Does Banning Lane-Sharing Cost Lives?

During discussions with legislators on Washington State's legislative bill ESB5378, there seems to be three main positions of opposition:  
1) The likelihood of some motorcyclists to violate the law and lane-split at high speeds on the freeway.
2) That allowing lane-sharing will drastically increase the motorcycle fatality rate in Washington State.
3) That motor vehicle drivers will not see a lane-sharing motorcyclists, and move into the highway space that the motorcycle is in, causing a collision.

The 2011 Study by Dr. J.V. Ouellet answers these and other concerns quite eloquently and succinctly; “The principal findings of this study are: 1) the likelihood of motorcycle lane splitting decreases as freeway speeds go up and the decline appears to be especially marked at speeds above 40 mph (66 km/hr). 2) The conditions under which splitting occurs and the frequency of lane splitting appear to be roughly the same in 2011 compared to the late 1970's. 3) lane splitting crashes appear to be a tiny portion (less than 1%) of the motorcycle accident population. 4) In the 1970's, lane splitting riders were under-represented in crashes compared to their frequency in traffic and the difference was statistically significant.”  

Let's look at those findings a bit more closely, and if they are relevant to the concerns of legislators:

1) Even though as Dr. Ouellet's study suggests, lane-sharing decreases significantly at speeds above 40 mph, isn't banning lane-sharing because a small minority may violate the law by doing so at a higher speed similar to banning speed limits because some may violate the limit?
2) In both the 1970's and 2011, lane splitting was confined primarily to heavily congested traffic, during commute hours during the work weekdays.
3) As Dr. Ouelett's study shows, both in California (in the 1970's and 2011), as well as in the European Union in 2009 lane-sharing motorcycle accidents appear to be less than 1% of all the motorcycle collision population.
4) In the 1970's 63% of motorcycles were observed lane-sharing, yet made up less than 1% motorcycle collisions.

Dr. Ouellet was a co-author of the seminal 1981 motorcycle safety study "Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures".  Or more commonly referred to as 'The Hurt Report', after it's lead author and team leader.  With over thirty years experience as a researcher in the field of traffic safety, Dr. Ouellet has been lead researcher on multiple studies during his career.  Lane Splitting On California Freeways actually builds upon the data from the 1981 Hurt report, and compares it to findings from 2011, as well as the 2009 Motorcycle Accident In-Depth Study from ACEM in Europe.

Comparing the findings from the 1981 Hurt Report and the 2009 MAIDS; “The simple fact that only five of 900 crashes (0.6%) involved a motorcycle splitting lanes suggests that lane splitting is simply not a great problem in the overall population of motorcycle crashes.  Perhaps it is simply coincidence, but more than 25 years later, nearly identical results were reported in Europe for the Motorcycle Accident In-Depth Study of 923 motorcycle accidents: only 4 crashes (0.4%) occurred when the motorcycle was splitting lanes. That is, lane splitting made a trivial contribution to the motorcycle accident population in both Los Angeles (late 1970s) and Europe (1999-2000). In Los Angeles, more than three times as many crashes were caused by roadway defects (n = 18) or pedestrians and animals (n = 16) than the five lane-splitting collisions.”   (Lane Splitting On California Freeways Page 11 Lines 358-365)

One would expect information like this coming from such an experienced traffic safety researcher would reduce the concerns of the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, and the Washington State Patrol.  As well as the concerns of some legislators.

In Dr. Ouellet's words; "If this finding is valid..."(Which the 2014 & 2015 USC Berkeley studies would seem to confirm)"...then laws that effectively ban motorcycle lane splitting may have the unintended effect of increasing motorcycle crashes."

Kind of hits the nail on the head, doesn't it?

Catch you on the road sometime...

