Incredible sight: motorcyclist stationary in traffic jam

The scene: Southern inlet into Macquarie Street, Hobart.
Sunday 9th May, 2004.

Roadworks downstream caused substantial bottleneck into Macquarie St. all
day. For about a kilometer, traffic moved at an average speed of walking
pace, quite literally.

At about 4 PM, a motorcyclist was observed patiently sitting astride bike
amongst all the stationary motor cars, just as if he or she were one of
them.

Incredible.

Astonishing.

I would have choked on the peanuts I was eating to sustain myself, adrift as
I was in my ute, only everything was happening so slowly.

Larry, who never ceases to be amazed.

 

Probably someone from NSW on holidays...

 

i do it all the time. when you ride a very wide cruiser around sydney, you
dont have much choice.

and as much as some cars deserve to get the paint scraped off by my
handlebars, the whole getting chased down the road with a clublock thing
isnt real fun.

 

Believe it or not, some of us don;t lanesplit, or ride up the side of the lane.

Christ, I have enough problems just managing the traffic, without inviting
more problems.

DaZZa

--
"....if Windows XP were the size of the Empire State Building, then the
little barking Beagle virus - the size of a small dog - can come in
through the front door, lift its leg, deliver its payload, and somehow
cause the entire building to come crumbling down."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/36345.html

 

I rarely lanesplit in Hobart simply coz the drivers here are so dozy
and simply not aware that bikes are likely to do that.

Having said that, if traffic is blocked due to accident or whatever
and isn't moving, I'm gone ...

Cheers

 

It's not just Hobart - and that's the bit that scares me.

Given my recent experiences, I'd rather be a few minutes late than sitting
on the side of the road with a busted bike, and busted ankle {or worse!}

DaZZa

--
"....if Windows XP were the size of the Empire State Building, then the
little barking Beagle virus - the size of a small dog - can come in
through the front door, lift its leg, deliver its payload, and somehow
cause the entire building to come crumbling down."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/36345.html

 

I used to LS all the time in Melbourne and Sydney - never bothered me
(apart from one fwit running over my foot once - silly me in
sandshoes). But distances are so small around town in Hobart it's
usually just not worth it ...

Cheers

 

In aus.motorcycles on 11 May 2004 04:52:18 GMT

I find that there are times and times.

Suddenly appearing on the passenger side of a car when said car *can*
move into you is foolish.

moving up to a clear spot when there's room to do so and the cars are
stopped isn't that dangerous.

The trick is knowing when they aren't going to move!

after a while you get a feel for the lights changing, for how much of a
gap their needs to be for your bike, for how hard it wil be to get
around that truck and into a decent spot.

I seldom bother on the normal commute. I'm going to save bugger all as
there will be another column of slow-moving cars and a traffic light in
a minute or two.

Sometimes it is worth it. where there's a nice bit of painted divider
and the road ahead is clear and 90kmh for example, if I can nick up the
left turn slip lane and into that painted section then get into the 90
area I will. If there's a big line of stopped cars and the road is wide
enough to make splitting easy and I have a bit of a deadline then I'll
go for it providing I can see a place to duck into when they move.

But I don't split as a rule, just when there's a fair bit of value in it.
Such as once heading down the Cumberland Hwy the Thursday before Good
Friday when I split over 3km of unmoving, as in gridlocked, traffic.
Or when the M4 was closed due to a crash, and Parammatta Rd was banked
up damn near to Broadway.

Zebee

 

Can't remember the last time I read an ausmoto "I crashed while lanesplitting"
post, but in recent memory there have been a few "I crashed going around a
roundabout" posts.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

It's not the "I crashed while lanesplitting" I'm worried about.

It's the "Clueless moron number XXX for the day ignored me while I was
lanesplitting and ploughed into me when I had nowhere else to go."

To each his own. Lanesplit if you wanna, I 'aint gonna tell you off for it -
I've been passed more than once by someone lanesplitting while I sat in
traffic.

