Modern Vespa

Stolen from 2 Bit Scooter Club's Facebook feed. Utah USA allows lane splitting!
https://gcc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rideapart.com%2Farticles%2F315075%2Futah-legalizes-lane-splitting%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2G1qktYv59kyUhmwk_zHXDLleCcYFkgqb2x04FYDjy0UMgms5-hJ-jEDw%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2G1qktYv59kyUhmwk_zHXDLleCcYFkgqb2x04FYDjy0UMgms5-hJ-jEDw&data=01%7C01%7Ctbryan%40calottery.com%7Ce71b48ad71fd4597b6be08d6b16d70ba%7C7865f4b1a8b549eaa035b4e92c193d36%7C1&sdata=oOvy0%2BqgxHwZ0BBS1kRkdVSPLm5pPH3R3gUBpYZDvXk%3D&reserved=0

How about that? Now there's two....

This should get a lot of people who ride casually now, to start using their bikes for the commute, weather permitting.

It only allows filtering on roads with two or more lanes with a speed limit no greater than 45 mph. Traffic must be completely stopped, and the motorcycle may not exceed 15 mph while navigating between lanes.

Completely stopped on the freeway? Too bad.

Stop-and-go traffic? Too bad.

Maybe this is a step in the right direction, but as is, it's next to useless.

I continue to find it ironic that "nanny state" "socialist" California allows actual lane splitting while all the other states do not.

Filtering to the front which I do anyway, cuts my commute in half if not less. So it is far from useless. Wish Va. would do this.

I'd be happy with filtering only.
Sucks when you've got an open lane at a red light and someone moves into it only to go slower than the vehicle they were behind in the first place.

Must be a native born Sacramentoean?! I swear when I moved here from the San Francisco Bay Area, I wanted to keep moltov cocktails at the ready when driving around here. Then we had kids and my kids do this when I'm walking, will cut me off and go slower than my current rate of speed. I swear it's in the water!

Give it time. Once people get the hang of it and see the advantage, you will see it on the freeway and in slow traffic. That's just how things evolve.

I was being a little hyperbolic.

However, the first 6 or so miles of my commute is mostly through 0 - 10 mph stop-and-go freeway traffic. Lane-splitting on the scooter, it can take as little as 12 minutes. In the car, it can take 50 minutes or more. Utah's law would not allow me to do this.

I can lane split and filter in the UK.

But distrust drivers so much I only filter to the front of mostly static traffic.

But this alone as mentioned turns a 40 minute car commute into a 20 minute scooter commute

We in Utah are VERY happy this passed finally. It's been a long time coming. It's been up for consideration a few times but we now have it. It's not on highways but it's anywhere with speeds up to 45 on two lane roads.

I don't ride my Vespa on the freeway. If the traffic is stop and go and there is a light ahead, it's legal (nobody said how far the light had to be ahead). I think as it gets more common, cops will get lax on when it's considered. Also, we don't have California traffic so if you are in bad traffic on the Interstate in SLC you probably don't have too long a wait. At least it's a step in the right direction.

Glad to hear.

Any law that allows for better safety for us is good in my book!

I'm surprised the American Motorcycle Association hasn't had a fundraising campaign to lobby/push for laws like this in other states?!

I sure hope the drivers in Utah are aware of this law. We in Cali have had the privilege for a very long time and our drivers are accustomed to it. Until that is the case in Utah proceed with extra caution.

Exactly, most drivers don't know the laws anyway. Don't trust them to see you or hear you, they are on the phone and not looking in their mirrors. And watch for those opening car doors.

Congrat's Utah.
I've spent plenty of time in SLC and the traffic is fully as blocked, just shorter than ours here. I suspect as the new law matures it will become more flexible and cops will cool their jets with sharing. It's fantastic and all states would be advised to join, after all the rest of the world isn't wrong!

This is my biggest worry. My commute like 7 miles on surface streets with a few WTFlong lights so while limited this is a big bonus for me in southern SLC.

Drivers here are already entitled assclowns who get made if you get slightly in front of them on a road where it's not physically possibly to do more than 40. Some dbag in a compensator pickup is out there looking for an excuse. Karen/Doug/Pat in the white minivan is out for blood. I can feel it.

I'm mildly nervous because the GT doesn't have the insta-wheely enterprise-goes-to-warp power of the bandit for taking off from the front, but the Bandit's sidecar means I have to behave like a car.

