Hey guys, thought i'd post this here to help spread the word around! We're pushing hard to try and legalize lane filtering in British Columbia.

Canadians for Legal Lane Filtering

We want:

- 30kph speed limit
- 2 lanes per direction of travel or more
- Fully licensed riders only
- No filtering in school zones

I'll also throw in a link to Lane Filter BC for added coverage!

https://lanefilterbc.nationbuilder.com/


Cheers!

Good Luck ...Hope you get it passed....Living in California being able to Filter is the best thing ever....

As a guy who lives in a big city and commutes daily in heavy traffic and just got rear ended in it, sitting in traffic, I don't want lane splitting. Heavy traffic commuting is precarious enough as is with inattentive and aggressive drivers, and I think lane splitting would only increase accidents. Looking down a line of stopped cars at an intersection, many do not have room for a motorcycle to safely pass between them. People open doors unexpectedly in traffic to let people out or allow people in, especially downtown, or when they are parked by the curb, which they are on every downtown street. Bicyclists get killed killed every year like this.

Dedicated bicycle lanes are everywhere here in my city, usually occupying extra lane space and the shoulder of roadway, usually separated by a concrete curb or barricade, and motorcycles and bicycles in the same lane do not mix. Bicycles are allowed to filter but not motorcycles and look at the number of bicycle accidents when they do this.

I wish we could do that safely... 30km/h should be pretty safe.
I'm actually afraid when I go slow speed because the drivers are looking everywhere (phone) but not on the road, so being able to continue my trip would keep me much safer.

On Versys I'm sitting higher than the drivers, and there is not one day that I don't see drivers on the phone (I barely move, so it's safe for me to look at the phone.....(*&^% OH....******* )

California, were lane splitting is allowed, also has a MUCH higher fatality rate per capita from motor vehicles and motorcycles than Canada even though we drive on slippery snow 4 months of the year and have to deal with road repair from winter damage the other 8 months.

Well I guess you can't beat that horse... Interesting....

I've used those bicycle lanes before, i've filtered on streets where i've had people use those specific ones as examples of streets that are too narrow to filter on... Pople don't open their doors between the lanes, i've literally only ever seen it twice, other than when there's a huge traffic jam that no one has moved in 10+ minutes of course.

Would you rather get struck directly, front to rear again, or have a glancing blow from someone merging into you?

I'd think the glancing blow from the side would be the rational "lesser of two evils"...

California has a lower death per capita rate than Florida and Texas, which is a much, much, MUCH better comparison... despite lane splitting being allowed, is that solely because of the helmet law? Maybe... maybe not.

Motorcycle deaths jump nationwide but fall in California. Why? - LA Times

I live in Florida and would love to be able to split lanes ... although I would suggest 20 mph, in the end, if you're stuck in traffic, you'll be moving faster than 0, right?
But I'm pretty sure that at the beginning there will be many accidents because people are not used to look for motorcycles when they change lanes.

Be safe!

I'm sure the feeling of wind in your hair is great on a hot day but I've read that states that have repealed their helmet laws have seen an average of a 10% increase in motorcycle fatalities. Personally I'd be dead or have a severe concussion after being rear ended last friday on the bike if I was not wearing a FF helmet.

Happen to have a source for that? Genuinely interested!

I feel naked if I even sit on my bike without a helmet on, I can't even imagine riding without one on... Suicidal, I tell ya. Same with half helmets... I hope they have good insurance, my parents put $4,000+ into my teeth to make them look nice, i'm not going to spit on their efforts by wearing anything less than a high quality modular.

But its our responsibility to not let them do that, right?

Google, there is a ton of stats out there.

IMO you pay for your own medical care no one should be able to tell you what to wear, but if you have medical care paid from taxes as we do, I'd like to see FF helmets conforming to Snell or ECE ratings made mandatory rather than just a simple DOT rating. The half helmets many cruiser riders wear provide less than half the protection a good FF does, and a vented FF helmet is more comfortable, at least with some wind through the vents, and has no visibility restrictions as many claim, so style seems to me to be the only attraction of a half helmet. Even on the hottest day sitting in traffic all I have to do is pop my visor on my FF and wear sun glasses.

