I ended up heading home at an unusual (for me) time the other day and found myself caught in afternoon work traffic. I keep unusual hours and rarely have to deal with the normal daily commuter traffic. This day, however, I ended up with an extra 30 minutes on my commute and had the pleasure of sitting in the Southern California afternoon heat on very little sleep (stayed up late writing a paper the night before). One thing that was different about sitting in traffic from my normal ride was the motorcycles zooming between me in the fast lane and the cars in the number 2 lane.
In the half hour I was stuck in stop in go traffic, I counted 16 motorcycles that passed. Since I was in the fast lane, I would pull over a few feet into the center divide as a courtesy to the bikers that passed by. I was able to move for 15 of the 16 bikes, I didn't see one coming and he had passed before I could do anything. Of the 15 bikers that I moved for 9 of them gave me a quick peace sign as they passed acknowledging my courtesy. This is how it should be. I'm not saying that they all need to do this, if they aren't comfortable taking a hand off the handle because the gap ahead of them is tight, then it would be crazy for me to expect them to do so. But in a perfect world, cars would move out of the way as a courtesy and bikers would acknowledge it and we would all go on our own way.
Bikers have a bad rap. Usually people associate bikers with scruffy Hells Angels types or young irresponsible and reckless riders. I have to say, between the two I prefer the Hells Angels type, they are much more likely to appreciate my courtesy, plus I like the cruiser bikes better. Besides, they tend not ride around like madmen putting their own safety and that of other motorists on the line. What is the point of my moving out of the way when they pass or double checking before I change lanes if they're just going to speed away doing a wheelie? The young bucks that speed down the road swerving across all the lanes really bring down the whole group of riders. Even so, considering how dangerous motorcycle crashed can be, we all have a responsibility to avoid collisions at all costs, even if they show disregard for their own lives.
This reminds me of a conversation I had with someone who was pissed about bikers splitting lanes in traffic. First of all I should note that this is legal in California (where I live). He was annoyed that they were able to pass and didn't have to sit in traffic like the rest of us, which he assumed made traffic worse for cars. This is not true. Even though the bikes that pass you while you are sitting in traffic don't make your commute any faster, they don't slow it down either. The bikes that didn't have to sit in front of you because they split lanes actually made your commute faster. Think of it this way, having bikes split lanes means that more vehicles can move through traffic in the same amount of time; you just never saw the bikes that saved you time because they were always in front of you. If your concern is about fairness, buy a bike yourself and same us all a little time.
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