Riding in lane 1

[ARF07]

Ok so I was on my way to work this morning (in my car) and I was following this guy, and idk what he was doing, but he kept drifting over into the other lane, then swerving back in to his (and cutting corners). He kept this up for a while too. Could have been texting or spilled his coffee..it doesn't really matter WHY he was doing it, but here's the question.

I keep hearing "ride in the lane closest to the yellow line" but why? I know the middle has oil and stuff, but I'm afraid some distracted driver like this will come into my lane and hit me head on. Could someone please tell me why it's preferred to be in that part of the lane? Thanks in advance

[kkim]

So others will more easily see you, so you have better visibility down the road, lots of crap gets kicked up on the right hand side of the road from the roadside.

the guy swerving this morning could have easily swerved into the left or right lanes. you just need to stay vigilant when on a bike for jerks like this and stay away from them.

[ARF07]

wow Kelly that was fast lol. Yea that's pretty much what I thought, like, if you're behind a car someone might try to pull behind them and not see you or something. Thanks

[kkim]

well, those are my reasons, at least. let's see what others come up with.

[krbreton]

Originally Posted by ARF07

I keep hearing "ride in the lane closest to the yellow line" but why? I know the middle has oil and stuff,

Very good question.

There's actually two parts to this question. The first part is "why should I ride in lane #1 in a multi-lane situation?" (Answered below)

And the second is "which of the ~3 motorcycle lane should I be in while riding"?
As you correctly pointed out, when possible, you don't want to select the middle of the motorcycle lanes because there is more crap in the middle.

I tend to select the leftmost part of the lane because it gives me the most space between drivers in the #2, 3, etc lanes. Space means time to react when someone decides to come over. Additionally, being in the left side of the lane makes me more visible to drivers (who sit on the left side of their car), and increases my ability to see both same and opposite direction traffic. Personally, I'd rather be able to see the threat (DY violator in this case), and react, rather than duck back into a poor visibility situation, and hope.

As to the first question (why lane #1), it has a simple answer, explained to me when I first started riding cruisers, years ago - people do less stupid things in the left lane - they tend to be going straight, whereas the other lanes involve merging, driveways, people reading addresses, etc.

Also, neither of these rules are hard and fast. I ride a motorcycle in a sort of threat-analysis mode. I will run the right lane when I either don't have the speed to be further over, or some other threat makes the left lane dangerous (lots of in-lane left turners, etc) On the freeway, if my right side is wide open and lots of people are either passing, or there is a lot of opposing traffic, I run the right moto lane, again, looking for the most distance (time) between myself and the threats.

(standard YMMV statementThese are some of the rules I use when riding, I'm sure others have built up other rules that they use. Good on you for trying to understand the rules you are adopting, rather than just going by the textbook answers - this attitude will keep you alive.

Keep the dirty side down.

-Kyle

[krbreton]

Wow, it took me a few minutes to write that post and you had already gotten some good advice. Isn't the inter-webs great?

-Kyle

[Alex]

If it's a limited access road, i.e. no intersections, driveways, or parking lots immediately on the right side off the road, then I'm not sure if either the left or right lane is inherently safer. On a road that does have those things on the right side of it, I do agree that staying in the left lane, closest to the yellow, is a safer way to go. The likelihood of someone coming out on the right is high, and the likelihood of some clueless driver slamming on the brakes in front of you while in the right lane to make one of those entrances is high. Yes, there's always a chance that an oncoming vehicle might cross the double yellow and put you in danger while in the left lane, but it's a much, much lower likelihood. Even those who do swerve around in their lane while they text, chat, eat, pluck, exercise, or whatever else; usually they can tend to keep it on the correct side of the road.

[Jerry]

They tend to appear suddenly from the brush on the right side of the road.
If they come from the left, you have some time to see them
Riding closer to the yellow line gives you a better chance to avoid them, overall, in my opinion.

[krbreton]

Originally Posted by Alex

If it's a limited access road, i.e. no intersections, driveways, or parking lots immediately on the right side off the road, then I'm not sure if either the left or right lane is inherently safer.

Alex-

Good point here and it leads to a question that came up on a ride recently on 9. I tend to run very late apexes (hold the outer line until I can see through the corner), because it allows me to see through the turn. I had another (newish) rider comment that my style scared her because on right turns, I was about a foot from the DY at my track in point, and she was worried about a car coming around and blowing the DY, causing a head-on. My response was that at least I could see further around the turn, giving me a little more reaction time if they did come through like an idiot, but I have been wondering what the prevailing logic on this is? (As a note, I don't apex against the DY on left turns, I keep a few feet because of lean)

Any thoughts here?

