Pointing out from Kris78's articles:
Lane-splitting on freeways
Daily (6-7 days a week) motorcycle riders more frequently lane-split on freeways, with 36.5% of frequent
riders engaging in lane-splitting compared to 7.1% of infrequent riders (less than once a week). The
difference in frequency of lane splitting behavior is significant (Table M15). A general emerging trend is
that frequent MC riders are more likely to lane split than infrequent riders.
The younger the rider, the more frequently they lane-split on both freeways and other multiple-lane
roads (75.0% of all respondents between the ages of 18 and 24 lane split; Table M23)
Speed of traffic while lane-splitting
Overall, there has been a slight reduction of lane-splitting at all speeds and at traffic being at a standstill,
with the exception of traffic moving at a stop-and-go speed, with shows a significant 11.4% increase
between 2014 and 2013 (Table M28).
Perceived threats while lane-splitting and traffic violations
Compared to the most serious threats stated in 2013, there has been a significant 6.1% increase in 2014
of MC riders mentioning drivers distracted by cells or by texting
From the 2nd article:
Lane-splitting is legal and is widely practiced by motorcyclists in California. Of the almost 6,000
collision-involved motorcyclists we studied, nearly 1,000 were lane-splitting at the time of their
collision.
so 1/6th of all collisions in Cali occur while the riders are lane-splitting.
...however:
Lane-splitting motorcyclists were much less often injured during their collisions.
They were considerably less likely to suffer head injury, torso injury, extremity injury, and fatal
injury than riders who were not lane-splitting.
The findings from this analysis suggest that countermeasures to alter the way motorcyclists
lane-split are likely to result in reductions in injury. Many motorcyclists may not understand
how lane-splitting at excessive traffic speed creates unnecessary risk. It is in high-speed
environments where lane-splitting has the lowest benefit to the motorcyclist, and high-speed
lane-splitting could be reduced or eliminated from California roadways without significant loss
of the overall potential benefits of lane-splitting, which include reductions in fuel consumption,
emissions, and traffic congestion.
...so the argument here is that the drivers needing education are those riding the lane-splitting motorcycles and less so drivers of surrounding cars.
I would support that more - you have to carry a specific licence to be allowed to lane-split, perhaps as an added component of the M2-exit licence test (that is, if you don't demonstrate good lane-splitting behaviour, you can get your M, but to be allowed to lane-split, and get the full non-restricted "M" licence, you would have to pass an additional test component). At least that's one way to mitigate, I suppose.
Since my opinions here are relatively unpopular, I'll leave my criticisms out of this and simply write a suggestion to make the implementation that much more effective.
