Lane filtering/splitting....Alberta

Discussion in 'Anything Goes' started by VFR1200, May 3, 2015.

  1. VFR1200

    VFR1200 New Member

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    Hi,
    I am currently trying to get support and positive results to push Alberta, other proviences may follow, to allow lane splitting for motorbikes. A lot of positive feedback has come out recently to the benefits ao filtering.

    http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/tr.../California Lane Splitting Crash Analysis.pdf

    http://www.tmleuven.com/project/motorcyclesandcommuting/20110921_Motorfietsen_eindrapport_Eng.pdf

    Currently majority of the developed world, uses the roads to their full capacity. They allow motorcycles to filter to reduce congestion, improve travel times and it is safer for a motorcyclist to do this. Only California has allowed filtering, in North America, and the above links shows results that us motorcyclists know to be true.
    Oregon has just passed a Bill to allow motorcycles to filter and the State of Washington now has a Bill going to the House to also allow motorycles to filter. The two reports above have made a big impact to help make this happen.
    Riders who filter wear better protective gear then riders who don't and suffer less fatalities then riders who don't filter. So the old saying that filtering is 6X safer then sitting is traffic has some strength behind it.
    If 10% of riders filtered, you would reduce congestion by 40%......that is just 10%.....

    The thing is, we should have a choice of whether to filter or sit in traffic. Majority of my riding has been done in the UK. I always used to pass riders who chose to sit in traffic. Filtering wasn't for them.
    Education will also need to be a key to make this work. Drivers will need to be aware that motorbikes will be passing by them. This should be done in a manner that, by allowing a bike to pass you, you will get to your destination quicker as he/she does not take up a space in front of you and nor does all the other motorbikes coming past.

    I have a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/motorcyclesfilteralberta The more likes I can get the better chance we have of making a difference. Like I have said it is a choice and not for everyone. But give us the choice. I have a reporter from a Canadian paper who is going to do a story on this and a leading MLA is also coming on board. I am going to have a fight to get this going, but lets please keep the Facebook page positive. I am doing updates with any changes as they happen. A website is also coming up soon.

    This is someone in Canada doing what is at the moment illegal. He is also showing a good job at it.


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP08wJrXnE0
     
  2. MPH Racing

    MPH Racing New Member

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    Sorry Bud but only SQUIDS lane split in Alberta. I see it time and time again going down a main road (Mc Cloud Trail) and a bunch of Squids cut between cars doing double the posted limit. Best I have ever seen was a bunch of Busa boys zooming up to the lights and some guy opened his truck door taking out 5 riders as he was getting out. If lane splitting is so great then why is the traffic the same in the middle of winter when there is no bikes on the road?
     
  3. TOE CUTTER

    TOE CUTTER Mullet Man

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    I lane split in surface traffic in Northern California for convenience, it is just not that bad here. In Southern California and the SF Bay area, that I frequent more than I want, it is a way of life for those of us on bikes. Squids are in the mix but the bulk of us that split are just day to day riders just trying to get work or home. We roll the dice and it is our risk to marvel in the benefit.
     
  4. VFR1200

    VFR1200 New Member

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    Firstly I'm not a squid (I wear a full face Shark Race R Pro helmet, Hideout made to measure full leathers, Sidi Vortice Race boots and Alpinestars GP Tech gloves. So I am protected from cagers) and if lane filtering was legal, then you would see a difference. Why do you think so many people in London UK, for example ride motorcycles.......because it is legal and a quicker way too work. Take all those riders and stop them filtering, no one would get to work. The system would collapse.
    It is a choice of whether you want to filter or not. Would you like to just sit in the traffic or get home quicker? Would you like to be 6X safer on the road or wait to be rear ended and become a fatality or even worse...paralysed from a broken back where a Ford F150 has made you a hood ornament.
    There are laws that will be put in place to make this work. Other countries do it and it works. The dangerous idiots are dealt with. That includes the riders who speed and the guy who opens his door to kill motorcycle riders.
    Why is the negative attitude to something that will make a difference. how about having millions of $$$ to spend on healthcare and education instead of making the roads wider, building ring roads or just sitting in the traffic and spending hours getting home from work that costs you in gas. Instead you can spend the money on yourself or family......
     
