‘Lane splitting’ motorcyclist sustains severe injuries after striking car on Twin Cities highway

A motorcyclist was critically injured after “lane splitting” on a Twin Cities highway and struck the side of a car late Wednesday morning, officials said.

The collision occurred shortly after 10:30 a.m. on westbound Hwy. 610 at Zane Avenue in Brooklyn Park, the State Patrol said.

The car was traveling in the left lane when it was hit on the passenger side by the motorcyclist, the patrol said.

The motorcyclist, 32-year-old Yevgeniy Konstantinov Samaray, of Coon Rapids, suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken by emergency medical responders to North Memorial Health Hospital, the patrol said. Samaray did not have on a helmet, according to the patrol.

A hospital spokeswoman said Thursday that Samaray was in fair condition.

The car’s driver, 48-year-old Elvis E. Osagie, of Plymouth, was not hurt.

According to emergency dispatch audio, the motorcycle was down in the middle of the road after the crash with the rider on the ramp, while the car was pinned against the median cables on the left shoulder.

A new Minnesota law allows motorcyclists to legally ride between lanes of traffic, but there are restrictions.

Lane splitting, also known as stripe riding, allows motorcyclists to travel between vehicles when traffic is moving at 25 miles per hour or slower and go no more than 15 mph faster than the speed of traffic. Once traffic speed reaches 25 mph or faster, motorcyclists must stop sharing lanes and ride in one traffic lane.

While the patrol did not say how fast traffic was moving at the time of the crash, there is currently no construction zones that would have slowed vehicles along that stretch of the highway.