Legal Consequences of Lane Splitting/Filtering?

I suppose you could then sit in the lockup and exist on stale donuts until Monday when the judge would set your bail....

Afterwards you can then pay the tow and impound fees to get your vehicle back.

When you're from out of state, the money you pay is a bond which is equal to the fine for that particular citation. You can either come back and contest it or forfeit the bond money.

Disagree. Performed responsibly, and assuming some idiot doesn't go on the attack, it's a viable and efficient practice.

It's perfectly fine for the rest of the world, just not here.

Also, someone earlier in the thread stated that in MD it's only a 1 point offense. Can anyone provide any support for that?

Yeah, I could, and then I would sue the fucking backwater redneck fucks silly.

But hey, that assumes this is what would happen.

I'm not convinced.

Jim

What is your time worth? Would you rather pay a 150 dollar fine and be on your way, or spend two days in jail, and have it potentially cost you a lot more in legal fees? Me, if I'm bagged, I'm paying the fine and heading home.

Well, that's what the Ohio State Patrol does. Been there, done that. Be glad you never had to deal with the old Justice of the Peace courts. I've personally seen where they would take spare tires and other assorted possesions in lieu of a fine, usually in the middle of the night. Oh, and you can't really file a civil action against a court system.....

5 years of commuting year round north Scottsdale to Gilbert I never saw a single person lane splitting.

My time is worth a lot, my integrity much more!

Jim

No, but you can against a corrupt police department dispensing illegal "justice"!

Jim

"posting a bond" = "illegal justice" ?

Try it sometime and let us know how it all works out. Glad you are financially independent.....

Bend over if you wish, I'll pass!

Jim

Well, you TALK a good game. Best of luck, keep us posted.

Don't make shit up, it's splitting at 5 mph or 70 mph.

At 70mph it's not "sharing", it's "stupid".

I went to California last spring and found the same. If you were going faster than they were, they got out of your way. If you passed them (double yellow or not), they seemed to assume that you just wanted to go faster than them and didn't care. If it wasn't safe for you to pass and they thought you wanted to go faster THEY ACTUALLY PULLED OFF QUICKLY SO YOU COULD PASS THEM. There was no politeness involved, it seemed. It was just a purely a rational form of roadcraft. It was a pretty eye opening experience. To all those Californians, thanks. You have a great state with great drivers, and I'm going to visit again.

Talk and walk, but I do not have to prove myself to you or anyone.

At least I do not openly bypass my principals for a bit of convenience. YOU, obviously have no such issues letting someone take advantage of you, IF this is even true. You haven't proven anything at this point. Just mouthing off.

Jim

The reason they do it is because most people take it, and don't fight back. If you have more time than money, by all means call their bluff! Depending on jail conditions they might not even put you in jail. I have known people that wanted to serve jail time in lieu of fines, and kept pressing that option, and they ended up reducing the time, or dropping it all together. What they really want is your money! Period! They don't want you in jail, that cost them money, the threat of jail is there to get you to pay up.

I think this whole idea of demanding instant payment, from foreigners, or even residents of different states, must leave a bad taste in their mouth. Just not a good way to treat visitors. Highway robbery, just like Mexico! Don't get me wrong I like Mexico, and the people, but because of the corrupt police, government officials, etc..., I don't visit there anymore.

Now if they are doing something truly dangerous, that is different, like DWI, DUI, >20 mph over etc...., but considering some of the speed limits in the Eastern states are ridiculously low anyway, getting popped for 66 in a 60, then demanding cash on the spot, I mean what kind of impression does that leave?

It's a big, fat, unpleasant, fact! Not "all" of course - but clear to anyone with much experience of driving elsewhere

It does, indeed, help traffic flow - but only if you keep doing it

Why "stupid"? The few times filtering/lane-splitting has been studied, it has been concluded to be safer, as well as helping traffic flow. I've tried it in Louisiana and the only reason its not safe there is the attitude of asshole cage drivers (pickups being notably the worst, for no good reason I can fathom)

This has been quite an interesting thread. One of the items on my list of rides yet to do is across the US visiting as many smaller places as I can.

Here in the UK, I live in the South East and ride into London regularly. I do what I call filtering most days. Frankly, it's more or less mandatory if you want to get anywhere in London. By filtering I mean overtaking stationary or slow moving traffic either by using the gap between same-direction lanes or the gap between the stream of vehicles and the actual centre of the lane. If there's a long queue of traffic and nothing coming the other way, I perform a wide overtake - crossing to the centre of the other lane and riding along there. That gives clearance in case some numpty decides to do a u-turn and keeps me very visible should anything start coming the other way.

When I ride in Foreign Parts I tend to back off and do it less, although I will still pass very slow traffic if necessary.

I always obey solid white lines as I expect that most coppers in most countries will tend to get very cross about that one.

If and when (probably a few years) I get to go to the US for my cross-country trip, it looks like I'll have to be even more wary of the road users than I expected - and keep more than one eye out for the Dibble. Hopefully if I get pulled, if I put on my best accent and the wife smiles nicely at them, if I will get away with it.

Cheers

m

Be careful even in California, ive had a couple people get pissy and try to race and force me to not take the lane...i had one guy in a mercedes race past me and cut me off 3 lights in a row because i was filtering at the stopped lights, not sure why that made him feel like a tough guy but i took the hint that he is a complete psychopath and quit filtering until i was away from him.