Lane-splitting Legislation

Lane splitting legislation has come up again in other states besides Californian.Oregon,Tennessee,Texas and Washington are considering some form of formal, legalized lane splitting in 2015.
I find the idea intriguing, it is always brought up on how help-full it is in Europe.I have driven in Germany (no motorcycle) and they have a tendency to be in sync. There laws and fines are a big reason for this. What is your opinion and experience. Howard

I am from Illinois and they did not have lane-sharing but I have lived in California and they do. I love lane-sharing and it makes riding a bike more enjoyable to me. The traffic is very bad here in the San Francisco Bay Area and it is nice be able to share lanes instead of sitting in traffic for a couple of hours. I know those that have never done it think it is extremely dangerous but if done safely it is good in my opinion. I do think that drivers in cars will need to get used to lane sharing, if it passes in other states, but I have never seen the horror stories that some say happens. That cars are always opening their doors or trying to run bikes of the road. Some have been caught doing this and some have been charged with crimes.

Lane sharing (or filtering as it is called in the UK) is legal in the UK but you have to watch out for jealous car drivers who will try to block your progress. Truck drivers are usually quite helpful however. I think that it is illegal in Germany.

Lane splitting is legal here in Austria, and essential for me in that it halves the time it takes to get to my students! My guitar mounted on the passenger seat of my SW is now a familiar sight in Vienna as I stream past the inevitable stationary traffic on the autobahn that runs over The Danube

SteVe

As Glencoeman says, it is legal here but the police advise during the BikeSafe Training that riders shouldn't filter if the traffic is moving at more than 45MPH and that riders should not filter at more than 10MPH faster than the traffic is moving - that's what I was told when I did mine.

Love lane sharing/splitting/filtering here in California.
If done with maturity, there are little to no issues with other motorists. The challenge here is when bikes go too fast and/or WAY too loud, scaring other motorists.
The Harley folks are by far the biggest group of riders that abuse the situation. I don't get these people... Why to this? It appears that they are very self-centered and immature.

This morning going to work I was on the Virago, very loud and laid back, the traffic was moving and no gaps coming the other way worth talking about, single track either side. I was paying more attention to front than back, mot in the mood anyway as i was early, all of a sudden this organ donor on a crotch rocket came past like a bat out of hell forcing his way through mainly on the wrong side of the road, thought to myself 'speed on son, hell aint half full yet' Mind you was watching 24 hours in A & E last night and was telling my wife how careful I was .....................

"Very loud" = not cool.

as in harley loud, it is a v twin after all, if i cant be a 1%'er some of the time at 60, when can i?

Frightening little kids.
Shocking fellow motorists.
Ticking lots of people off.
Upsetting home owners having a quiet evening on their quiet back patios.
Waking neighbors.
Sounds great! It's all about me!

I like lane splitting in CA. I've done it on my Goldwing many times though it's not the ideal bike for that. Sure saves time when things bog down on the freeway.

I am an Arizona rider who used to think that lane-splitting was a stupid idea until I actually tried it while on a trip to California. I got quite the aerobic workout at first due to panic and oversteering, but quickly caught on and started to relax. A few drivers were rude or thoughtless (hard to tell sometimes) but most were polite.

It worked really well there, but I would still be hesitant to be one of the first to try it in any state that recently passed the law. I would be concerned that car drivers who are not familiar with it might try to be 'helpful' and cause more accidents.

One thing I have noticed in several states is that they frequently have a 3-8 foot 'gore' lane separating the HOV lane from regular traffic. I have wondered why they don't use that as a lane for motorcycles. More than enough room, and it would tend to congregate the motorcycles in a single lane rather than filtering through multiple lanes simultaneously.

Motorcycles can use the HOV lanes here. Checking on the Texas legislature site, it seems the lane splitting bills have been sent to the transportation committee. We can only hope.