Motorcycles Should Be Comprehensibly Integrated Into Transportation Planning Policy

In the first few decades of the 20th Century, motorcycles were a critical transportation mode in America.  Especially in the urban areas, motorcycles filled many of the day to day needs of business for transportation and delivery.  However, by the time of the Great Depression, motorcycles had begun to be relegated more to recreation than commercial transport and delivery.  Part of this was due to marketing of the motorcycle manufacturers in America, just trying to maintain production and sales.  With improving road systems and highways, and the mass production of automobiles and trucks the motorcycle began to lose its commercial transport identity.  By the 1960's, the motorcycle had become merely a recreational machine in the eyes of transportation planners.  The statistical over-representation of motorcycle injuries and fatalities had begun to focus safety concerns of transportation policy makers on motorcycles.  That focus has shown itself to be self-refining and exclusive.  To a majority degree in today's American transportation policy planning, motorcycles are shunted into a primarily "safety" training and education oriented planning model.

This emphasis on motorcycle safety education and training has isolated the motorcycle in the transportation planning policies of America.  Few even consider the motorcycle when considering the next step in traffic planning policies.  The safety emphasis has become so rigidly focused on motorcycles that in discussions with motorcycle safety instructors, many will not even consider any other factor to be a danger to motorcyclists beyond which training and education can deal with.  It is for this reason that many viable options for traffic modeling and congestion relief are virtually ignored, or worse, neglectfully opposed.

The minimalizing of motorcycles into this minor recreational only mode is having repercussions in Europe.  There are those in the European Union that have actively begun to push for the banning of motorcycles built before 2006 within certain zones in urban areas.  All in a effort to prioritize public transport (like a light rail system), bicycles and pedestrians. This sort of policy is a sign of how far from the mainstream transportation policy motorcycles have been excluded.  In this sort of model, the motorcycles strongest assets are completely ignored.  The number of people who ride bicycles across a metropolitan urban area may be quite limited.  As will be the number of people who walk a significant distance in an urban setting.  Unless public transportation is well within the distance those groups wish to walk or pedal, those groups are more likely to choose to take an automobile as transport across the urban center.  Public transport, such as a light rail system, will be unlikely to be integrated into every neighborhoods convenient walking or pedaling distance for many years if ever.  Transit buses can aid in the offsetting of the transportation convenience issue, but whether they are carrying 40 passengers or 1, when stuck in heavy congestion they are still emitting the same level of exhaust particulates, and burning the same level of fuel, while making little if any progress along the roadway.  

Motorcycles can easily fill the needs this sort of transportation issue opens up.  However, due to motorcycles being so safety focused for such a prolonged period, there is little in the way of expertise in both the positive and negative aspects of motorcycles as a full mode of transportation.  This lack of expertise in the transportation policy field is continuing to bring disadvantages to the entire transportation paradigm.  It is for this reason that motorcyclists are a negligible transportation mode in the mind of policy planners, and government agencies,  It has come to the point that most only see motorcycles as a safety issue to deal with while planning for ways to use and benefit other "real" modes of transportation.

There is a term used mostly to describe pedestrians and bicyclists, but it is also used to describe motorcycles with an emphasis on the risks of riding motorcycles.  That term is; "vulnerable" highway users.  With both pedestrian and bicyclists, there have long been initiatives to bring about helpful and beneficial priorities to incorporate them as "real" or full modes of transport that can be of benefit to society's transportation needs.  Motorcycles, with their ability to move through traffic relatively easily, and continue traveling actually moves people and has been shown to provide quicker commute transit times than most other modes.  However, there is little in the way of voices speaking out on the priorities that should be given for transportation policy planners to view motorcycles as a full mode of transport.  To utilize motorcycles in an integrated policy that includes all "vulnerable" users  in a combined effort.  Taking advantage and benefiting from the high degree of commonality between each mode of transport.  

The other "full" modes of transportation have all been examined fully enough that their standard transportation issues are well known.  However, the habitual limiting of motorcycle expertise and study primarily into safety and training had had the effect of leaving the majority of these standard issues unquantifiable for motorcycles.  Because these issues are not safety or training related, there has been little effort in gathering these standard data issues.  What are those standard issues that are well known for other transportation modes?  They include; traffic flow estimation, capacity usage, travel behavior,fuel consumption, emissions, vehicle operating costs, route modeling, etc.  How can transportation policy planners make objective, comprehensive integrated transportation policy when they exclude a viable transportation mode to the point there is insufficient data to analyze?  It is rather disappointing that the other "vulnerable" highway users, bicycles and pedestrians not only have a great deal more data on these issues, but are also considered "full" transportation modes in today's society, while motorcycles are considered merely a dangerous recreational vehicle.

