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Lane splitting is riding a bicycle or motorcycle between lanes or rows of slow moving or stopped traffic moving in the same direction. It is sometimes called whitelining, or stripe-riding. This allows riders to save time, bypassing traffic congestion, and may also be safer than stopping behind stationary vehicles."Even in congested areas there is nearly always sufficient roadway width available for cyclists to lane share with stopped motorists, so cyclists filter forward through traffic jams." John Forester, Bicycle Transportation, second edition, p. 73"In some states, it is legal for a motorcycle to ride between lanes of traffic. This is known as splitting lanes. Doing this when traffic is moving at normal speed is, of course, insane." Darwin Homstrom, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Motorcycles, p. 179
Filtering or filtering forward is to be contrasted with lane splitting. Lane filtering refers to motorcycles moving through traffic that is stopped, such as at a red traffic light.
Unlike typical developed nations that have only a handful of vehicle types on their roads, many types of transport will share the same roads as cars, buses and trucks; this diversity is extreme in Delhi, India, where more than 40 modes of transportation regularly use the roads. In contrast, New York City, for example, has perhaps five modes, and in parts of America a vast majority of traffic is made up of two types of vehicles on the road: cars and trucks.
It has been suggested that highly diverse and adaptive modes of road use are capable of moving very large numbers of people in a given space compared with cars and trucks remaining within the bounds of marked lanes. On roads where modes of transportation are mingled this can cause a reduced efficiency for all modes.
Preliminary results from a study in the United Kingdom, conducted by the University of Nottingham for the Department for Transport, show that filtering is responsible for around 5% of motorcycle Killed or Seriously Injured (KSI) accidents. It also found that in these KSI cases the motorist is twice as likely to be at fault as the motorcyclist due to motorists "failing to take into account possible motorcycle riding strategies in heavy traffic".
A very different form of research, where the capacity benefits are examined as well, 1500 powered two-wheelers were video tracked to calibrate an agent based model of movement between and along lanes, also included a Bayesian model calibrated to determine the choices made to move between lanes. This model provides a basis for measuring the risk levels of such choices, and late applications allowed the determination of the capacity gains (in terms of passenger car equivalent) from such movement once filtered to the front of the queueTzu-Chang, L., et al. (2010). "The Passenger Car Unit values of motorcycles at the beginning of a green period and in a saturation flow." 12th World Conference on Transport Research (WCTR), Lisbon, Portugal. and in continuing non-intersection movements along stretches of roadTzu-Chang, L., et al. (2010). "The PCU Values of Motorcycles in congested flow." Transportation Research Board 89th Annual General Meeting, Washington, D.C., TRB
Belgian policy research company Transport & Mobility Leuven published a study in September 2011 investigating the effects that increased motorcycle usage would have on traffic flow and emissions and found that a 10% modal shift would result in a 40% reduction in commute time and a 6% reduction in total emissions. This calculation assumed that all motorcycles moved between lanes and the space used by them, called a passenger car equivalent (PCE), would be reduced to zero when traffic came to a complete standstill. It also assumed that motorcycles would overtake cars without hindering them during heavy congestion, and PCE would be between less than 0.5, approaching zero as traffic density increased.
Potentially, lane splitting can lead to road rage on the part of drivers, who feel frustrated that the motorcyclists are able to filter through the traffic jam. However, the Hurt Report indicates that, "Deliberate hostile action by a motorist against a motorcycle rider is a rare accident cause." Lane splitting is not recommended for beginning motorcyclists, and riders who do not practice it in their home area are strongly cautioned that it can be risky if they attempt it when traveling to a jurisdiction where it is allowed. Similarly, for drivers new to places where it is done, it can be startling and scary.
When the 2005 bill to legalize lane splitting in Washington State was defeated, a Washington State Patrol spokesman testified in opposition, saying that, "it would be difficult to set and enforce standards for appropriate speeds and conditions for lane splitting." He also said that officials with the California Highway Patrol told him that they wished they had never begun allowing the practice. the California Highway Patrol has lane splitting tips on their website. Similar guidelines were posted by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, but those guidelines were subsequently removed.
In the United Kingdom, Roadcraft, the police riding manual, is explicit about the advantages of filtering but also states that the "...advantages of filtering along or between stopped or slow moving traffic have to be weighed against the disadvantages of increased vulnerability while filtering".