Motorcycles can use HOV lanes in Arizona as well, but at rush hour the HOV lane can be slower than the regular traffic lanes, especially near downtown Phoenix. I have noticed similar issues in California, LA and Bay Area 101 especially.

Lane splitting great idea-----but in most of US, there are at least 2 things that can make it scary #1 low skill of riders! #2 my experience in WI---idiots in pickup trucks who try to run you down if you get ahead. Might take a few years to get these worked out. CA=no problem.

I rode more than 40 years in Asia and Europe lane splitting/filtering way of life. Should come here I hope.

I'm not sure I'm brave enough to split lanes/ride between the cars in traffic. I've ridden on plenty of shoulders to jump ahead to the next exit before and even then I've had drivers swerve out to try to wreck me.

I would love to be able to filter to the front at traffic signals. Just for that I'd like the law to pass in Tennessee. Every year I hear about some legislator trying to repeal the helmet law, and it never even makes it out of committee.

Edit: I just read that the proposal in Tennessee was withdrawn. Rats.

sctlvr,
my neighbour is Tesco's supermarket carpark, the noise from my 750 virago (and goldwing gl1100 with harley silencers ) is a lot less ( and for a lot shorter time) than what we have to put up with every night from boy racers trying their best to blow up their hatchbacks to impress their mates. My Bike is used from 8am to ride to work and back home at 6pm, we don't have neighbour's with decks or patio's. She's loud but it's a good sound without needing to be held wide open like a scooter.

phils a winger wrote:

boy racers trying their best to blow up their hatchbacks to impress their mates.

They keep burning their lips on the tailpipes?

That reminds me of the lady whose car was caught in a hailstorm. After the storm the car looked a lot like a golf ball, dimpled all over. She took it to a body shop but when the estimater took a look at it thought the car just wasn't worth what it would cost to repair it. So he told her, "take it home and blow real hard in the tail pipe and the dents will pop out." She drove the car home and was huffing and puffing in the tail pipe but the dents just didn't come out. Her blond neighbor was watching this action from her house and finally came over to see what was going on. After the out of breath woman told her friend what she was trying to do the blond said, "Well doh! You gotta roll up the window first."

I've split lanes here in Texas, mostly it works ok, so long as the riders and cagers both behave. I don't really see many instances of cagers getting worked up about it, but every once in a whaile, one does

I was in London last summer on a tour "coach". The coach drivers don't like you to refer to the vehicle as a "bus" as they are NOT bus drivers! Anyway, the scooter traffic was thick. Kinda looked like someone kicked over an ant hill. The scooters were weaving in and out of heavy traffic, changing lanes and splitting lanes with reckless abandon. The coach driver was completely unphased (a real professional), but he said that in London if a motor vehicle hit a scooter he or she was at fault without exception and would probably lose their driving privileges. I think that would have to be the case, here, for lane splitting to work. The penalties for hitting a scooter or motorcycle in traffic would have to be very severe to suppress the jerks and crazies.

That is simply not true; the Highway Code, a document containing all Rules and Regulations (and Laws) about how to use the road, states clearly that the onus is on the 'filterer' to filter (lane-split) safely.

'Weaving in and out of Traffic' would not be considered 'safely'.

Naturally, drivers should be aware of motorcycles filtering and try to avoid hitting them.

Considerate drivers will move over in a queue of traffic, if possible, to let motorcycles past.

There are various suggestions as to speed and so on; for example, London Police motorcyclists say one shouldn't filter if a line of traffic is travelling at more than 45 MPH (as it might be on a Motorway) or filter at more than 15 MPH faster than the traffic is moving.

myself I won't do it over 35 and keep the speed differential around 10 MPH
Arts rules: if you have to ask yourself if you might be going too fast, you are

I find it a lot safer not to filter at all, as long as traffic is moving I'm quite happy, I will filter if traffic is stood and only slowly then.
Was knocked off once by a car driver who closed the gap on me, on purpose, I think some car drivers hate to see us moving when they are stationary.
Arts rules sound good.