In the United Kingdom, there seems to be a growing governmental awareness of this problem.  There, the National Police Chief's Council, Motorcycle Industry Association, and Highways England have joined forces in a project called the Motorcycle Framework.  The premise behind this project is to bring into existence a truly integrated transportation policy.  However, the British are also dealing with the problem of the motorcycle safety bias.  As this excerpt from the Motorcycle Framework website shows; "It is entirely possible that the existing unwillingness to fully incorporate motorcycling into mainstream transport policies stems from a perception that motorcycling represents nothing but a safety problem; that in a wider societal sense, motorcycling doesn't matter, that wider society would not miss motorcycles or scooters if they were removed from the roads.  This thinking needs to be reconsidered and negativity removed - at all levels."

Those words should strike home strongly with all motorcyclists.  The concept that "wider society would not miss motorcycles or scooters if they were removed from the roads" is no doubt partially what is behind the efforts being discussed for European urban zones.  That is a clear demonstration of how marginalized motorcycles have become in the minds of the majority of transportation policy planners.  Without having data on those standard issues that are well known and understood when dealing with other transportation modes, many planners seem to have become convinced that there are no benefits in those areas regarding motorcycles.  Thus, motorcycles are not even seriously considered in transportation system planning.

To not consider all transport modes equally, including motorcycles, is to refuse the opportunity to create a fully rounded transport policy.  What that refusal does is to deny free and fair access to users of all transport modes within the community.  By doing so, it prioritizes one mode of transport over others.  That prioritized mode of transport may have little or no real relevance to those who actually need to use transport for differing purposes or in widely varied circumstances.   Such a narrow approach to transportation policy planning minimizes some of the opportunities that may exist ti reduce urban traffic congestion, emission levels, and travel times.  All areas that motorcycles excel at, and can be of significant benefit to society.

By truly including motorcycles in transportation policy planning, it can bring the additional safety benefits of addressing a roadway environment that negatively affect the motorcycles vulnerabilities more greatly than should exist.  Doing so would have the dual benefit of additionally providing opportunities for motorcycle safety to improve.  Thus improving the overall effectiveness of transportation policy, but also improving the safety benefits for all highway users.

Catch you on the road sometime...

In Memory Of The Mt St Helens 57

In the Spring of 1980, one of several volcanoes in Washington State began rumbling back to life.  After a small crater opened up in the ice cap with steam eruptions, it became evident that Mt St Helens was moving towards an eruption.  At the time, volcanologists and other scientists believed the eruption would be a vertical blast.  They had no suspicion that the subsequent lateral blast was even a possibility.  Thus the eventual exclusionary "Red Zone" around the mountain was limited in scope.  

Amateur Radio Operators, in conjunction with Washington State Emergency Services, volunteered to man observation posts to watch the mountain.  One of these men was an acquaintance of my father, Gerry Martin.  In the period before the eruption, Gerry was camped on Coldwater Ridge.  Some eight miles from Mt St Helens.  My father had volunteered to spend several days assisting Gerry on Coldwater Ridge, and I had agreed to take him there.  However the date they chose for my Dad to come down was Armed Forces Weekend.  My destroyer was one of two "visit ships" in Seattle for the Armed Forces Weekend, and I was unable to take Dad to Mt St Helens as they had planned.  It was decided that I would bring Dad down on the following Monday.  

When the mountain erupted, Gerry gave a description of what was happening.  When the super-heated gas, rocks and debris from the blast enveloped what is now Johnston's Ridge, Gerry described it, before saying he was going to "back out of here".  Seconds later Gerry came back on the air saying that "It's going to get me too.  I can't get out of here."  Gerry was never heard from again, and his camp trailer, vehicle, and body were never found.  Had it not been Armed Forces Weekend, my Dad and I would have been there as well, and shared Gerry's fate.

