Modern Vespa

Congratulations Montana!

Joining California and the rest of the world (well some of it at least, I don't profess to know the laws in all the world).

Montana has traffic?

Who knew?

Here in Melbourne Australia we are allowed to do lane filtering but not splitting.

Filtering is essentially passing through stopped or slowly moving traffic, typically at traffic lights. (Slow = less than 30kph/20mph)

Splitting is through traffic moving at faster speeds and seems stupidly dangerous.

That does it! Now I really want to pursue my dream of becoming a dental floss tycoon.

Yeah, my thoughts too. When I was there 40 years ago it was so quiet on the Interstate that truck drivers on the oncoming lanes would wave at you.

Billings, the capital AND largest city, has 110,000 souls on a busy weekend.

Shouldn't be a problem - unless all 3 of them end up on the same stretch of road.
O.S.

They are trying to pass it here in Oregon again. SB574 would allow people to split when congested and such but not allow splitting such as California does. I spent 10 years in California riding and was struck twice while lane splitting. I do not think the roads and infrastructure are setup for splitting here in Oregon, to narrow. Plus it would take cagers forever here to catch on...

Please. I was born and raised in Billings. The capital is Helena.

There was never any reason to split lanes in Montana. Not enough lanes and not enough traffic.

We have legal filtering - but some cagers don't know it and actively try to narrow the gap so you can't pass...
I must say that on the scoot I find most drivers actually actively make space for me. Yes I do wave "Thank you!"
Lane splitting we do with bikes all the time when riding in a group - either standing two abreast at the lights or staggered when in motion.

The Western Cape Provincial Transport MEC (Secretary) was pushing to ban both, but a ride slow protest by bikers one to a lane showed how one bike could occupy as much space as a cage and the idea was dropped... for now. He still hates both.

Filtering to me means slipping between stationary or slow moving traffic at 10-20kmh faster than the traffic (a brisk walking pace). Out here, the superbikers are a real menace. To them, filtering is ripping down between the two rows of cars at 100km/h or more! Perhaps that is why, whenever we see a fatal freeway bike accident, 9/10 times it is a superbike.

I potter along in the slow lane, merging into the second lane well ahead of slow vehicles and returning as rapidly as conditions permit. On very rare occasions I have had to pass a string of slow vehicles on the emergency lane side of the slow lane - theoretically filtering, not overtaking.

My understanding is that filtering is skipping to the front at a traffic light, sharing is passing in the same lane as the vehicle you're passing, and splitting is riding along the dash between lanes. "Splitting" is also the colloquial term for all of the above, before the other distinctions were carved out.

This law is specifically about filtering, but they're used interchangeably so often that I was intentionally imprecise in the title. (Filtering's also the most useful. I can't imagine splitting if traffic is moving at a reasonable pace. The rule of thumb here is never go more than 15mph above traffic, or 35mph total.)



Splitting is famously tolerated here in California, but has been ambiguously treated by the law. I didn't realize until I started investigating Montana's status that the same ambiguity holds true for a dozen other states. I wonder what would happen in practice if you split in one of these states, and how easy it would be to nail you for something else instead, like passing on the right. Crossing a solid line to pass is illegal here, but many people do it. The funny thing is that cars cross solid lines to pass cyclists all the time, but if a motorcycle does it to pass a car, we're considered reckless.

My bad. You're right. It's been too long.....unless they'd moved it.

IMHO
Florida could surpass Ca. in PTW ownership if we adopted Filtering and other privileges (parking, toll free travel etc.).

PTWs are charged full-fare on the bridges here. It's nearly $8 per trip to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. 😖

But we can use the express lanes on the highways for free - as long as we're registered with FasTrak Flex.

The bridges thing is a bummer, granted, especially for those who have to commute into the City.

Another CA thing that's a PITA is the foreskin on the gas pump nozzles.

I think we in the U.S. are way behind in terms of how we conduct ourselves on the road with PTW's and therefore laws have not changed. Most of the other places PTW's are far more prevalent and therefore cagers are comfortable and laws there that work for PTW riders.
In the U.S. few folks use a PTW as their primary mode of transport therefore it isnt easy to get societal buy in to make changes whether it is traffic related or revenue related i.e. tolls or road tax. In NY state one pays $42.50 a year for registration. You pay the same price at parking meters as you would for a caged vehicle.
Maybe with more electric bicycles getting deployed maybe we shall see.

And I don't think I've ever seen free MC parking in a pay parking lot or street parking in my area including Silicon Valley.

Last year, I went to the Cycle Gear store in Gilroy. A CHP MC officer was just sitting at a table outside the door. He volunteered to answer rider questions. He said it's likely we'll see some restrictions on lane splitting in the coming years such as no faster than 10 mph above the car travel speed. He also told me that, by far, the best lanes to split on the freeway are the two left-most lanes. More accidents happen in the other lanes because sometimes people panic to get to an exit off ramp and don't look carefully for MC traffic that might be lane splitting.

Be careful!!
Miguel

In Key West, all PTW's park free in the pay parking areas and there's plenty of them. In my area, the only PTW parking is at Home Depot. Funny since it is hard to strap a 2 x 4 x 8 stud to my scoot

That's something to be jealous of. Registration on a GTS in SF is nearly $300 per year, just for the license plate. In SF, motorcycle meters are so cheap they might as well be free - something like 20¢ per hour until 6 PM.

There's a restaurant on Embarcadero that tolerates motos parking at its bicycle rack for free. Was always full of commuters in the Before Days.

We're allowed to park on the footpath in Melbourne

"In Victoria, you can park your motorcycle on a footpath, unless there is a sign saying you can't. When parking you must not get in the way, or block the path of pedestrians, delivery vehicles, public transport users or parked cars."

That's awesome!

Sidewalk parking is approximately tolerated in San Francisco; which is to say, it's technically verboten but no parking enforcement officer will hassle you until a NIMBY neighbor calls the cops. My flatmate kept his BMW parked in the gap between the driveway and a tree for about 3 months before falling victim to a grumpy busybody.

Ever driven through Miami during rush hour. Florida has adopted filtering and splitting, just not legal filtering and splitting.

I've carried a 2x4x8 stud on my Vespa. Put one end on the floor board and hold it straight up with your left hand. Don't drive fast or in busy traffic tho!

Miguel

.... pffff ... the traffic in Italy and how to drive is not comparable to any other place in the world (...perhaps India..? ).

If you bungee cord a 2 X 4 X 8 to the rear rack, it should make a good spacer to encourage others to remain at a reasonable distance while you are lane splitting. Of course, if they don't take the hint.....

I don't actually cross the line. Because everybody is usually trying to get into the second lane, they are hogging that side of the first lane. That leaves me a good metre or so of lane width on the emergency lane side to use. Anyway, I only break the law if my wheel crosses the solid line - which it doesn't do.

Each borough in London has it's own rules about parking and there are 32 boroughs

In terms of lane splitting/filtering I only hear it referred to as filtering. If the traffic is moving you can pass on the right but if the traffic it stationary you can pass on the left or right. The typical manoeuvre usually involves playing chicken with the oncoming lane to filter past the traffic in your lane as we have many single lane roads.