Okay in the Provinces but if you don't filter in the centre of the major conurbations you might just as well park the bike and walk.

Filtering is normal at times on the M25; one may encounter 10-mile tailbacks.

Those are the times when the 45 MPH 'rule' comes into effect.

Lane splitting/filtering officially became legal here in the state of Victoria on 01 November 2015, although bikers have been doing this for years. It was legalised in the state of New South Wales in 2014. In Victoria the changes include permitted filtering:

between lanes or lines of traffic in the same direction
between lanes or lines of traffic and parked cars
for motorcycle licence holders (not learner permit holders)
at speeds up to 30km/h (penalties will apply for filtering in excess of 30km/h)
unless signed otherwise.

There are still lots of riders who insist on splitting through faster moving traffic at 80kmh and more along our freeways. They certainly don't help riders earn respect from the wider road community and every few months one seems to end up as a semi-trailer speed bump.

PeterC wrote:

There are still lots of riders who insist on splitting through faster moving traffic at 80kmh and more along our freeways.  They certainly don't help riders earn respect from the wider road community and every few months one seems to end up as a semi-trailer speed bump.  

Darwinism and the draining of the gene pool at work.

PeterC wrote:

There are still lots of riders who insist on splitting through faster moving traffic at 80kmh and more along our freeways.  They certainly don't help riders earn respect from the wider road community and every few months one seems to end up as a semi-trailer speed bump.  

Organ donors.

I know this is an old post, but my concern with filtering is when there are many 2wheelers rolling up between cars at a light. and they cant get out of the way when the light goes green. Then they are stuck there and beating up the sides of the cars they are forcing their way past. I have ridden many years and think it is a poor idea to allow.
If you are behind me at a light- you should be behind me when we go through a light.
I just know that many motorcyclists would just keep going and not worry about tearing up someone elses vehicle

I haven't heard of anyone scraping cars during lane splitting. I've done it quite a few times when riding in CA, no big deal, and no real problems. Oregon almost passed a bill to allow it here but our state house tabled it.

Lane splitting legal and practiced around the world, and works----US maybe problem due to low skill of riders andpeople in oversized vehicles who get upset when bike/scooter gets ahead of them. Idiots in. huge pickups are to be watched!

I just cant fathom how people expect to have the right to cut in lines. I would have no problem with a single bike cutting to the front- but dont think it would be too safe to be starting at a light with a bike sandwiched between 2 cars on a narrow road. How is the bike to know if one already cut the the front. The lane markers for my lane dictate how much lane I get for my car, and no need to share with anything else. If you need to get somewhere earlier than me- then leave earlier than me

Driving down hwy 50 west toward Auburn in very heavy fast traffic. Lanes very tight and motorcyclist crowding me to split lane between my car and many heavy trucks on my left. Finially just enough space for him and, as he passed, in frustration, he slapped my outside rear view mirror into it's forward lock position blinding my safe rear view.
That biker's impatient entitled attitude convinced me against lane splitting.
Blain

You couldn't have given him a couple inches more room?

Contrary to the idea that the bikes are 'cutting' in front of you, they are actually decreasing traffic congestion
It may be counter intuitive, but that bike filtering past you is saving you time, too
And the attitude that 'this patch of road is MINE' is what causes road rage incidents
there is plenty of room for a bike to slip between two cars, if the cars aren't being possessive of 'their' place in line

The Bike 'sandwiched' between 2 cars as the light turns red is going to out accelerate both cars and be ahead of them by the time a car length is traveled

At the same time, I never 'filter' to pass in traffic that's moving at more than 15 mph, I move back into regular lane position as soon as traffic starts picking up speed, and I have only 'expressed frustration' when doing so at one jack wagon who though it was a good idea to fling his door open as I was moving up to pass him at a light

There is no reason you can't let a 2 wheeler pass you if he's doing it safely except the idea you own the lane

Amen brother! Well said.