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....