[*BCM*] Scooters in the bike lanes

[Lee Peters]

Oh, and you thought the scooter thread was dead.

Anecdote:
    I was riding in between the travel lane and the lane for parked cars on 
Boylston near Copley.  A scooter driver pulled into the space in which most 
bikers travel.  He moved into the bike "lane" without looking and sideswiped 
me with his motorbike & body (no pain, no damage).  We stopped and I gave 
him the 'what for'.  I simply said "Drivers of motorcycles are not allowed 
to split lanes by moving into the zone between lanes of cars".  He was lane 
splitting, which is illegal in Massachusetts.  He apologized.  I didn't even 
get a chance to say "you also didn't look first before changing lanes".

Law citation:
http://www.mass.gov/rmv/mcmanual/60_LaneUseAndRestrictionsAndSpecialRulesForMotorcycles.pdf

I guess the nuance for scooters is the rule on engine displacement which 
frees them from ordinary motorcyle law.  However, a scooter is still a 
motor-driven cycle.  The hard & fast rule is to look before changing lanes - 
but that lane is too often assumed to be empty of bicycles.