Lane Changes Driving me CRAZY

[sxy6ftr]

I live in Woodbridge, VA but I was stopped on I95 traveling southbound, clear day traffic was moderate to heavy. I was in the far left lane on my Kawasaki motorcycle when a car came from the right (hopefully not seeing me) into my lane, I had no choice but to move to the shoulder to avoid being hit (even at 20 mph, you can get pretty broken up). I rode the shoulder for about 50 feet and no car would let me in, I saw the troopers car and was relieved knowing that she would let me over, but instead she turned on the lights and cited me for improper lane change, even though I explained what happened. She said I should have sat still and waited for re-entry. How can I fight this?

[quincy]

You can appeal the ticket - I think you have 10 days or something like that after receiving the ticket. It should say on the ticket itself. I believe in Virginia you are not allowed to stop on the highway, so you could potentially use that reason for why you traveled on the shoulder instead of stopping. I also believe the fine is around $30 and, with court costs, comes to around $61.

Lane change accidents account for approximately 5% of all total crashes (2005 stats, I think), and I am personally surprised they do not account for more. I was just traveling on I-95 recently (and I-93 and MA 24S, which are even worse than I-95), and lane-changing is often done without any thought of the surrounding traffic. Signage is part of the problem - if you are not familiar with the exits, it is very difficult to know whether exits are on the left or the right until the exit is upon you and you must travel across 3 lanes of traffic at high rates of speed to make it over in time.

Scary driving, especially, I imagine, on a motorcycle.