Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Lane Splitting now Legal in NSW

Woo hoo, common sense has won the day which is unusual when talking about any government body or department. It appears that the lane splitting(filtering) trial that went ahead in the northern half of the city last year has been approved across the board and now all motorcyclists in NSW will be able to lane filter legally from the 1 July 2014.

There are a few rules that riders have to follow otherwise they can be booked with a new range of offences introduced with the new laws.




  • Filtering only permitted when it is ‘safe to do so’. Situations where it is not ‘safe to do so’ may include: 

    • When the manoeuvre is at high speed between moving traffic; and 
    • Riders will be required to comply with all other road rules when performing the lane filtering manoeuvre, including rules that do not allow them to overtake to the left of vehicles in the kerbside lane (adjacent to a pedestrian path), travel in the breakdown lane, or when filtering around trucks and buses. 
    Imposing a speed limit of 30km/h.
    • Clearly defines the maximum speed riders are allowed to filter at. This makes it clear that filtering over the speed limit of 30km/h is illegal. 
    • Setting at 30km/h will limit filtering to slow moving traffic where vehicles are moving at or below this speed 
    • This speed is 10km/h lower than the 40km/h limit currently implemented in high pedestrian activity zones
    Limit filtering to fully licenced riders only (excluding Learner or Provisional riders)
    • Manoeuvre only allowed by experienced riders who may have more highly developed hazard perception and motorcycle handling skills. 
    • May reduce risk of inexperienced riders having crashes associated with inadequate gap selection or awareness of pedestrians/other road users while filtering. 
    No filtering in school zones during hours of operation
    • Ensures that filtering does not occur around schools on multi-lane roads where there may be an increase in pedestrian activity by children. 



    Here's me successfully filtering below the 30 kph limit in the city as part of the trial. Lucky I didn't blow it for all other bike riders. Happy filtering New South Welshmen and happy days....


    15 comments:

    1. Replies
      1. Happy April Fools to you too Bob, but this is not a joke it actually happened.

        Check here
        http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-27/motorcycle-lane-filtering-to-be-legal-in-nsw/5287440

        Delete
    2. Nice! Riders in Oregon have been trying to get that here inOregon but the powers that be are resistant.

      The restrictions they've imposed along with it make sense to me. Let's hope riders don't abuse it.

      Happy filtering.

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. It will probably make not much difference as most riders have been lane splitting for years anyway, but now they can do it legally.

        Delete
      2. I too was starting to think it might have been a joke.

        Glad that it is not as it will ease congestion. One of our riding buddies lives here now but originally from Southern California. He said they couldn't get anywhere on two wheels without filtering. He is retired now, but it used to cut his commute time to less than half.

        Delete
      3. It's the safety factor of not riding in amongst inattentive cars drivers that a) don't look, b) don't care and c)are to busy wrapped up in their busy lives that they forget the important things like actually driving the car to the conditions and being aware of others around them. If I get to my destination 10 minutes earlier then that is a bonus for me but not the main reason I split.

        If every bike rider actually sat in traffic like car drivers do then, the idiot at the lights that like to abuse us and yell "wait in line like everyone else" will probably be about 20 cars back and wouldn't even be near the lights. They can't see that bikes are reducing the traffic at the lights and they are much safer not being in traffic. But this thought wouldn't even dawn on the cagers as most have no concept of safety.

        Delete
    3. I didn't realise that NSW was that far behind the times! I'm guessing that riders have been doing it for ages anyway

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Jules? What do you mean behind the times? We are the only state that it is legal in aren't we?
        I don't think i've seen anywhere in the media saying filtering is legal in any state but NSW. I could be wrong thou....

        Delete
    4. That is a welcome move and the restrictions all sound sensible to me. As they begin to realise it is legal, the jealousy of the car drivers will fade over time. Here in the UK, where streets in the cities are often much narrower than other parts of the world, car drivers even sometimes move out of your way to make room to let you filter through. Happy days!

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Common sense has prevailed Gary. This is nearly unheard of for any government department.
        They should put some ads on TV in the weeks leading up to the legal lane splitting so that the car drivers actually know that it is now legal, so any potential road ragers from car drivers is all their own fault.

        You mean car drivers in the UK move over for motorcycles. #*$% thats unheard of here. Really???

        Delete
      2. Yep, they really do. Not everyone of course, but in heavy slow moving traffic, I would estimate 1 in 10 move their cars over very slightly - often that is just enough for you to get through. In time, I hope you will see it happening there. It helps having loud pipes on my Harley. Not that I rev the engine so they can hear it, but a lot see or hear you coming and are happy to move over. I always wave to say thanks, but regrettably, not all bikers do that.

        Delete
    5. I hope that there is a lot of media coverage about this becoming a legal thing for bikes so the car drivers realise we are not breaking a law by doing this
      I suppose time will tell how it goes

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. I hear you mate, they need to do something, I driven with a lot of cagers who get pissy about it and I've been on the receiving end of some abuse by a F#ckwit whilst splitting at the lights

        Delete
    6. forgot to say about the great new header picture of the site as well
      thumbs up on that scenery

      ReplyDelete
      Replies
      1. Thanks mate, it was pretty spectacular wasn't it!

        Delete