We've been taking an extra 5 min at the end of all our classes to explain to students what the new law does and doesn't do.

Informing drivers about the new law is of primary importance to getting drivers to support sharing.
When drivers learn that having vehicle take up less room and moving out of the way, they MAY learn to have a sense of humor for the new law. Some folks will take a longer time as they are competitive and will feel that they have a right to their place in line. These will be the folks that will create most of your challenges. There are very few of these kinds of folks here, primarily drivers from out of state that don't get that it's to their advantage to let the riders through and get out of the way.
ONE LESS VEHICLE IN LINE IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE!

All the vehicles behind me don't count!
How does it help me to let the guy behind me go in front of me?

Okay, that's mostly tongue in cheek, but I can't see it working here in Florida, where everyone is out to kill you now! When I moved from snowy Ohio to sunny Florida my insurance rate doubled!
I've driven in San Francisco with lane splitting and it seems like you're all crazy!
I'm pro bike, so if I see one coming up I make more room for him, but most people won't. Here if you use your turn signal to change lanes it's a message to the guy behind you in the other lane to speed up!

We are not all crazy but some folks take the lane splitting into the bad manners and extra-legal. Most splitters are well behaved.
Go to any country that allows splitting and you'll see that CA splitting is not aggressive. In other countries splitting with oncoming traffic is the norm.
I, for one, would like to see splitting even more free to get people to their destinations and off the roads! Reasonably trained riders and drivers can handle the situation very well. Many of us in this country are simply not well trained...

Lane splitting has been introduced and I believe passed in the Texas legislature but was vetoed by the governor. GRRR!

In speaking with local police officers in Houston they said lane splitting is "not illegal". Neither is filtering in stopped traffic and any ticket that said such would likely be thrown out by the judge only a dick would write a ticket for it unless the lane splitter was being a dick themselves. That they defined as the idjits on sports bikes weaving in and out of traffic significantly faster than the other vehicles on the road.

Of course even good cops have their "dick" days so I rarely filter in Houston though I've seen it done a few times mostly outside the loop. Inside the loop most of the roads are too narrow to have space to filter to the front. Heck, there often isn't room for a bicycle between the curb and vehicles which is why my son got his motorcycle (restricted) license at 15. I didn't consider it safe for him to ride his bicycle to school but a scooter (Buddy 125) put him in the flow of traffic instead of trying to find room on the road for a bicycle between the curb and cars.

Interesting take on TX laws, driving customs and cops. One overzealous cop can create lots of unnecessary problems. One idjit rider can as well. Here in the Bay Area, sportsbike riders are less likely to be the idjits than the HD folks. They seem to relish booming past traffic weaving around and generally displaying bad manners. I'd love to see them ticketed with their entitlement attitudes.

Coming back from Galveston with a USR group ride a group of sports bike riders all dressed in black - mostly black t shirts and black jeans saw us go by from where they were gathered in a parking lot apparently decided they needed to show the scooter riders up. They zoom up to us on I-45 as we crossed the causeway. Then spread out to block all the other lanes of traffic (we were in the no 1 lane since we had a left exit once we were back on the mainland). Their "leader" then passed to the front of our group and pulled a wheelie. He road it for about half a mile before setting it back down. Oh, and the smallest scooter on that ride was a Honda Reflex with most people on 400-650 scooters since we knew that some freeway riding would be required. We've also got a "club" that membership requires you to complete a circuit of the 610 loop averaging 130mph. They do their "test" in the wee hours of the morning with riders stationed near onramps to warn if cops are around. I wonder it was part of the club that has the speed test for membership. I did notice they were all male and mostly 20 something. Those are the idjits.

The Harley riders are more likely to ride after drinking a few too many and boast too much so between that and their loud pipes tend to be more dangerous to the ear than anything else. Most however aren't a problem whether they ride sports bikes or Harleys.

I've been hit on my bicycle, but never been hit on a scooter/MC.

It seem in ALL parts of life, it's the less than 1% that create the issues for the rest of us. They just can't quite fit in and seem to love their "individuality". However, it's from within this group that great innovations come from. However, the innovators in this group are far out-represented by idjits.

Good for Utah!
I haven't been back there for most of a decade, but don't generally recall being disappointed by inability to split lanes on I-15. The rule as written would have been really handy in city traffic, though.

Another pretext for me to go back to visit someday....