-- Comment At Your Own Risk --
Less accidents?
:0) WW
How about fatalities going up with the smaller, lighter cars that people are switching to?
Also, I see fatalities going up--particularly in the short term--as more people switch to motorcycles, scooters, and mopeds to save fuel. Cage drivers are a motorcyclists' worst enemy...then toss in a whole buncha noobs into the mix. Yow.
Lastly, I don't think this will actually happen, but I'd like to see major metropolitan areas start to legalize lane splitting for dudes on bikes. Saves gas, more efficient use of time, and is safer than doing the stop-and-go drill. Also would incentivize people to transition to motorcycles since they don't have to sit idle in traffic anymore.
EP, you make an excellent point. Here in California though, lane splitting is legal as long as you don't exceed the speed limit AND you don't go more than 10 MPH faster than the general traffic flow around you.
Lane splitting? I guess I just haven't happened upon that term yet.
Ok, I give. I am an illegal alien. You won't turn me in so that they send me back to Hades, will you? hehehe
Doom,
Lane splitting is what motorcycles do when they go between lanes past slower moving cars.
I could probably do that in the Xterra, for a while. I don't think it would save on gas, and there might be other problems. Thanks for the information (and fodder for fantasizing 
)
Splitting lanes really is a lot of fun, I gotta tell ya. I've really done some stupid things in that regard though.
Like that time at band camp...
Less gas usage also means less income from gas tax. Not that our road infrastructure needs the maintenance.
AJW, that doesn't apply to sales tax on gas though which ends up being a wash because you're still paying more per gallon on less gallons. I guess it depends on how much you change your driving behavior.
I fondly remember lane splitting as I've sat in traffic jams in Denver and in Washington DC, as my BMW starts to overheat.
Lane splitting made SoCal bearable when I lived there. I managed to ride from San Diego to Santa Barbara in 3 1/2 hours...through the Orange Crush...on the 405, only because of lane splitting.
I usually only did it when I was by myself. But had to do it on the way to Big Bear...scared the crap outta Mrs Wapiti.
One time a friend's girlfriend wanted to ride on my motorcycle and her request was to go fast between cars.
I did.
She was terrified!
I warned her.
If individual drivers are exhibiting a slower driving patter - going slower (without being ridiculous) instead of speeding up really fast, only to slow down moments later, etc. the overall speed of flowing traffic will increase. Most of the traffic problems and slowdowns are caused by outliers: too fast or too oblivious. Now if we can just fix oblivious...
Commenting by HaloScan
