Lane Filtering ...

[the Ferret]

I think it's clear that quite a number of motorcyclists are not in agreement with the practice...even where legal. Splitting and filtering although different seem to mean the same thing to motorcyclists. I think more would be in agreement if it were practiced responsibly/according to the law by all motorcyclists, but that is never going to happen. I find it funny that the Utah law says no more than 15 mph and traffic must be stopped. When I rode out to Cali, traffic was rolling between 45 and 55 and they were still splitting the traffic then. Motorcyclists used to splitting in CA will never abide by the Utah law as written, and once Utah motorcyclists get the hang of it, they will be splitting at will as well. Then again I have seen motorcyclists here split and filter and neither is legal in Ohio.

Someone in the comments section that Frulk posted mentioned something I would have never thought of. A dozen guys or more out riding together come up to a light with a long back up and start filtering as a group towards the front. Before the first bike gets to the front of the line the light changes. Now a dozen guys are in limbo with no where to go, stuck between lines of moving cars.

Here in the midwest, people are pretty protective of "their space" (since we don't have/never had a lane sharing law, "their space" is "their lane" from paint stripe to their left to paint stripe to their right, and it would take 20 years before people would become accustomed to sharing it with anyone else.