I am open to the idea that the law should be changed, although my recent efforts haven't turned up a lot of useful studies - everything I've seen seems to be focused on motorcycles (unclear if applicable to bicycles - might not be!) and the effects reported seem really small either way. 🤷♂️
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And cars can't legally pass each other stopped at a red light.
The riskiest time to split lanes is in traffic which is almost stopped; because drivers will jam into a new space; without looking
Bicycles are even harder to see; and much quieter; and (if the motorcyclist is at all smart) much less armored.
Couldn't pay me to split lanes on a bicycle (which I rode in LA traffic from age 16-21)
The law says the motorcyclist cannot be more than 15 mph faster than traffic, ergo the higher differential is at lower absolute speed.
Danger increases for all vehicles as speed does F=MA.
That being said, the following meme adequately explains my observations:
so my own thought is that basically living outside the law is the least worst option available for most everyday cyclists
(but in my ~~defence~~ sentencing submissions i still think this despite not having biked in nearly 10 years)