Splitting is dangerous, but if you're doing it correctly, it's safer than not. Splitting when traffic is slow is actually more risky bc cars can change lanes more abruptly. When traffic is moving at a steady 45 mph and you don't travel twice as fast as traffic, it's actually very safe.
I've gotten merged into and pushed out of my land onto the shoulder pretty consistently when I decide not to split and just flow with traffic, esp with everyone on their phones.
Now I try, if safe, to split to the gaps in traffic and stay there.
To reiterate your point about speed, when splitting you shouldn't be going much faster than traffic. That is very dangerous. But most motorcyclist aren't getting hit while splitting, most are either killing themselves by riding outside if their skill level(forgetting how to turn under stress) or they're getting hit in intersections. I've gotten hit twice by people doing stupid things in intersections and I've been nearly hit countless times by red light runners, cops blowing stop signs, drunk drivers, the list goes on.
Splitting is dangerous, but if you're doing it correctly, it's safer than not. Splitting when traffic is slow is actually more risky bc cars can change lanes more abruptly. When traffic is moving at a steady 45 mph and you don't travel twice as fast as traffic, it's actually very safe.
I've gotten merged into and pushed out of my land onto the shoulder pretty consistently when I decide not to split and just flow with traffic, esp with everyone on their phones.
Now I try, if safe, to split to the gaps in traffic and stay there.
To reiterate your point about speed, when splitting you shouldn't be going much faster than traffic. That is very dangerous. But most motorcyclist aren't getting hit while splitting, most are either killing themselves by riding outside if their skill level(forgetting how to turn under stress) or they're getting hit in intersections. I've gotten hit twice by people doing stupid things in intersections and I've been nearly hit countless times by red light runners, cops blowing stop signs, drunk drivers, the list goes on.