Modern Vespa

Schools are starting back here locally, which can create a lot more traffic. Earlier this year, Utah passed a law for lane filtering:

https://dld.utah.gov/lane-filtering/

I very much appreciated the new law earlier this morning when a main road near me was backed up really far near a new high school; I was able to safely and legally filter between lanes towards the front of a lot of crowded traffic. Not only did this filtering allow some space in the lanes to free up that I would have otherwise occupied, but it also can help avoid getting hit by someone not paying attention behind me.

I know many other countries already understand the benefits of lane filtering. But I appreciate that we have it here locally now, too.

How do you feel about lane filtering? Do you live in a place where it is common? If not, do you wish you did?

I know we are looking at it seriously here now and many of the riding schools and organizations are pushing for it. About a month ago they finally opened up all the HOV lanes to PTW's so hopefully that is a sign of things to come. Filtering I am all for, splitting a little less so.

Filtering is perfectly legal in the UK.
It was possible to actually fail your bike test for not doing it when I did mine a number of years ago, not sure if it's still the case.
To be honest if it wasn't legal and I couldn't filter or lane spilt I probably wouldn't ride.
No way could I sit in traffic on two wheels, it really defeats the object in my opinion.

It's not legal in GA but I see people do it occasionally. A bill was introduced in 2017 that would have legalized filtering (not splitting) but it never made it out of committee. I hope it becomes legal... Atlanta's combination of terrible traffic and blistering heat can be quite brutal.

In California, filtering and splitting have been "not illegal" for ever.

Recently they were made legal.

Filtering is an essential skill, but does need your close attention! Car drivers often lurch across lanes into a gap without looking.

I run my gts without wingmirrors or bar end weights to keep it slim.

It is part of scootering in the UK.

If you take motorcycle training in a busy city you will do it as part of your class. I think because the instructors would not have the patience to just sit there in traffic.

I would love for filtering to be legal in NYC/NY State.
I have to go to court next year. Was coming down Manhattan bridge, at the base of it is a traffic light. Everyone is stopped waiting for the green light. I go to the right go up between the lane going straight and right only lanes, get to the front, wait for the light to turn green and off I go.
To the right of me sitting in the SUV was NYPD, puts the lights on and pulls me over. I ask what for and and the officer says I rode between lanes. I tell him that at the MSF class one of the things they always say is get to the front when you are at a traffic light so you can get away from all them cagers.
Tells me to take it up with the judge.
Classic case of where lane filtering should be legal but NYC is stuck in the age of the horse drawn carriages still.
Support your AMA chapter, they are the ones who are trying to get bills passed in every state.

California recently made it legal. It has been allowed for a long time before becoming legal. It works well, but you did need to keep your wits about you. This is especially true during commute times as cage drivers can be very aggressive and change lanes suddenly and without warning. When traffic is at a crawl many cagers give PTWs a wide berth to allow them to motor through the traffic congestion.

Really just did that? Motorcycle have been on HOV lanes since they open in the Washington Metro area.
Now we have new Fast Toll Lanes, it's a toll road that parallels the highway. Pay to not be in traffic and motorcycles are FREE!!!!

As above filtering is legal in the UK, and as above it's 70% of why I commute by bike. 45 mins by car, 15 mins by bike.
It's just one of the clear benefits of biking, like cheaper fuel costs, road tax, insurance etc.

Plus it feels sooooooo good just going straight to the front of the line at the lights. I actually look forward to my commute home after a hard day at work, and filtering plays a part in that.

Yep, our previous provincial gov't was pretty anti motorbike and TBH anything on wheels that wasn't a bicycle. Now bicycles they did all sorts of things for. While I am in no way enamoured to our current Ontario gov't they are at least willing to listen to the current motorbike community a bit more.

Semi-legal around here

As in some other European countries, the legislation is a bit vague.

You are allowed to filter, if you'll leave a safe margin to the other vehicle.

