It's been less than 24 hours since we published the first episode in a series of editorials dedicated to bashing the reasons invoked by the adversaries of lane-splitting. Yet, we know there are a lot of mindless riders out there, who, even though they are only a small minority, seem to help out the anti-splitting side.
For the sake of objectivity, we ARE showing you such videos because, in our books, making them public and explaining what went wrong is a good educational solution for the new riders. Again, refusing to see and accept the truth does not alter it. So enjoy a most fine sample of silly riding.
We all split lanes, but...
Truth is most of the riders will split lanes every now and then, but there's always a but. The simple fact that someone wants to deal with traffic quicker and arrive sooner at the destination is not enough to alter the reality in traffic.
When one is thinking about overtaking other vehicles, especially in busy traffic, failing to properly assess the situation is the shortest way to a crash. The fact that a guy is in a hurry does not mean the rest of the motorists have to get out of his or her way. The rules of the street remain the rules of the street, and bending them can also result in bending both bike and rider in a very unpleasant way.
The rider in the video after the jump failed to estimate correctly his maneuver. Maybe acting sooner and laying a heavier hand on the throttle could have gotten him past the bus safely. Even so, throttling hard when riding on the double yellow lines in the rain does not sound like a good solution.
In this particular case we can't even speak about filtering ahead through the traffic, but a rather illegal overtaking move that was executed poorly. This looks like a normal situation in a busy city, and the street doesn't seem to be the best place for such overtaking maneuvers.
His lack of patience could have led to an even worse outcome, as it's been more than once when we saw riders in the same predicament clipped by trucks and ending up dead being run over. We doubt the rider walked away from this crash, but hopefully he will learn plenty during his recovery.
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