Motorcycle Groups and Right of Way

Has anyone heard of an informal privilege whereby vehicles are expected to yield right of way to group rides so the pack may stay together? (I'm assuming that is their reason). It's hard enough to extend this courtesy to funeral processions anymore with our traffic but I was absolutely stunned when lead riders turned left in front of me when I had a solid green.

It's all about "attitude" and pack mentality. They know if they just GO, you'll wait. A buddy was telling me about an actual motorcycle GANG that had one rider stop traffic at an on-ramp so cars had to wait for a long line of bikers to stay in formation (no cars merging in to the pack). Totally illegal, totally disrespectful, but totally accepted by all

If they had anything that looked like this they have the right away.

Sometimes its better to just let them have it.

I would not advise cutting off OPP officers, or motorcycle gangs on highways or any road way.

Cutting off police or motor cycle gangs is not against the OHTA, but it may be advisable to not do so.

Wether or not they have the right away, if its a police officer or motorcycle gang just give it to them!

We usually just give it but that's because it's dangerous to try to re-form a group once there are a couple of cars splitting it. It's not like we have cell phones to coordinate things. With that being said, we keep our groups small (smaller than 8, usually in the 4-6 range) and we don't hold anybody up. The only exceptions are larger group rides that we organise 1-2 times a year, either for charities or for public awareness events.

If the lead turned in front of you even though you had the right of way, he's a jerk. We don't do that. But if you come up to a stop sign as the leader already went through, the rest of the group will follow him. Of course, the group will clear the intersection quickly and be travelling a bit faster than most cars out there.

On a semi-related note, yesterday evening I was northbound on the DVP approaching the 401. I was going 110, heading for the ramp to the westbound 401. A couple of squids tore past me and several other cars going about 150 km/h, cut across the bullnose between the ramps to the eastbound and westbound 401 (missed the crash barrier by 10 feet or so). I came around the curve and saw one of the squids facing the wrong way and a Subaru was pulling over. The Subaru driver & squid began arguing. No injuries, but it appeared as though they tried to pass going around the curve and got clipped. The other squid was gone. It's ONE LANE. WTF?!

Most motorcyclists I've seen this summer have been reasonable. I've noticed more lane-splitting than usual, but for the most part I've only seen a few isolated incidents with squids, so it was a little surprising.

squids?

Squid = bad motorcycle rider. Not sure where the term comes from, but I've been told that it is because once a squid crashes, the motor oil spill is like ink from the sea creature squid.

Is lane-splitting legal in Ontario? I don't remember anything in the HTA specifically addressing it.

Squid is a general term that boils down to "irresponsible rider," whether it's due to a lack of proper protective gear or dangerous vehicle operation.

AFIK, lane-splitting isn't allowed in Ontario. It's pretty common here in Chile, but I'm just not sure that your average Ontario car driver would have the proper level of due care and attention to notice a motorcycle riding normally, not to mention lane-splitting. Too bad, as it's one of the main advantages to owning a motorcycle in regions where people get proper driver training and apply it.

When I've toured thru the GTA on the MC. It is scary as hell in regular lane with all the lane switchers that don't see a big ass HD. Can not even phantom going down the line and reducing my personal safety zone that much more.

Going down a shoulder with lights/siren on with an MC, drivers still pull in front b/c they "gotta see" what's going on ahead.

Hmm maybe we should start a sticky post with just all the Terms/Slangs for members to know. Anyone interested?

Make it so.

Hi all,

I don't mean to Hijack this thread. Sorry just continue after this post.

I just wanted to point out, since most of the top posters are here, is that Reflections has started a new Topic for Slang/Term definitions here:

http://www.ontariohighwaytrafficact.com/topic1111.html

IF you have any ideas to add on that, please post there, and then we will sort out that thread once we get a good amount of Slang's/Terms with definitions.

For example, I did not know what Squids were. If you have a good idea for some slang's and terms, please post some there with definitions.

Thanking you,

Admin

FiReSTaRT wrote:

It's pretty common here in Chile

You're in Chile? Nice.

admin wrote:

For example, I did not know what Squids were.

My bad. Sorry about that. Should've explained somewhere in my original post.

Actually the Toronto Police indicated that they're concerned about "lane splitting" in this report last year on City TV:

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_24690.aspx

Lane splitting (in some places it's called "lane filtering") is legal in some parts of the world. That way it maximizes use of the roadway and motorcyclists don't have to sit idling when they can move ahead. This is fairly common in places like Italy and Spain, but people in those countries know how to drive (even if they seem a little crazy) and expect lane-splitting.

hwybear wrote:

When I've toured thru the GTA on the MC. It is scary as hell in regular lane with all the lane switchers that don't see a big ass HD.

My hat's off to anyone who is brave enough to ride a motorcycle in the GTA. I've seen some eye-popping riding skills as they've managed to avoid collisions and crashes in all sorts of situations, almost all of them caused by car drivers, or as motorcyclists call them, "cagers."

As for the lane changing... it's bad enough driving a car. I can't imagine that with a motorcycle.

white line.

What is that?

Cheers

Viper17

Lane splitting is legal in several States as well, which is why I was unsure of the laws here. Haven't paid much attention to the motorcycle bits of the HTA.

I think most of the laws require traffic flow to be under a certain limit, and the lane splitter may not exceed the flow of traffic by a certain amount.