Okay, so I’ve been seeing a lot of talk online about lane splitting, and honestly, I was pretty clueless about where it’s even legal. I ride a motorcycle myself, and the idea of squeezing between cars always seemed a bit…risky. But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn’t actually know the rules. So, I decided to dig in and figure this out, once and for all.
My Little Research Journey
First, I just did a simple search. Nothing fancy, just typed in “lane splitting legal states”. I figured that would give me a starting point, at least.
The initial results were a bit of a mixed bag. Some sites said one thing, others said another. It wasn’t super clear-cut. I quickly learned that there’s a difference between “lane splitting” and “lane filtering,”. Lane splitting usually is definded as shareing a lane at higer speeds. Lane filtering is doing the same thing in slower-moving or stopped traffic.
Then, I got into the real deal. I start to find more information, and realize that I need to organize this somehow. I took a piece of paper and wrote them down.
What I finally found.
After spending some time with it, Here’s the simple breakdown of what I found:
- California: The only state explicitly legal.
- Utah: Legal, but with restrictions.
- Colorado: Legal under 15mph when traffic is stopped.
- Montana: Legal, with some rules.
- Oregon:Lane filtering is legal under specific conditions.
- Other states: It gets more gray. Some are considering legislation, others it’s a no-go, and some don’t have specific laws, which makes things tricky.
So, that’s my little adventure into the world of lane splitting * is a samll project but I learned a lot. I’m definitely going to keep an eye on how these laws change over time. Ride safe, everyone!