Here is a link to a website with the names and information on all 57 of the victims of Mt St Helens on May 18th.   Check it out, and you may find information you never knew about the people who died.  If you have the opportunity some time, and want to ride up to Johnston's Ridge, simply get off I-5 at exit 49 and head east.  The road you are on ends at the parking lot at the observatory.  It is one of the best motorcycle roads in Washington State.  Ride it and enjoy, and be prepared to be awestruck.  



 In 2006 Scott, a friend of mine from Astoria and I rode up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory on our motorcycles on a weekend close to the anniversary of the eruption.  Every year since then, I have organized a ride to Johnston's Ridge on motorcycles.  We go irregardless of the weather conditions.  Rain or shine, we go and pay respects to those 57 men, women, and children who were lost.  Nearly half of whose bodies were never recovered.  It has brought me great pride, to be able to bring more and more people to this incredible and awe inspiring area of Washington State in memory of the 57 victims of the eruption.

We will be riding once again from Castle Rock along Highway 504 up to Johnston's Ridge Observatory on May 20th, 2017.  In the 52 mile length of the ride, we will change from approximately 150 feet elevation to eventually 4,300 feet.  With part of the road actually built on top of the landslide and mud flows between Coldwater Ridge and Johnston's Ridge.  To give some idea of the changes the eruption has created in this area; the old highway is now under two hundred feet or more of debris, and the bottom of Spirit Lake is now two hundred feet higher in elevation than the surface of the lake was prior to the eruption.

What follows are only a few photo's from previous Mt St Helens Memorial Rides.  I hope you feel the desire to come and if not join us for the ride, explore the area for yourself, and experience the awe that the devastation left even after 37 years brings to people.

Catch you on the road sometime...

Washington Motorcycle Fatality Data Unreliable

There is a need for accurate data regarding motorcycle safety and the part motorcycles play in the states transportation policies.  Currently not even the annual motorcycle fatality rate is accurately tracked.  Different agencies within state government whose data is used by legislators and transportation policy planners varies by up to 20%.  This means there is a knowledge deficiency growing in state government.  Normally fatality rates would be considered indisputable, but with at least three significantly different counts published by state agencies, it leaves room for error and unreliability in the data. However, when the Departments of Licensing, Transportation, and the Washington State Patrol all use widely differing numbers for their annual fatality counts it brings about policies based on conflicting and contradictory data.  When basic data such as fatality becomes consistently in error, the policies based on that data is unlikely to bring about the desired result.  When different agencies within the state government report such wide ranging differences in basic information such as motorcycle fatalities, how are legislators and policy planners to understand the true image of what is actually transpiring on Washington's roadways?  The Washington State Patrol reports its findings to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's FARS.  As can be seen below, there is a significant difference between FARS, the Motorcycle Safety Advisory Board, and the Washington Dept. of Transportation.  The data points only close to matching once in a ten year span in 2012.  How can cogent motorcycle transportation policy be arrived at when based on such varied data?

It seems clear that government needs to more effectively integrate motorcycle thinking into throughout Departmental and agency thinking.  A broader view of motorcycling beyond strictly motorcycle safety and education is needed to fully take advantage of the benefits motorcycles can bring to society as a whole.  Similarly to how bicycling has been integrated into the mainstream transportation planning paradigm.  Many of the current issues with motorcycling would seem to extend from a lack of direct experience with that mode of transport.  This creates a deficit of real knowledge that begins to be filled with anecdotal opinions, and these can become departmental policies.

This has tended to result in the main focus of governmental thought towards motorcycles to be merely safety and minor public awareness focused.  While not in and of itself a bad thing, this focus has again had input limited in practice to those directly involved in the safety and training arenas.  With the result that anything outside of that box is often deemed dangerous or irrelevant.  The mindset that only through rider education and skills training, enforcement of DUI and endorsement requirements, will limit motorcyclist fatalities and are worthy avenues to be pursued.  This mindset has become so entrenched, that I was even told by several motorcycle safety instructors that the dangers of roadside safety barriers to motorcyclists was a non-issue, because only objects on the roadway are worth avoiding.  If a motorcyclist collides with something off the road, they have already failed to avoid a crash.  The concept of roadside barriers being a danger to motorcyclists isn't even worth considering.  That is, until they are shown the studies and data that show otherwise.  Still, with at least three wide ranging data points for fatalities in Washington State each year, it clearly points to a disconnect somewhere between Departments and their agencies.

