07-06-2016, 11:36 PM
I would normally be inclined to agree with you, but it seems to me there are some complex issues for regulators in the question of whether to allow lane splitting which have to be weighed against fairness.
The first is whether you want to do whatever you can to reduce congestion. Allowing motorcycles to do what they can to get out of the way helps with at, albeit to a limited extent, particularly if you use the speed rules that apply in Australia.
The second is whether you want to reduce the number of motor vehicles on the road, particularly those carrying only one person. If it becomes a great deal quicker and more efficient for people to use scooters and motorcycles to commute, it may turn people from cars to bikes. Allowing motorcycles to filter will also reduce the amount of time they are sitting in traffic burning fuel when it isn't necessary.
I don't know about the USA; but elsewhere in the world, having come to the realisation that building more and better roads simply encourages the appearance of cars, governments are doing what they can to reduce the number of them. They are building dedicated bikeways for cycles, legalising filtering for motorcycles under prescribed conditions, imposing stiff tolls on cars in some city areas, and building lanes that can be used only by cars with more than one or two occupants. Such transit lanes can usually also be used by motorcycles. I read yesterday that that the City of London is thinking of imposing an additional toll on vehicles entering the city which do not meet a very high standards of emission control (Euro 4, I think).
So, consideration of filtering is not so much about advantaging motorcycles as taking steps to decrease the attractiveness of commuting by car.
The first is whether you want to do whatever you can to reduce congestion. Allowing motorcycles to do what they can to get out of the way helps with at, albeit to a limited extent, particularly if you use the speed rules that apply in Australia.
The second is whether you want to reduce the number of motor vehicles on the road, particularly those carrying only one person. If it becomes a great deal quicker and more efficient for people to use scooters and motorcycles to commute, it may turn people from cars to bikes. Allowing motorcycles to filter will also reduce the amount of time they are sitting in traffic burning fuel when it isn't necessary.
I don't know about the USA; but elsewhere in the world, having come to the realisation that building more and better roads simply encourages the appearance of cars, governments are doing what they can to reduce the number of them. They are building dedicated bikeways for cycles, legalising filtering for motorcycles under prescribed conditions, imposing stiff tolls on cars in some city areas, and building lanes that can be used only by cars with more than one or two occupants. Such transit lanes can usually also be used by motorcycles. I read yesterday that that the City of London is thinking of imposing an additional toll on vehicles entering the city which do not meet a very high standards of emission control (Euro 4, I think).
So, consideration of filtering is not so much about advantaging motorcycles as taking steps to decrease the attractiveness of commuting by car.