66% of motorcycle related accidents caused by drivers. The most common of these is rear-ender.
Source: Professor Harry Hurt.
"HURT Report." (1981) University of South Carolina.
California vs Florida. Deaths caused by rear-enders are 30% higher in places without filtering/lane splitting.
Source: NHTSA.
"Fatality Analysis Reporting System." Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
"The observed injuries among the motorcyclists were significantly different between LSM
[Lane Splitting Motorcyclists] and other motorcyclists (Table 12). LSM were markedly less likely to suffer head injury (9% vs 17%), torso injury (19% vs 29%), or fatal injury (1.2% vs 3.0%) than non-lane-splitting motorcyclists."
Source: Thomas Rice, PhD; Lara Troszak, MA; Taryn Erhardt. (May 29, 2015)
"Motorcycle Lane-splitting and Safety in California". Safe Transportation Research & Education Center. University of California Berkeley
Also remember that almost everywhere in the world it is allowed. It is
only not allowed in Canada/North America (Minus California). Motorcycles are a vastly more efficient form of transportation and massively reduce congestion but only when we are allowed to fill in spaces that are otherwise unused. A study done in Belgium stated that if 10% of the population were on motorcycles and allowed to filter, we could completely eliminate all traffic jams (40% reduction in traffic).
We sit higher than most cars and have a better view than you might think. Paying attention is how we survive. We don't sit in plush chairs nor do we have the luxuries of air conditioning and cupholders. Some of us still ride air-cooled bikes which will overheat in traffic.
Extra: A little overproduced but a informational video by my buddies over at RideApart.