  5. tinkerinWstuff

    tinkerinWstuff Administrator Staff Member

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    I filter on my bicycle commute all the time. Seems to work great for everyone. Only difference is, when the light changes and I'm on my motorcycle, I'd pull away from traffic instead of pulling into the bike lane.
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2015
  6. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    This is one instance where pix are really necessary. Police reports or even news stories would be evidentiary if any of this indeed happened. If it was my story I'd say it was five harleydoods that got taken oot.

    The question here might be if this legislation is passed in Alberta are you going to sit in traffic on your bike whilst the rest of the "squids" are legally lane splitting? I don't think so.
     
  7. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    Does anybody remember..Jeff "Woody" Fife from Live 105? Should have gotten hung.
     
  8. 34468 Randy

    34468 Randy Secret Insider

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    Really. I will call who ever on that one.

    Please don't take this personally. I am not against legislation to permit lane splitting here. I do so when I am down in California. But you must understand. Other drivers down there expect this action. My experience was that more often than not, if the vehicles you were following on the freeways down there saw you setting up to lane split, the vast amjority of them would actually make room for you and allow this move. Granted there are those who go the opposite way and they are assholes.

    Now bring lane splitting here to Canada, probably most other places as well, and with the idiotic, inept and poor drivers abound here, I see the fatality rate for bikers to hit the skies. If you know anyone who is an emergency responder, get their opinion of how people drive when an emergency vehicle comes up behind them, lights and sirens blazing. It is fucking scarey.

    The comment about those who lane split are better equiped is pure rubbish. Show me something, anything to support that claim. I don't doubt you wear ATGATT. If you say you do, I will accept that unles there is proof to the contrary. But to say that so many others to is being overly optimistic.

    I hope the law does come into place. Will it make a difference to the majority of the motoring public? I doubt it. To bike riders. You bet. And why not allow them to proceed ahead if they can do so safely and not impeeding others using the roadway.

    If this law does come into play here, I doubt that I will take advantage of the legal right to do this for the most part. I will wait until the other motoring public become used to and drive accordingly before I do so. But at my age, I will likely be dead. But hell. Why not set things up for future generations.

    If this comes to be. For Christ sake, be damned careful. If you collide with a cage, you loose.
     
  9. 34468 Randy

    34468 Randy Secret Insider

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    BTW. They may also put into place laws to ensure the safety of bikers lane splitting and charge people in cages for doing what ever, but that will in all likelyhood, be after the fact. Though the gear you wear goes a long way to protect you when you go down, it does little in a collision, save the helmet to some degee. LeaTHers, gloves boots and the rest of it does fuck all in a collision where body meets car.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2015
  10. skimad4x4

    skimad4x4 "Official" VFRWorld Greeter

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    Hmm - interesting idea. I wish you luck.

    Here in France, apart from Paris, sensible filtering is tolerated "informally". However I understand from friends up in Paris it is developing into an optional revenue raising offence typically enforced right at the end of a month by officers who have not issued their quota of tickets!

    For several years the French motorcycle action group FFMC have gathered evidence and been pressing for a revision to the Code de Loi to specifically permit filtering, and in recent years they have finally managed to get the idea properly looked at. If it helps I can dig out relevant links - although Google should track down the pertinent documents. Suffice to say last year a very strong case was presented to the national panel of road safety experts (who strongly influence changes to French motoring laws). They are meant to be reviewing all the evidence and then submit a recommendation (as yet unknown) in due course. It is a while since I last looked at the proposal - but it was basically to only to allow filtering in the gap between the outermost two lines of vehicles, only when vehicles in those lanes were stationery or moving at less than 40kph, and bikes are only allowed to filter at a speed not higher than 40 kph above the traffic they are passing.

    The problem is that every time we get close to the Safety Experts issuing a positive recommendation - some imbecile Darwin rider stirs up the no lobby when they decide to film themselves filtering far too fast to stop if a gap closes. I am sure we have all seen crazy examples on youTube of bikers especially in Russia riding at insane speeds - even pulling wheelies through queuing traffic. Suffice to say all this shows is the presence or absence of laws on filtering will rarely effect a change in such peoples behaviour, but they do directly influence how others are willing to share the roads with you. (OK there is always one exception, but currently most drivers in France seem very considerate and alert to the presence of bikers, and once spotted, will often ease to one side to allow riders past - and most riders remember to give a friendly acknowledgement as they pass. Rider safety when filtering seems to be helped by the EU law which requires motorbikes to have their headlights on. In very congested traffic, turning on the double stacked headlights on my 6th Gen is very effective at getting people to spot your approach and ease open a gap to allow me and other riders through.