The state needs to look at motorcycles as more than just risky vehicles.  Until the state can at least come to a unified concept of how many motorcyclists are killed each year on Washington's roadways at least.  In the mean time, it may be quite beneficial to look at the ways motorcycles can be of greater good to society as a whole.  Some of the ways are as simple as; the extremely low effect motorcycles have on the degradation to infrastructure, the greater maneuverability and acceleration, smaller size, and the ability to help reduce greenhouse emissions from commuter traffic.  Motorcycles can be of great benefit to society, and the environment as a part of a unified and comprehensive transportation plan in Washington State.  But until the state can grasp key facts as basic as the number of motorcyclists that are killed on the roadways each year, how can the state promote new policies that restrict or promote motorcycle use on Washington's highways.

Catch you on the road sometime...

   

British Government Promotes Highway Planning Involving Motorcycles

There is a British website called the "Motorcycle Framework" that I think everyone involved in the Washington State Transportation and Licensing Departments should examine closely.  It speaks so eloquently of how safety and transportation planning can be blended so that motorcycles and "other vulnerable road users" are considered equally with other road users.  So much of what this website speaks to sounds as if it were coming from a motorcycle rights activist.  Instead it is on a page sponsored by the National Police Chiefs Council, the Motorcycle Industry Council, and Highways England.  Law enforcement, motorcyclists, and transportation blended together.  I find it amazing, and what is on it speaks even more to the heart of motorcyclists issues in transportation.  Both regarding safety and being ignored in basic transportation planning.

"Failure to consider all modes of transport, including motorcycling, denies the opportunity to create fully rounds transport policies, which are relevant to all who need to use transport for differing purposes and in widely varying circumstances.  This narrow approach to transport policy also fails to maximise the opportunities that exist to reduce urban traffic congestion and pollution - an area where motorcycle can play a significant role."  This coming from a government website?  Wow!

It does demonstrate that in order to be serious about lowering fatality rates among motorcyclists is not a single aspect "education/safety" issue.  But a multi-fold integrated comprehensive approach containing mainstream transportation policy inclusion, infrastructure improvements, advances in vehicle technology, as well as the human factor with training and education.  By combining all these aspects, and recognizing the manifold benefits of motorcycles, a truly fair and balanced transportation plan can be achieved.  Unlike what appears to be the current plan here in Washington State which prioritizes; ferries, and the Sound Transit’s light rail system, and other forms of ‘public transportation’ over privately owned vehicles and highway maintenance. 

Another quote from the Motorcycle Framework website speaks directly to the current heavily burdened 'public transportation' in the metro areas of Washington state; "It has been contended that it would be a bad thing if people chose motorcycles over the bus or train.  Industry contends the contrary.  In many urban areas, buses and trains are already beyond sensible or comfortable passenger carrying capacity, which reduces their attractiveness to both existing and potential new users.  If a proportion of bus and train users were to switch to motorcycles, valuable capacity would be opened which would then be more attractive to those current car users who would never consider riding a motorcycle or bicycle.  Transport usage and choices start to balance better than at present."  
In this example, a portion of the passengers from the overcrowded public transportation could choose to ride motorcycles, freeing up seats for current single occupant automobile drivers.  This would open up more highway room for motorcycles as the number of single occupant automobiles began to lower.  The overall effect, while possibly small, would still be reducing congestion overall, and possibly by a significant margin.

