Please Explain Lane Splitting

ocdart said
The "pointing down" is actually the rider saying "Thanks" for the extra room. Take a closer look next time and you'll see the "pointing down" is actually done with both the index and middle finger, sort of like a downward pointing "Victory V". It's known as the American biker wave and is the same signal that's given by one rider to another rider to acknowledge the other rider and say "Hi" while riding.

Actually, thanks for that bit of info. I'm a fairly new rider and was wondering why bikers kept giving me the peace sign. Thought they just liked my bike. (first time I thought I was getting the finger)

Most vehicle accidents have very little affect on your insurance costs.

I have to disagree. I had a minor accident, the first in over a decade, and my insurance went up about $50 more a month! What really sucks is it was clearly the lady's fault but I hit her so I was cited. She slammed on her brakes in the middle of an intersection with no other cars around but me behind her. A week later she tried making medical claims. I showed pictures of the damage to my insurance company and they believed it was insignificant enough to deny her outlandish medical claims. I did get a slight warm fuzzy feeling in knowing that her bf was arrested the night of the accident on an unrelated warrant.