After discussing the pros and cons at great length, motorcycle safety guru David L. Hough ultimately argues that a rider, given the choice to legally lane split, is probably safer doing so, than to remain stationary in a traffic jam. However, Hough has not gone on record as favoring changing the law in jurisdictions where it is not permitted, in contrast to his public education and legislative efforts in favor of rider training courses and helmet use. A literature review of lane-sharing by the Oregon Department of Transportation notes "a potential safety benefit is increased visibility for the motorcyclist. Splitting lanes allows the motorcyclist to see what the traffic is doing ahead and be able to proactively maneuver." However, the review was limited and "Benefits were often cited in motorcyclist advocacy publications and enthusiast articles."
A bill was filed in the 19th Congress by Pangasinan 5th district representative Ramon Guico Jr., who initially filed it in the 18th Congress in September 2019. The bill proposes to ban motorcycles and motorized tricycles from lane splitting except when overtaking, defining it as when a motorcycle or motorized tricycle stops or passes through vehicles during traffic on a broken white line. The proposed fines range from to , including revocation of the violator's license.
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The legal confusion in the United States is exceptional. In a 2012 California survey, 53 percent of non-motorcycle drivers thought that lane splitting was legal. At the time, there was no specific traffic law in California that addressed lane splitting. No legal prohibition of an action generally means that the action is lawful; however, there are other U.S. states in which there are no traffic laws explicitly prohibiting lane splitting, American Motorcyclist State Motorcycle Laws. Archived from the original on March 16, 2011. but officials rely on other laws to regularly interpret lane splitting as unlawful. For example, New Mexico does not address lane splitting by name, but has language requiring turn signals be used continuously for at least before changing lanes. as well as other codes which may be cited by an officer.Besides violating 66-7-325 Turning Movements and required signals prohibit Lane Splitting, a motorcyclist lane splitting in New Mexico could be cited for 66-7-317 "Driving on roadways laned for traffic" [6] and 66-7-322 "Required position and method of turning at intersections" [7] Many other states have derived identical codes from the Uniform Vehicle Code.
Lane splitting was legally defined for the first time in California by a bill signed into law in August 2016. The new law established a definition of lane splitting while making no mention of whether, or under what circumstances, it is allowed. It also permits the California Highway Patrol, in consultation with government and interest groups, to establish educational guidelines about lane splitting. This essentially gives the CHP permission to bring back the FAQ and advice on lane splitting which they published and rescinded in 2009 after one person complained. Sport Rider magazine predicted that "issues are almost certain" due to the law's ambiguity as to what is and is not legal. Cycle World said that while it, "is a step in the right direction, the AB 51 Bill doesn't actually do much to clear anything up." Effective January 1, 2017, section 21658.1 was added to the California Vehicle Code and defines lane splitting, which is now explicitly legal in California. The California Highway Patrol released new lane splitting safety tips on September 27, 2018.
Bills to legalize lane splitting have been introduced in state legislatures around the United States over the last twenty years, but none had been enacted before California's.
Utah legalized filtering in 2019 and the law went into effect on May 14, 2019. The Utah Department of Public Safety Highway Safety Office created infographics and videos that demonstrated safe and legal filtering.
Montana's governor signed SB9, legalizing filtering in March 2021. The bill went into effect on October 1, 2021. This law permits filtering at up to between vehicles that are stopped or moving at up to .
Arizona's governor signed SB1273 on March 23, 2022, and it will go into effect after 90 days after the end of the second regular session of the 55th Arizona State Legislature. This legislation mirrored Utah's bill, permitting motorcycles to travel at up to between completely stopped vehicles on roads with a speed limit of or slower and at least two adjacent lanes in the same direction of travel, as long as the movement could be made safely. Tyler Pace sponsored the bill and Representative Frank Carroll co-sponsored it. The bill received support from ABATE of Arizona, a state motorcyclists' rights organization.
In 2017, Washington's Research and Data Division at the Washington Traffic Safety Commission conducted a study to examine the potential benefits and challenges associated with lane-sharing. Despite ongoing research into the safety of lane-sharing, legislative efforts to legalize the practice in Washington have repeatedly failed, with House Bill 1063 being the most recent attempt during the 2023 legislative session.
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