DaZZa

--
"....if Windows XP were the size of the Empire State Building, then the
little barking Beagle virus - the size of a small dog - can come in
through the front door, lift its leg, deliver its payload, and somehow
cause the entire building to come crumbling down."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/36345.html

 

Can't remember the last time I read an ausmoto "I crashed while lanesplitting"

They might have been lane splitting through the roundabout.

 

I often lanesplit whilst commuting, not because I'm saving any time, but
because I value the option it gives me to have an empty bit of road to
ride in. If I can pass a bunch of cars while they are stationary at a
set of light, then accelerate relatively quickly (compared to the cars)
up to the speedlimit (or thereabouts ;-), then for a while at least, I
can have all the road to myself...

big

 

Fully appreciate this comment , returning from central Brisbane this
morning and I did split just before the story bridge (traffic was
stalled) , holden ss tried to change lanes across on me , I guess he
heard the horn my shouting and the boot hitting his car , someone
explain how he missed a bright red K100rs with a 120kg body perched on
it , maybe the fool is legally blind .He looked at me like I should have
not been there and as an adjunct there was no way he could occupy the
little bit of space I had found.

 

Ok I'll rephrase. I can't remember the last time I read (actually I can't
remember ever reading) an ausmoto "some clueless moron ignored me while I was
lane splitting and ploughed into me when I had nowhere else to go" post.

Think about it. If the traffic is stationary or moving slowly, bunched up
close, clueless morons can't just change lanes. It's easy for a car in fast
moving traffic to quickly change lanes without indicating or giving any other
warning, but in slow or stationary traffic, that car has to look around to see
what gap there might be, has to indicate to let the driver in the other lane
know he wants to change lanes... etc etc... this whole process might take up
to a minute. A stationary or slow moving car can't just move 2 metres across
the road in a split second, that process will take seconds which you can
count, and when I'm lane splitting, I'm counting the number of cars I pass per
second, not the number of seconds it takes me to pass each car. If only all
drivers gave as much warning of their intentions when they were moving at the
speed limit as they do when they're stationary or slow moving. The greatest
danger to you when you're lane splitting is from vehicles turning across the
traffic lanes... just keep an eye out for right turning cars, gaps in
stationary traffic at side streets.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

The big roundabout at the cnr of Swanston St, Cemetery Rd East and College Cr
is great place to lanesplit Them lanes is mighty wide.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 11 May 2004 16:30:54 +1000

If it looks like there is one, especially if there's trucks I can get
round or ahead of, I'll do it, but a lot of the time it's just not worth
it. I'm either well back meaning I get stuck in the middle when they
move, or there's another set of lights ahead or a tailback. Other
times... well.... I just can't be bothered I like riding my bike,
and don't really care if it's surrounded by cars, or slow or what.
I have to be motivated to do it, and it has to look easy. A lot of the
time, clear road is just not enough motivation, cos it won't be clear
for long and I can just enjoy the day without the hassle.

Zebee

 

Any type of splitting is illegal in the ACT, so we don't get much practice
here. It was only last year I split about 10km of the Kings, the new
section all the way into Batemans Bay, since I needed a piss, and I wasn't
going to stop and let go with 50,000 bored cagers watching My pillion's
gasps and shrieks made it so much more rewarding.

Gary (fat chance of someone volunteering to hold it for me)

--
Wealth without Work
Pleasure without Conscience
Science without Humanity
Knowledge without Character
Politics without Principle
Commerce without Morality
Worship without Sacrifice

The Seven Deadly Sins of M.K. Gandhi

 

Provided they weren't sitting stationary BETWEEN the cars (i.e. blocking
the Honda-Highway).
That should be a capital offence!

 

Stay the hell away from Hoddle Street then!
Clem

 

In that case, watch out in Mildura. It's roundabouts'r'us there. Plus they
put pedestrian crossings at the four sides, then camouflage them with signs
and plants, so you get roundabout gridlock compounded by pedestrians popping
out as if they were in a video game.

--
Conehead
"Because they *thought* they where smart and could go fowards easily, after
not to bad a show first year out,they perhaps have changed to much and now
putting it all back again ?"
Hatz, in gibberish mode, again.