In late 2014, English Trade Unions Congress data showed that average commute times had risen over the previous five years for all modes of commuting transport.  That is, except for motorcycles.  They actually had experienced a decrease in overall average commute time.  In 2011 a Belgian study by Transport and Mobility Leuven showed that a modal shift of 10% from private cars to motorcycle reduces lost vehicle hours in congestion on a main train roadway by 63% for everybody using the route (not just the motorcyclists).  Another 2011 study published by Pierre Kopp showed that the 36% increase in motorcycle traffic in Paris between 2000 and 2007 accounted for a net benefit of 168 million Euros ($182 million).

I cannot think of a more appropriate, or more fitting way to conclude this blog post than with another excerpt from Motorcycle Framework; "So, not only are there significant benefits to the individual of changing to motorcycles in terms of reduced journey times, but the reduced congestion is beneficial to both society, business, and the public purse.

Whichever way one considers the issue, if motorcycles are considered in a properly integrated approach to policy, greater opportunities to reduce casualties and to solve our overall transport problems are opened up."

Catch you on the road sometime...

Washington State Can Help Reduce Motorcycle Fatalities

"Rumble strip usage on the shoulders of undivided highways demands strategic application because bicycle usage is more prevalent along the shoulders of these roadways.  Rumble strips affect the comfort and control of bicycle riders; consequently their use is to be limited to highway corridors that experience high levels of run-off-the-road accidents." Washington State Dept. Of Transportation Webpage on rumble strips.

Bicyclists only have to contend with rumble strips along the shoulders of highways.  Yet on an increasing number of highways motorcyclists are being forced to contend with rumble strips on both the center line and shoulder of highways.  Since it is known that rumble strips affect the "comfort and control" of bicycles that their use is limited, why is it that the concept of rumble strips affecting the "comfort and control" of motorcyclists is virtually disregarded?

It seems the "comfort and control" of bicyclists may be more important to highway engineers and designers than that of motorcyclists.  Are there other highway features that engineers and designers haven't taken motorcycles into consideration along the highway?

According to a 2016 Texas A&M report by Dr. Chiara Dobrovolny, Phd., there are "no US testing standards for motorcycle riders safety when impacting roadside safety devices".  Even though (according to Dr. Dobrovolny's report) "approximately 50% of motorcycle crashes into barriers occur with the rider in the upright position", there are no world testing standards when impacting in the upright position.  This may explain why automobile occupant deaths have declined significantly since 1975, while motorcycle fatalities have appeared to remain relatively unchanged, or possibly risen slightly.

In the 2005 German study by Berg, the following photos were taken during a test of the effects to a motorcyclist impacting a typical “W Beam” guardrail while upright.  During this test the dummy slides alongside and onto the steel guard rail. Here, the rider would have suffered severe injuries especially to the shoulder, the chest and the pelvis corresponding to aggressive contacts and snagging with some of the roadside protection system’s stiff parts and open profiles.

The Berg study also examined a motorcyclist collision with the guardrail when sliding into it after laying the motorcycle down.  The high impact loads of the impact with the sigma post were beyond the biomechanical limits for the head of the test dummy.  The motorcycle became stuck beneath the rail, and the rider struck with extreme, and most likely fatal force. This was from an impact test speed of only 37 mph.   

Even the ubiquitous “Jersey Barrier” can pose a serious threat as shown by the Berg study.  Since when striking the barrier upright,

the motorcycle and rider do not decelerate quickly, there is a higher risk of the rider being thrown into oncoming traffic than with the metal barrier.  Also, the concrete is not flexible and therefore does not dissipate the impact force as well as the steel barrier does. 

When the motorcycle collision occurred while sliding into the concrete barrier the risk of injury was much higher due to impact loads.  As this excerpt from the Berg study demonstrates; "Deceleration of the motorcycle and dummy were not as rapid as during the impact where the motorcycle slid into the guard rail made from steel.  Nevertheless the measures dummy deceleration for the primary impact were high, indicating a risk of severe and life-threatening injuries.  The dummy head loads again lay clearly above the biomechanical limits."  Clearly colliding with the "safety barrier" while sliding adds a significant risk of "severe and life-threatening" injuries during a collision.

