Lane splitting petition

I started petition in New Jersey and after more than 2 years I hardly could get 700 signatures. I reached to many bike dealers to promote my petition, but got not even one reply. I posted on many bike forums and it didn't went far either.
My assumption is that only "hand full" of bikers in this country are interested in it. Maybe it has to do with vast majority of cruisers in USA (which are almost none in Europe) that have difficulties to fit between cars, and their lack of riding education. Or maybe because bikers aren't respected here as much, or just none-biker's ignorance... Or all of this.
It just don't makes sense to play car on a bike. These are completely different vehicles and what can be done on bike can't be done in a car. But who wants to understand it?
I split for many years, but not too long ago was cot by a cop (lost my focus) and got a lecture of how dangerous it is bla bla bla. I wanted to give him a lecture too, but was late for work.

And here's another irony: many states have no helmet law. And that's considered less dangerous then filtering??
On a positive side, California is all legal now and Utah is introducing it too.
http://blog.motorcycle.com/2017/03/01/motorcycle-news/utah-ponders-lane-splitting-bill/
Hopefully in time the law will reach all states and our grandchildren will enjoy it

maximus_flavius said:

The 1st thing that needs to happen is a "re-branding" of the cause from "lane splitting" to "lane filtering"..... Lane filtering in other states are only legal under a certain speed, like 10mph, & the person filtering cannot go faster than 10mph over traffic flow. So in this case, 20mph would be the maximum speed allowed (which does seem reasonable to me).

A legal lane filter is not a pack of squids doing 70mph, weaving thru traffic, popping wheelies &raising ****. But that is what most people associate with "lane splitters".

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First, I agree with changing/rebranding the description. Lane sharing or splitting is horrible name.

Weaving thru traffic at 70mph..... from what I seem to hear from proponents of lane filtering is filtering at 40, 50, or even 60 is perfectly safe. What a joke, but that is just my opinion.

So, maybe... just maybe, I am not the only one believing this is what proponents are really advocating and that is why this is not gaining support from the biking community?

I would propose 10mph or under. Over 10mph would be illegal. This is not only safer but sell-able I believe. Promote it as a solution to help alleviate traffic congestion in stop & go situations - nothing more. I could get behind that.

h2000fb said:

First, I agree with changing/rebranding the description. Lane sharing or splitting is horrible name.

Weaving thru traffic at 70mph..... from what I seem to hear from proponents of lane filtering is filtering at 40, 50, or even 60 is perfectly safe. What a joke, but that is just my opinion.

So, maybe... just maybe, I am not the only one believing this is what proponents are really advocating and that is why this is not gaining support from the biking community?

I would propose 10mph or under. Over 10mph would be illegal. This is not only safer but sell-able I believe. Promote it as a solution to help alleviate traffic congestion in stop & go situations - nothing more. I could get behind that.

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I really think that people just need to experience lane splitting for a few weeks. 10MPH is VERY slow. A little more speed gets you better stability when operating a few feet from other moving objects. IMO the California CHP "Guidelines" they released a few years ago then took down were some of the best out there.

I agree that there becomes a point of diminishing returns when splitting where you're going fast enough that being "in line" isn't a big deal and not going to save you much time. My personal speed limit was 40. Once I hit 40 (keep in mind traffic would be going about 30 or 35 at this point) I'd slide back in line unless traffic was doing the "accordion" speeding up or slowing down.

I think that trying to put a hard fast low mph speed limit on it would make it an almost useless gesture. Just like with other speed limits people are going to find a spot that works for them and use that.

I honestly don't think it's ever going to gain traction with the wider public as long as it allows people to go in between moving cars. Filtering when the cars are stopped or have just started moving is one thing. Having a bike running 10-15 mph faster than ambient traffic (whatever ambient speed may be) is going to be nerve wracking to most drivers, me included.

I'm in favor of working your way to the front at a red light or running the lines on a parking lot of a freeway, by merge back in when traffic starts moving again. I think it's not only reasonable, but might actually get enough public support. As an earlier poster mentioned, you have to sell it as helping traffic to flow.

William Wolfen said:

I honestly don't think it's ever going to gain traction with the wider public as long as it allows people to go in between moving cars......

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Think you are correct. It is a hard sell.

Only 2 (Canada) countries in the world don't have it legal. Who'd imagine that in the great US of A it is so... Really shameful.

There's a bill this session, SB288. You can sign up for alerts on Texas Legislature Online. I'll post something if it ever gets a committee hearing.

Kilroy said:

There's a bill this session, SB288. You can sign up for alerts on Texas Legislature Online. I'll post something if it ever gets a committee hearing.

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I e-mailed my local rep (Jane Nelson) and after months got a generic reply, which did not even mention the SB I was contacting her about... It is copied in an earlier post on this thread.

TX_northstar said:

I e-mailed my local rep (Jane Nelson) and after months got a generic reply, which did not even mention the SB I was contacting her about... It is copied in an earlier post on this thread.

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I imagine you'll be voting for someone else the next time that seat is up for grabs? That was a terrible canned response. Obviously *doesn't* care despite the opposite being written.

Update on Utah.
http://www.carscoops.com/2017/03/house-votes-against-lane-splitting-bill.html

The Texas bill, SB 288, is now in the transportation committee. Please write to the members of the committee and provide feedback. The current bill only allows splitting during times of congestion on public access or limited access highways. In other words, no filtering to the front of the line when stuck at a traffic light. Additionally, it only allows you to split at a speed not more than five mph greater than the speed of other traffic.

I have emailed every member of the transportation committee individually and I've asked them to change the wording to allow all roadways (not just highways) and I've asked that the speed be bumped up to 10 mph greater than the speed of other traffic. I've also requested that wording be added to traffic code that other motorists may not intentionally impede motorcyclists from filtering traffic.

In my correspondence, I emphasized the importance of traffic safety and reduced congestion for all motorists. I included links to videos, studies, and guidelines on safe splitting filtering. Please email, call, or snail mail all of the people in the link below. We have a short window of time before the bill is moved to the floor in its current (or revised) form for a vote or it can die in the committee like all other lane splitting bills from times past.

Please do your part and contact all of the representatives of the transportation committee listed in this link. Additional contact information can be found here.

biker-phil said:

I included links to videos, studies, and guidelines on safe splitting filtering.

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Lots of effort and work done! Maybe you can share the above findings like links, vids, etc. with us, so we could also present these in the other states? Thanks.

Downs said:

Excellently written. The bolded and underlined part I think is our biggest hurdle as a motorcycling community as a whole. People look at videos and their knee jerk reaction is to say it's insanely dangerous. I argue that sitting in traffic waiting to get pancaked is even more insane.

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Exactly. Much agreed and thanks for the kudos.

I'd suggest asking the bill sponsor ( Sen. Watson) to seek an interim study on this issue. Might crack the door open for next session.