    SkiMad
     
  11. adeyren

    adeyren New Member

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    Here in the UK i filter all the time, its perfectly safe as long as you concentrate on whats going on in front ie people on phones (illegal) junctions ahead etc etc. You cant afford to switch off. The thought of sitting in a huge queue does not appeal. Some cities here are now allowing bikes to use bus only lanes. Above all CONCENTRATE.
     
  12. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    Much of the lane splitting in the US is done on our "freeways" . Each state has it's own set of vehicle codes which are similar with some differences. If not
    legal, the practice is illegal.

    Our freeways have different names. ie toll roads, loops, Interstates ect.. The Interstates are just that. One can travel on some from border to border. Some have HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes reserved for cars occupied by more than one passenger, some commercial vehicles and in some states motorcycles.. Generally the lanes on the Interstates are wide and allow for reasonably safe space sharing.

    Just like anyplace else, it ain't perfect and nobody has all the answers. Just think how boring that would be...;)
     
  13. John451

    John451 Member

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    Filtering is legal in Sydney since 2014 though wasn't actually fully illegal before and had been doing it carefully without incident over my 30 years of riding, personally I will only ride slowly to the front of the line on a Red light through stationary or very slow moving traffic if the road width and conditions permit.


    Law change February 2014:
    " The Minister for Roads and Ports, the Honourable Duncan Gay announced in February 2014 that Lane Filtering for Motorcycles in NSW will be legalised as part of a package of changes to help ease road congestion and improve safety by reforming laws for motorcyclists

    Lane filtering is the practice of motorcycles moving between stopped or slow-moving cars.

    Benefits from lane filtering include reducing the risk of riders being caught up in a rear end collision. Rear enders are a common collision in NSW and can result in a rider being severely injured.

    Drivers are reminded to watch both their mirrors and look for motor bikes filtering through the traffic and riders are advised to manage their risk. "

    Linky:
    http://www.mccofnsw.org.au/a/364.html
     
  14. zombie

    zombie New Member

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    I'm all for it, hopefully it would pass here in Ontario sometime. I commute daily and there are times that I'm stuck in traffic and have the occasional bike pass me and cruise off into the distance at a reasonable rate of speed. I have almost tried it a few times but am worried about getting a ticket.
    There will always be the idiots that filter at a high rate of speed causing problems but that happens now anyway.
     
  15. iamzombie

    iamzombie New Member

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    In 75% of Canada (and probably a good percentage of Alberta) there is little need for "filtering" as traffic congestion is not anywhere near the level it is in the large US cities. Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver may be at the level where it would be helpful. I have never been to Calgary but Edmonton isn't at that level yet, from my experience with the city.

    Even if it were legal here, I'd never trust the idiots that drive here in MB to not cut in on me as I was doing it.
     
  16. zombie

    zombie New Member

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    I would try it here on the 400 highways when they are at or near a standstill. It would save so much time even on some of the city streets during rush hour I think I would do it.
     
  17. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    No matter what, there will come a time and a place where it will be beneficial if it is legal to do it. If you ever got on Hwy 101 North right after a MotoGP race at Laguna, you definitely know what i'm talking about.
     
  18. ridervfr

    ridervfr Member

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    It would be nice to do it legally in FL, but as others said, with all the inept drivers out there, I doubt that it will any time soon. I do what I need to do to stay safe and sound, and have a rule that I won't wait twice for a traffic light. You roll the dice to a degree, the trick is a fine line of mitigating the risks. I do this with my own nutty theories.
     
  19. 34468 Randy

    34468 Randy Secret Insider

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    Agreed. But that is down there where it is expected. I shudder to see what is going to happen elsewhere. Like I said, I lane split down there too. It was a little unnerving and first but I soon became comfortable with it. I really don't think I will be quick to try that if it becomes legal here. Then again, you just never know. Well, maybe you do NCB. :wink:
     
  20. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    When major legislation concerning literally all motorcycle riders in a given area changes the PR machine will be in motion as well.

    Pending lane splitting changes in Oregon and Washington are a good example.

    Exiting Laguna to 101 North if lane splitting was not legal might mean some dudes are still there waiting in line..
     
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