The Rider You Don't Want to be Next To....

[Gone in 60]

Very interesting, Whoops. Utah is in that tenuous position of having recently approved lane filtering, so drivers will either be welcome to riders practicing it or not. Has the state done much in the way of public awareness to educate drivers to filtering to try to make it seem more acceptable?

In California of course, since we've been doing it forever, it's just part of the driving culture. If I do filter, which isn't too often, (usually just when I'm at or approaching an intersection that I know will take me a few cycles of traffic lights to get through) drivers will scoot over and make room for me whether I need it or not. Guys in large trucks have pulled their mirrors in for me.

I was at such an intersection yesterday on the way home from work, and was sitting between lanes at the head of an intersection, when a loud, revving Harley came up behind me. There was enough room for me and my Triumph to move up to the front, so he didn't need to be dramatic, but he was, blipping his throttle repeatedly as he moved up behind me. I did my best to get out in front of traffic and move over a bit when the light turned green so he could scream past, exerting his dominance.

I have heard very little after the initial lane filtering bill was passed to bring public awareness, but then I don't really pay attention to news these days. In my experience more drivers are aware now than a couple years ago when filtering was introduced. It also seems more drivers make room now when I am approaching than in the past. However, I now also put my hi-beams on to make me more visible when I filter, so perhaps that's why more people are moving over.

Unfortunately I frequently see other riders (again mostly harleys) shoot through traffic where it isn't legal, such as freeways, and also when traffic is still moving. Our representaves have also noticed and are in the process of passing a new bill to target people that are abusing filtering by essentially lane splitting. I don't mean to single out Harley riders in particular, it's just the majority of the motorcycles here are cruiser style bikes like HD's. On a positive note, our House did pass HB311 a while back though which now allows filtering on freeway off-ramps. So there's that.

Very interesting. It will take quite a while for everyone to get used to it. One of the interesting things about California... for years it was accepted and part of the culture, but filtering and splitting were practiced because there was no specific law prohibiting either of them. It wasn't until maybe '09 or '10 that it was actually codified. There was a public awareness campaign for while, but it didn't really have a lot of impact, as most drivers were so used to the practice.