In my experience not all drivers check properly for other cars, let alone motorcycles when changing lanes, which is one reason lane splitting scares me a little. Lane splitting requires putting a lot of faith in other drivers to not open their doors at an inopportune time and check before they do, and not pull too close against an adjacent car in traffic, another reason lane splitting scares me - I can never bring myself to put 100% trust in other drivers.

I would just like to be able to go to the front of the line on regular roads. Don't care about freeways around here.

How helpful.

So how does this check out?

You don't trust the person waiting to turn left in front of you, to NOT turn left in front of you. You expect them to do it.

You don't trust the person waiting to turn out of a side street in front of you, to NOT do it. You expect them to do it.

You trust the person behind you in traffic to see you and stop in time not to kill you, even though you saw them looking down in your rear view mirror when approaching the light.... Am I getting this right? You've already experienced what it feels like to be rear ended in traffic, which is more than I can say, and I have ZERO desire, or intention of being in that position.

If I even suspect someone is on their phone behind me, or I have any doubts they'll stop in time, I'm between the cars, no hesitation. Would breaking the law every once in a while have resulted in you not having been involved in your incident? What would you consider worse, objectively? Filtering at the equivalent of a jogging pace through traffic and someone negligently opens their door, perhaps you bend their door frame... Would that be better than what happened to you? I don't see how it isn't.

Filtering is totally empowering, and only someone who has never tried it could make the statements you are making. In stopped/slow moving traffic (IE: What we're pushing for here in BC) filtering is totally benign. We already expect the unexpected, right? So someone opening their door while you're theoretically filtering is ok, because you're expecting it and have your fingers on the brake lever...

I'm way more scared of being involved in what happened to you, than someone negligently opening their door on me in traffic. I can plan for that, and adjust my speed differential accordingly, you can't really prepare to evade being smashed from behind in traffic, obviously.

You should try filtering some time, you might find it really isnt actually that scary, its actually REALLY nice, and once you realize how efficient and logical it is... Its impossible to stop.

You have to have the right mindset to filter...Here in Cali where Filtering has been going on for years and the majority are use to it and even make room for you to get by. Then you have people from other states which just don't know about it. Then you have people that never use their mirrors to begin with and also the people doing everything in their cars except drive. On top of that the politicans with their wisdom now give illegals driver license so they drive like they are still in Mexico. So take that all in and ask yourself "Do I Really Want To Filter"......H.E.L.L. Yea..... .Most know i had a guy open his door on me in August. We all know it can happen so you just have to be careful....

I'm in favor of being able to "filter" to the front when traffic is stopped. Other wise? NOT sure.

Being hit from the side can put you into another lane (into on-coming traffic?), which PROBABLY isn't good.

If you're between two lanes moving in the same direction, you'd probably bump into the car beside you, which might help you stay upright!

That sounds like UK style filtering, which I would like, but I don't think our culture over here is ready for.... Although I DO readily exploit passing on a single solid yellow if the situation permits!

And see, THAT is about the worst case scenario in what type of filtering we're asking for up here! Would you rather have that happen? Or have the amazing opportunity of being smashed up the chuff be your daily reality? It isn't a comforting feeling.

A turn signal, and a hand guard... Not bad, considering that it doesn't get much worse than that...

Versus:


Somehow I think I have a pretty good idea of what you're going to say already.... And i'd call you insane for preferring the latter scenario. Full stop.

This is from this morning right at 10:30. I live right by the 605,105,the 91 freeways and am only about 2 miles from the 5 freeway so if you didn't filter driving would be like a second job...

The end of November and you're riding around in a T-shirt... filtering... I hate you Californians! :P