite how late you are for work, irregardless of the fact that your wife yelled at you before you left that morning, you are not allowed to open your door to impede the biker's progress. That , my friend, is also a felony.
Unfortunately for the vast majority of rider's who ride in a safe and sane manner, there is a small group of idiots who seem to have made it their purpose in life to singlehandedly destroy the reputation of all motorcyclists. These are the one's who pull between the cars at intersections and scare the shit out of the drivers because their pipes have been modified to produce as much noise as humanly possible. You also have the aforementioned pea-brains who aren't happy unless they're splitting freeway traffic at least 30 mph faster than the cars, even if the cars are doing 75 mph. Please don't condemn the safe and sane rider's just because you've witnessed a few idiots and jerks.
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