Can we legalize lane filtering yet?

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Of course, there are two major differences between your experience and what we face here in Ontario.

Firstly, as you elduded to it has been legal in California for a very long time and there drivers there are used to it occuring. You say it has been safer in the last two years? But then you say you know of not one person getting injured while doing it? Those two statements are diametrically opposed. If it never resulted in a collision then how could have it gotten safer? Also to what do you atrribute to it being safer in the past two years? Just curious if someone has done a study or is the evidence imperical? or anecitdotal?

Now the second MAJOR difference is your riding season compared to ours. You have the ability to ride 12 months of the year. Most "fair weather riders" here are limited to 3 - 5 months at best. We typically, see a spike in collisions at the beginning of each season. This can be attributed to two main contributing factors. First cagers are not used to having to look for bikes on the road, we have vanished from their minds during the winter. Secondly, riders who have rusty riding skills or are "over exhuberant"

Liamjs said:
Hi all! Actual Californian here. I've been filtering and splitting Los Angeles traffic for decades. It's perfectly safe. I've yet to experience or even come close to an accident while doing it, nor have I even heard of anyone getting hurt doing it; In 26 years, not one person. I help run a very large riding group and ride with several other groups, so I know a lot of riders; when we discuss it, it's a non-issue danger wise and has actually gotten safer the past two years. Recent research from Berkley confirms that the practice is no more dangerous than anything else on a MC. Mind you, this is normal filtering / lane splitting following CHP guidelines. Crazies excessively speeding while going through cars is reckless driving and thus a different subject.

I've read through the thread and one thing I haven't really heard is that, if legal, filtering / splitting is an OPTION, not a requirement for the rider. I personally feel safer doing it than sitting like a duck in a lane as I do know at least four riders that have been rear-ended. But another rider may not feel comfortable or not have the request skills to filter / split, so they don't do it. Its up to the rider and having choices to ride as is safest for them.

Just my experience, but it would seem to me that all riders should be for it as it's just another option, another tool in your riders box of skills. Even if you never use it normally, don't you, as a rider, want every available option at your disposal to get through traffic as you feel safest? Plus all the side benefits of less traffic, time saved, etc, etc.

Sadly, though, it does tie me to this beautiful state; I could never live any where else in N. America as it is now. I ride everyday and just couldn't not do it someplace else.
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If filtering is ever going to get passed here (and I don't think it will), it will have to be because it benefits everyone on the road, not just motorcycles. Check out this study done in Brussels. Because of filtering, they conclude that "If 10% of all private cars are replaced by motorcycles, the total time loss for all vehicles decreases by 40%"

This is basically because as traffic slows down to a crawl, motorcycles filter thereby taking up less space on the road allowing traffic to open up quicker.

http://www.tmleuven.com/project/motorcyclesandcommuting/home.htm

http://www.tmleuven.com/project/motorcyclesandcommuting/20110921_Motorfietsen_eindrapport_Eng.pdf

The actual study (2nd link) makes for an interesting read, if you're interested in this kind of thing.
 
MattER6 said:
How many people on this very site have been rear ended in stop and go traffic?
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It would be worth running a poll to find out. I've never been hit in stop and go traffic, which is when the lane splitters say it's a hazard, but I've been hit at a stoplight by a car, when I had nowhere to go anyway, and on an open stretch of road, by another rider who failed to react as quickly as I did to a car's abrupt lane change. In neither of those situations would lane splitting have been of any benefit.
 
Both times a friend of mine got rear ended it was while he was already at the front of the line at a traffic light (nowhere to go at that point). Filtering saves time for the rider more than anything. Still think its a good idea, but the safety thing is more reliant on what the car/suv drivers are doing, and we have no control over that. Fear of a ticket is more of a deterrent. Threaten their $$ and they will suddenly care a lot more. I see more people on their phones WHILE DRIVING, slowing down at least 20kph than all other traffic and start to wobble within their lane (or spill into others). Its EXTREMELY obvious when this happens, and frustrating, because everyone in the vicinity of this vehicle will try to pass them or get around them causing a dangerous situation. Drivers need better training.
 
I was hit while stopped on the 401 in stop and go traffic, BUT it was another rider that hit me, (didn't know him)
 
I think its funny that we live in fear of HTA 172...and yet people say "oh people will block me or run me over if I lane split" - in those situations HTA 172 is the most lenient charge they could get for taking crazy actions like that...cagers don't want to be arrested either.