-Kyle

[Alex]

Kyle -

Check out this thread on SBR regarding line choice in right hand corners. I tend to agree with Andy's thoughts, and I no longer go as deep into right hand turns. Yes, the added vision you can get with a late apex is nice, but if there is an oncoming vehicle cutting the corner there, in most cases that extra vision still doesn't give you nearly enough time for evasive maneuvers to avoid the car/truck anyway.

There's no foolproof answer that will turn out to be correct in every situation. But in terms of risk, in order of what I'd want to hit coming around a blind right:

- something going the same direction as me hidden around the bend close to the right side of the road
- something stopped in the road around a bend
- oncoming traffic coming around a bend

1 is likely survivable, 2 is a crapshoot, and 3 is most likely either life-changing or life-ending. A more inside line rather than a late apex seems to be somewhat lower risk, all things considered.

[ARF07]

thanks for all the input guys. Something Alex said that I never though about before (and I need to correct when I ride) is that people DO slam brakes all the time. If you have to swerve around the car, you've got farther to go on the right side.

[krbreton]

Alex-

Hmm. Took me a while to make it through that thread. I don't know the Andy character, so I don't have much to judge him by, but given his responses, he seems to have his head screwed on straight.

The line I described is basically the Blue line that "Doug" describes in the thread - a Red, Green, Green line.

Andy actually had me convinced that green line all the way was the way to go, with his argument in post#32, that if you have to make an avoidance manuever, from the green line, you aren't fighting centrifugal force, which would cause extreme lean angles. However, later, in posts 81 and 90, he re-clarifies that he is actually referring to exactly the line I (and Doug) described. Since this is such a late apex, you end up basically finishing the turn on the right hand side of the road (particularly in a low horsepower vehicle like our beloved ninjettes).

I think I'm still in favor of being able to see as far as I can on entry, but the argument that you simply don't have time to react, even if you can see it earlier is an interesting one, and will require some more thought on my part. The overriding speed rule (don't ride faster than your angel flies) is a valid one, but the truth is, 30 mph around a corner on a road like Palomares is pretty slow. A car doing 30 and you're already at 60mph closing, which are the reaction times they discuss in that thread. Very sobering.

-Kyle

[BlueRaven]

Originally Posted by ARF07

I keep hearing "ride in the lane closest to the yellow line" but why? I know the middle has oil and stuff, but I'm afraid some distracted driver like this will come into my lane and hit me head on. Could someone please tell me why it's preferred to be in that part of the lane? Thanks in advance

I know when i took my course I was told staying on the left side of your lane is the best place to be because the car in front of you can see you in their rearview and left side mirror making you more visable to that driver. We always need to reassess every situation differently and adjust our riding position accordingly.

[billmi]

Also, if it's not a divided road, the closer you are to the center, the more options you have to change direction and still have a properly paved road underneath you. If a chunk of blue ice suddenly falls out of the sky (or other random hazard) in front of you, and you are at the edge of the road - you can only swerve to the center, unless your bike can handle the off-road terrain. If you're near the middle of the road you've got two directions to choose from swerving, and can take the one least likely to slam you into other traffic.

[CRXTrek]

Most of the roads around me are undivided,So i stay in the left unless there is a line of cars coming toward me then i move to the middle incase one of them tries to pass another. Then they could see me a little bit better.

[BlueTyke]

Six words:


Everyone is out to get me...

[veyron1001]

The sad thing is on some Florida roads the safest part is the middle with all the debris. The sides of the lanes have snakes, dips, holes and cracks in it. You honestly have to maze yourself through some of the 2 laned roads.

[billmi]

That's the truth. There are some parts of town around here where a dual-sport is far more capable "street bike" than a sport or cruiser.

When there are trees literally growing up through the holes in the pavement (and there are in the roads out by the Bombardier test track/lake) you know that road maintenance is a *little* overdue.

[revstriker]

Another point of riding toward the left side of the lane is lane protection. That is, if you are being passed by a car, you want them to completely pass you before they start merging into your lane. If you are to the right of the lane, cars may start to merge into that space before they are completely past you. Of course, the opposite is true if you have cars merging from the right. While I don't practice lane hogging (tailgating the person in front of me as to not allow anyone to merge in front of me), I will position myself in the lane so that cars have to completely pass me before merging.

[rockNroll]

I ride faster than the flow of traffic. The left lane is for passing, so that's where I usually am. As for positioning within a lane, it changes with environment for reasons that have already been posted above.