Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Lane-splitting or filtering as it’s called in Europe is practiced all over the world and in the state of California. It is illegal in the rest of the US, but it’s past time that was changed. First, it is not specifically legal in many countries where it is done as a matter of course, but it is tolerated and accepted by both law enforcement and the general public just as it is widely accepted and tolerated to drive somewhat over the unrealistically low speed limits in the USA.

We motorcyclists must to lead the charge to make lane-splitting both accepted and legal in our country first by safely lane-splitting ourselves and secondly by encouraging our elected representatives to change the laws.

Why should you lane-split and why should the law be changed? It simply benefits all of society, especially motorcyclists. Here’s how:

Our streets and highways are choked with traffic in most metro areas and is only getting worse. Most cars are occupied by one person, the driver. The time-saving benefit of lane-splitting will encourage drivers to get out of fuel-wasting cars and on motorbikes and scooters. This will save fuel and save road space without any cost to taxpayers or to those who choose to drive cars. Motorcycles and modern scooters take up very little space and quickly accelerate out of the way, not holding up the cars behind them. Everyone benefits with less large, relatively slow vehicles on the road.

Starting the day you read this, start lane-splitting safely* so car-drivers will both get used to it and realize that they too can benefit by getting on two wheels. The more of us that do it, the more it will become the norm. Start doing it now!

Contact your elected officials and encourage them to help solve their city, state or country from the creeping paralysis of traffic congestion at no cost to the taxpayers. Elected officials all need solutions to traffic congestion and one that is cost-free will appeal to them. Emphasize that it has been done safely in California and the rest of the world for decades. Links to your elected representatives are at the bottom of this page. E-mail them today!

*Safe lane-splitting is moving forward between or around the lanes of cars when they are either stopped or moving very slowly. On the highway this slowly advances you through traffic. In city traffic it moves you to the front of the cue at traffic signals.

Do it now!!!

i'll get right on that.

are you a long time lurker or just here to let all us Plebes know about this miracle of lane splitting with your first post?

recommended first post titles:

that harley guy didn't wave!
should i buy a gsxr as my first bike?
helmets are evil!
people who don't wear helmets are evil!

The advertising alone will cost millions... billboards will have to go up everywhere:
"Don't hit the motorcycles, they are allowed to lanesplit now"


Officer: "Why did you swerve and hit the biker?"
mentally challenged: "He was passing me."
Officer: "So?"
mentally challenged: "I didn't want him to!!"
Officer: "Here is a ticket for violating right of way... too bad the biker is dead though".

Should be vehicular manslaughter.... murderers get away with a stupid ticket.

I would love to just start lane-sharing, but am unsure what the fine will be when I get pulled over by local law-enforcement. And, I'm sure filtering to the front of a stop-light will eventually incite some road-rage by cagers.

What does everyone else think?

If Musicman is willing to pay for the tickets, insurance hikes and hospital bills then I'm all for it.

bok, that's a good start for first post titles. Any other suggested first post titles out there?

I filter virtually every day. 15-30 miles of my daily commute are spent sharing a lane with other vehicles.

Most car drivers are perfectly fine with it... and even the few that aren't don't cause any trouble. I'd actually say that most of the drivers that "aren't fine with it" are really just driving bloated cars (usually large SUVs) that don't fit in the lanes all that well anyway and aren't particularly good at going in a straight line... to a motorcyclist that wants past them it feels like they are trying to cause trouble, but in reality they are just trying to go down the road like anyone else.

Nobody does anything to actively hurt you. Oh, they may crowd you a bit... but that's fair given that I'm crowding them a bit too.

I would NEVER ride a motorcycle in gridlocked traffic without filtering. If/when I move to another state/country, I'll either filter or stop riding. It is just too dangerous to crawl forward 20 feet, stop, crawl forward 20 feet, all the while surrounded by cars who know full well they can push into your lane and you'll get out of their way. I'm willing to accept an extra measure of risk by motorcycling, but not that much risk! That's just nuts.

I agree that it is time for all of you who are arbitrarily barred from filtering to contact your legislators and get the laws changed. This is a FAR more important issue than ABATE, and ABATE has proved that motorcyclists can cause laws to change.

Don't make up reasons why you think it is unsafe. The safety gain of filtering is real. So is the environmental gain, and the economic gain, and the reduction in our dependence on foreign oil. Filtering encourages motorcycles to be used as a practical alternative to four-wheeled transportation, and that's a gain for everyone.

Instead apply some effort to get your laws changed.

contact your legislators and get the laws changed

that part i agree with, but not the arbitrarily deciding which laws to obey....sure "an unjust law is no law at all" but it doesn't infringe on personal rights (other than to get where you want to go as quickly/easily)

DivideOverflow wrote:The advertising alone will cost millions... billboards will have to go up everywhere:
"Don't hit the motorcycles, they are allowed to lanesplit now"

We're going to need more popups

When I was in Taiwan, it made sense for people to lane split to get to the front...otherwise you'd never get anywhere and it was much safer than hoping the guy behind you would be able to stop in time.

nice pic AA, i thought you might have stumbled onto a scooter group or something there so i asked my coworker who used to live in Taiwan to look at it. he says that's normal and i think if i lived there i would be on a scooter too (apparently over 150cc gets pretty high tax).

pretty impressive to see all those scooters in one spot probably burn less fuel in a week than one of those cabs burns in a day