It's also the action you see those MORONS doing 30 to 50 mph faster than the cars around them. Vrooom. Crash. Thump Thump. Oops!

I will rarely do it over 30 (my speed) though I will occasionally quarter from lane to lane in less space than a VW can make. The benefits of having 1/3 the width and 2/3 the length. My wife was once passed by about 6 bikes doing about 100 (she was doing 70) on the freeway. She was in her Jag right next to a bread truck. The first bike startled her causing her to drift toward the truck slightly. The next bike and one after made it and the ones after that almost had Jag burgers. By the time the last one came up she had reestablished her space and continued on. Startling cagers is not the wisest thing in the world. I've never had anyone open a door on me, but I have had several try to squeeze me out on purpose. It's not a problem when you're only going 10 mph faster than traffic. You can stop in time but an article I read was pretty accurate IMHO. It said that riding a bike takes roughly 2x the attention of driving a cage, and lane splitting takes about 2x more than that.

The trick is to keep your mirrors and bags to yourself and their tire treads off your tank. In California most people will open up some space for you but NOT ALL.

I didn't do it for a long time since my wife begged me not to. She got stuck with me in one traffic jam (10 miles long) and her backside was sore from a full day riding. "Honey, why can't you go past them. There's enough room!"

Been doing it relatively safely ever since. :lol6