Ask most random people on the street what their thoughts on lane-splitting and filtering are, and you'll most likely get a range of answers. Motorcycle riders will usually at least know what you're talking about, but car drivers may or may not.
Still, regardless of whether the person you're speaking with knows the correct terminology, most road users will have some type of opinion about the behavior. For many (though not all) riders, it's seen as a way to safely and efficiently move through traffic in ways that you just can't on four wheels.
That point, plus the fact that riders can—and do—get rear-ended by car- and truck-driving doofuses who are too distracted by scrolling Facebook Marketplace on their phones, make responsible lane filtering and splitting look all the better. Sure, said distracted doofus in this example could easily rear-end another car instead, but at least the driver and passengers of the car getting rear-ended would be more likely to walk away with only minor injuries.