While their isn't a great deal of options for mitigating the danger of colliding with the concrete 'Jersey Barrier", there are options for mitigating the risk of injuries to motorcyclists from the steel barriers that are even more common place than the concrete ones.  Proven effective in use in countries around the world, these solutions for mitigating the risk of severe  or life-threatening injuries for motorcyclists in a crash.

Numerous studies done around the world point to the effectiveness of several designs to prevent sliding motorcyclists from impacting the posts supporting the guard rail.  The extreme force of impacting a post while sliding can cause severe and even fatal injuries in a collision that otherwise could have been survivable with limited injuries.  Even the risk of injury from impacting the upper rail and sliding along it can be mitigated with existing technology.

If Washington State is serious about reaching its safety goal as set forth in its Strategic Highway Safety Plan (better known as ‘Target Zero’) it will have to seriously look at mitigating the dangers of its highway features.  Features that may be perfectly safe and beneficial to the safety of larger motor vehicles, can have unintended and dangerously affect the "control and comfort" of a motorcyclist.  Depending on the skill level of the rider, this sudden loss of stability and control of the motorcycle can be a major factor leading to a single vehicle crash.  While safety training and rider education and public awareness of motorcycles are all good strategies to take in pursuit of achieving even a significant reduction in motorcycle fatalities, mitigating the dangers of roadway "safety" features can be a tangible and effective measure to take towards attaining the Strategic Highway Safety Plan's goals.  Which we motorcyclists are truly concerned about.  After all, it is our lives that are involved in this ongoing discussion on 'motorcycle safety'.  

If the state considers the "comfort and control" of bicyclists when building and maintaining highway safety features, it should at least place as much consideration on motorcyclist safety.  

Catch you on the road sometime...

Lane Sharing Video Misrepresentation Revealed

The practice of lane sharing has been opposed in Washington state by some agencies in the government.  The Washington Traffic Safety Commission even used a you-tube video that ended in a crash after being clipped at that point.  Below is the same video showing the crash but with the additional footage still attached.

As you can see in the video, after the crash, the rider stands back up and eventually receives a ticket from a law enforcement officer.  Shaken but unharmed.  The rider making the video then continues on lane sharing safely to her destination.  Yet that isn't what the WTSC wanted to portray, so they used the video clipped to immediately after the collision before the rider stood up.

The Washington State Patrol also opposes lane sharing in Washington.  The reasons for their opposition have changed since January and now seem to follow a convoluted seesaw path between they feel; it is unsafe and would cause more crashes (which to them equates more fatalities), and that more people would violate the law by lane splitting at high speeds recklessly.  As is shown in the video below, which was actually used by WSP to oppose the practice.  So because some people who are already breaking the law would continue to do so, the WSP seems to be opposed to the law passing.

Again the video was edited to show the crash, making it appear as a severe if not fatal accident.  Yet in reality, the rider was standing and walking around in just over a minute of the impact.  It would seem that the intent of using the edited version instead of the full version was for purposes of shock value and to create a false perception of the inherent danger of lane sharing.  It also seems interesting that the rider was obviously traveling at a much higher speed differential than would be allowed under either of the current lane sharing bills in the Washington legislature.  Was that again, a deliberate decision on the part of WSP officials when choosing this video?

Even though they have been given multiple studies from around the world showing the safety benefits of the practice, WSP and the WTSC still oppose lane sharing.  Perhaps the words of the retired SGT. David Kinaan (who retired as the Supervisor of the California Highway Patrol Academy Motorcycle Training Unit) published in an article on lane sharing in the April 2014 issue of American Motorcyclists magazine might help alleviate some of their concerns; "As a young motorcycle cop, I learned many lessons from my training officer that helped me throughout my career.  Among them were lessons about lane splitting.  He explained to me that lane splitting was safer than stopping behind traffic.  While there was the potential for a sideswipe collision while lane splitting, there was equal potential for a rear-end collision when stopped behind traffic."

The moral here is simple; don't believe everything you read, and even less what you see.  Do your own research and verify the information.  Due-diligence is the only way we as a community can stand united against those who would use their bureaucratic mindset to oppose us and attempt to deny us the ability to choose how we protect ourselves while riding.

Catch you on the road sometime...