Photo: Wikipedia/edited by Gabriel Brindusescu
We reported earlier on that the State of Utah is considering the introduction of lane splitting as a legal maneuver in traffic. Well, the voting day came but the bill failed to get enough yeas.
Although the lane splitting bill’s sponsor, Rep. Gage Froerer, called on physical therapist and motorcyclist Dave Moss to help present the idea to the people and condone the maneuver, HB410 died out in a 29 yeas/45 nays tally this week.
As always, people’s reactions over the subject are torn apart - some say lane splitting is awesome, helping a lot with traffic flow, while others are opposing the idea because of Utah’s different conditions from California, the only state where lane splitting is legal.
Truth is, the riding season in California never ends whereas in Utah, riders tend to park their motorcycles during the winter. This means that Californian drivers are aware and expect riders to be present in traffic all year round, while those in Utah will get by surprise each spring.
If you ask us, we believe lane splitting should be legal everywhere. Sitting on a motorcycle in traffic makes no sense and it is also dangerous - you only need one careless smartphone-using driver not see the row of cars and you up ahead are stopped and you end up squished between metal.
Moreover, legalizing lane-splitting will encourage more people to switch to riding motorcycles. In return, this decongests traffic and frees up parking spaces. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
What the drivers need to do is to put their phones down while behind the wheel, check their mirrors more often, and signal their intention to change direction, things which they should do regardless of having motorcycles coming in between the lanes or not.
On the other side, motorcyclists should be extremely careful not to clip mirrors and don’t exceed the other vehicles’ speed by more than 10 mph when lane-splitting. Again, common sense precautions every rider should take when performing such maneuver.
As always, people’s reactions over the subject are torn apart - some say lane splitting is awesome, helping a lot with traffic flow, while others are opposing the idea because of Utah’s different conditions from California, the only state where lane splitting is legal.
Truth is, the riding season in California never ends whereas in Utah, riders tend to park their motorcycles during the winter. This means that Californian drivers are aware and expect riders to be present in traffic all year round, while those in Utah will get by surprise each spring.
If you ask us, we believe lane splitting should be legal everywhere. Sitting on a motorcycle in traffic makes no sense and it is also dangerous - you only need one careless smartphone-using driver not see the row of cars and you up ahead are stopped and you end up squished between metal.
Moreover, legalizing lane-splitting will encourage more people to switch to riding motorcycles. In return, this decongests traffic and frees up parking spaces. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
What the drivers need to do is to put their phones down while behind the wheel, check their mirrors more often, and signal their intention to change direction, things which they should do regardless of having motorcycles coming in between the lanes or not.
On the other side, motorcyclists should be extremely careful not to clip mirrors and don’t exceed the other vehicles’ speed by more than 10 mph when lane-splitting. Again, common sense precautions every rider should take when performing such maneuver.
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