This is typically interpreted so, that if you'll ride slowly past a stationary vehicle, it is often possible to leave enough space between. So filtering mostly OK.

But if the other vehicles move too, then it is not typically considered possible to do filtering/splitting safely. So lane splitting is a clear no.

...and we don't really have much stationary traffic, so it is very rare in anycase...and thus quite dangerous as drivers are not used to it.

How do I feel about it? I feel protected by the cagers now instead of like a sitting duck. I filter whenever I feel like it's doable and safe. I'm disappointed that it is illegal to filter (road speed limit must be 45 MPH Max)while at a stop light on Bangerter Highway! That is one place it should be allowed.

Been all over the world, seen plenty of it and know it works well in such places where it's the norm, as drivers are used to it and aware, but I don't think it would fly to well here in FL. Even if it ever becomes legal here I won't do it. Drivers here suck and damned near every one of them is buried in a "smart" phone.

Semantics

What is the understood difference between filtering and splitting.

I have a video of a car with an old man driving and he floored it about 5 seconds before the light turned green. Slammed into the car ahead of him.
I was glad I wasn't in front of him. It would have put me in the hospital. So I welcome filtering.

I hear ya, Baba. (Stay tuned for my NYC visit plans.) Here in Joisey, filtering isn't legal either, but I do it whenever it seems safe. Haven't had Johnny Law come down on me yet, but I try not to advertise myself while in-process. Of course, we can legally use HOV lanes in these parts, near as I can tell.

I always understood splitting to be done at speed, while filtering occurs when traffic is stopped and bikes move to the front of the line.

In the UK, there's just the one verb - filtering. It's taken to mean just another form of overtaking, whether traffic is stopped or moving, whether it's a two or more lane road or just single carriageway when it really is just simple overtaking.

Luckily, most of the UK double white lines (double yellows in the US) are only in places where it really would be daft to overtake - unlike in the US where 95% of double yellows should instead be allowing one side or the other or both to overtake. I'm afraid I've taken most US double yellows to be merely a suggestion. There's also a difference in interpretation. In the UK, you mustn't cross a solid white line on your side. In CA at least, you mustn't overtake if there's a solid yellow on your side. Big difference when it comes to a bike overtaking a car when there's often tons of room for both car and bike within the lane.

This is my understanding as well.

In California, you can only lane-split between two lanes of cars moving in the same direction as you.

One thing that you can't do in the UK is undertake even on a bike. If the traffic is stationary you can round cars on either side of them (left or right). But if you go around cars on the left while they are moving you can get done for undertaking them.

The freedom to filter in the UK is being jeopardized by a few idiots on superbikes who thinks its clever to weave in and out of cars on motorways and dual carriageways when the traffic is moderately heavy but running at 60 to 70 mph in all lanes. They thread through tiny gaps at closing speeds 30 mph faster than the traffic they are passing. This gives us all a bad reputation and sooner or later those of us that want to carefully filter through near stationary traffic are going to suffer the consequences.

If you want to see insane lane splitting just drive on the peripherique in Paris.

Big bikes, big scooters WOT through everything, an endless supply of them.

Filtering is legal in South Africa.
Most drivers will actually make extra space for you, 8)
but there remains a small minority who will actively turn into the gap to try and block you from filtering.

When they do so, I drop back and go around behind them into the space they just vacated. In the interests of inter-vehicle cooperation, I decline to make rude hand gestures, but I do voice a description of their lineage.

Florida has a unique problem. Old people that should not be driving.
See it everytime i go down there, A head just sticking up from the driver's seat and two hands on the steering wheel in the right lane, right blinker on, and they then turn left across three lanes of traffic.

This is what I see particularly on weekends. When I tell people I split lanes, this is what they think of. I have to explain that I am usually splitting between very slow or stopped traffic at 25 mph or less.