People won't even notice you're there until you're already gone past...it's silly to speculate otherwise and you just show your inexperience with comments of that nature.
 
nm1 said:
I think its funny that we live in fear of HTA 172...and yet people say "oh people will block me or run me over if I lane split" - in those situations HTA 172 is the most lenient charge they could get for taking crazy actions like that...cagers don't want to be arrested either.

People won't even notice you're there until you're already gone past...it's silly to speculate otherwise and you just show your inexperience with comments of that nature.
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In a situation in which one driver is where he's supposed to be and the other isn't, it's the one who isn't that will get slapped down.
 
Please quote the subsection of 172 which would apply to the cager in this instance? there is a HTA charge for dooring someone. You can claim they were "blocking" you in which case they simply need to say I was in the process of making a lane change. I didn't see the rider, (who was performing an illegal act), therefore your honor I had no reasonable expectation that they would be there. Unless they were to purposely make contact with the rider, (which would be nearly impossible to prove intent), the rider is the one who would be charged.

nm1 said:
I think its funny that we live in fear of HTA 172...and yet people say "oh people will block me or run me over if I lane split" - in those situations HTA 172 is the most lenient charge they could get for taking crazy actions like that...cagers don't want to be arrested either.

People won't even notice you're there until you're already gone past...it's silly to speculate otherwise and you just show your inexperience with comments of that nature.
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nm1 said:
I think its funny that we live in fear of HTA 172...and yet people say "oh people will block me or run me over if I lane split" - in those situations HTA 172 is the most lenient charge they could get for taking crazy actions like that...cagers don't want to be arrested either.

People won't even notice you're there until you're already gone past...it's silly to speculate otherwise and you just show your inexperience with comments of that nature.
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I don't think you'd be too concerned with what charge they'd get when you're dead. Right or wrong you'll always lose a battle with a 4000 lb hunk of metal and some fool behind the wheel
 
CruisnGrrl said:
People keep bringing our riding season vs California. California isn't the only place a that allows it, parts of Europe see similar weather as we do
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California has different weather. Europe has different weather, driver training, roads, and/or traffic patterns.
 
New rider here...question:
I ride downtown. What about those lanes that have parked cars in them and lots of space. What is the legality of riding through those sometimes? They are always differing widths - some are so narrow that it's very difficult to get by, but some are so wide, you could drive a small car through it. I know, obviously, you have to watch out for car doors. But what is the legality of this, is it considered lane splitting? Are we allowed to do it?
 
marktwothousand said:
New rider here...question:
I ride downtown. What about those lanes that have parked cars in them and lots of space. What is the legality of riding through those sometimes? They are always differing widths - some are so narrow that it's very difficult to get by, but some are so wide, you could drive a small car through it. I know, obviously, you have to watch out for car doors. But what is the legality of this, is it considered lane splitting? Are we allowed to do it?
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Already covered, at length, in various threads like this one in the "Law and Highway Traffic Act" sub forum.

http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforu...-a-pedestrian-while-using-the-parked-car-lane
 
CruisnGrrl said:
From discussions with a friend Poland has similar weather and driver training. They do have a better transit system.
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Bad choice for comparison.



  • [*=left]Poland has one of the highest death rates for traffic accidents in the European Union, with 93 deaths per million persons per year, compared with the EU average of 55.
    [*=left]In the European context, Poland stands out as one country which has been particularly vulnerable to road safety concerns. More than 3,500 people died in traffic-related accidents in Poland in 2012 and the country’s death rate for traffic accidents – at 93 per million – is more than 50 percent higher than the European Union (EU) average of 55, making Poland one of the worst performing road safety countries in the EU. Although Poland was able to reduce the number of road death by 35 percent between 2001 and 2011, this rate was still much lower than the 45 percent achieved by the EU as a whole over this same period – highlighting the urgent need for Poland to take increased action.
 
Lane Filtering will be legalized in Ontario when Wynne and the Liberals think of a way to tax it......
 
I think the biggest issue is what has been mentioned above, drivers here just aren't used to bikes filtering and if it was legalized out of the blue drivers would resent bikers, probably causing more accidents.

Not to mention it would be taken advantage of to the extreme until the novelty wore off. I can't see it happening here, ever. Toronto is too "car-forward" in it's thinking.

One thing I would really like to see is bikes allowed in the HOV lanes. Legal in BC, haven't seen it here yet though.
 
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