The racerboys you describe scare the crap out of me. It's bad enough when they crash into a car making a lane change, but I really don't want them running into me when I'm riding!

so true...i stand in awe of Parisian scooter/bikers ...the lane splitting at speed is just amazing....i wonder if they get into accidents more frequently

I do filter to the front here in boston at stop lights....even right past johnny law...but i do go super slow and dont rev my engine...

I took a mototaxi in Paris from the airport to downtown at 5:00 PM local time. I encouraged the rider to get us there quickly. We were going about 100 MPH between clumps of cars and weaved assertively through slow and stopped traffic. It was an unforgettable experience and well worth the ride.
I was in Portland, OR this last week. A sportsbike split traffic on Burnside very near Powell's books and I followed. Drivers were cool about it.
Here at home (CA), almost all drivers are very cool about legal lane splitting. I don't blame them if they're upset with the people that blast past both while drivers are stopped and on the highway at speed. These riders are ****ing it up for everyone!

Filtering is passing through stationary traffic.
Lane splitting is basically the same thing but with moving traffic.

As another UK resident I'm all for it, as it's one of the very big benefits of two wheeled transport.
When traffic starts to go above about 15mph I'll just tuck back inline with everyone else, and I wouldn't go too much faster than them either as the differential speed catches people unawares.

Under UK law, while you are allowed to filter/split, that doesn't mean that anything you do is fine. You can still be found guilty of driving without due care and attention or dangerous driving, so people weaving in and out of traffic at motorway speeds are still being a dick.

This is approximately the same as CA.

I can't imagine lane filtering here in Detroit. People here are not big fans of being passed. It seems that most people want you to go the speed that they are comfortable driving...until you go to pass. Then they suddenly want to go faster. I would imagine here every stoplight with filtering would be a race.

Where it's legal is there a penalty for cagers who race to prevent PTWs from going back into a lane after the light turns green?

Yes, hassling moto splitters is against the law.
There are Stay In FrontItis drivers (SIFI's as my wife and I call them) in every state and they are difficult. Most folks will move aside and be cool with lane sharing within a little while.

I love filtering especially in California where the car drivers are used to it. I've had drivers move over to give me more room and actually had one truck driver yelling out his window at a guy in the lane next to him telling the other driver to move over to make room for lane splitters.

I've been tempted more than a few times in Texas and Colorado but resist the temptation since I don't want to be a test case even though several Texas police officers have told me that it "isn't illegal" and that if some asshat gives you a ticket for filtering safely you should beat it in court. As the daughter of a cop I do know that there are asshats amongst cops just like there are in every other walk of life. I know for a fact there is one on the west side of Houston who is notorious in his anti motorcycle position but that's more or less irrelevant. The only time I've lane split in Colorado was on I-70 where a closure at the Eisenhower tunnel had traffic backed up for more than 10 miles with no movement. It was a hot summer day and the fan kept kicking in on the BV. So I filtered to the side and rode the shoulder to the exit that would let me get to an alternative route. I wasn't the only motorcycle doing so either. Sitting in stalled traffic for what could easily be hours is annoying in a car but can actually be dangerous on a bike in summer temperatures especially at high altitudes.

Filtering, the traffic isn't moving so they can't speed up to pass you.

Me too!

They have to be going way under reasonable speed for me to pass on a double yellow, but I have done it more than once.

In the UK it's acceptable to filter - as most bikes will never hold up or delay a car.

Splitting also is accepted - although only as long as the traffic is moving relatively slowly, and the bike isn't thrashing recklessly between.

Interestingly there is no mention of either in the Highway Code - The onus is on the biker to ride safe, and not for other vehicles to give way.

Then again, if I couldn't filter or split, - I wouldn't ride a bike.

(If anyone has ever travelled the A13 into London on any weekday, filtering is like a semi - continuous stream of PTW's between lane 2 and 3)

Only tonight, I reckon I rode two short 6 mile journeys, and after filtering, probably saved an hour, as the roads there and back were gridlocked.

How many single drivers did you see in a large cage? Traffic would move so much better if people realized that a PTW is a very good choice in many situations.