California's Lane-Splitting Bill Passes State Senate Vote

California just took one step closer to officially formalizing lane-splitting, with AB 51 passing the State Senate. The bill, in its revised form, will now head back to the State Assembly for approval.

While lane-splitting is legal in the sense that it has not been deemed illegal, it has not been coded into the California Vehicle Code. This distinction has caused a lot of confusion around the topic and, while this is a step in the right direction, the AB 51 Bill doesn't actually do much to clear anything up.

Originally, AB 51 came with several provisions that outlined the manner in which lane-splitting was deemed acceptable. Many of the supporting groups involved disagreed over things like the top speed allowed, which caused the bill to stall last July for the year. This new version of AB 51 removes those provisions, and simply states the the practice is legal, which now allows enforcing agencies like the California Highway Patrol and local police agencies to create and teach guidelines and best practices. For now, enforcement will remain under the "safe and prudent" provision in the vehicle code.

While this may not be a popular opinion, especially amongst people from outside California, I'm personally glad that AB 51 did not continue with the speed restrictions it placed at a top speed of 55 miles per hour. The UC Berkeley study was clear that their findings showed that overall speed did not increase the safety risk, and that the only important factor was the speed delta (difference in speed between the car and bike). After having driven in other parts of the country I know this will sound crazy because drivers in Oregon and Colorado actually obey speed laws, but the Southern California freeway system regularly moves at 10-20 miles over the limit. I actually find splitting at 60 miles per hour when traffic is doing 45 or so (or 70/55) to be one of the safest times to split because drivers are moving at a pace where they're less concerned about trying to make a lane change to get a couple of car lengths ahead and their behavior is much more predictable. 15 miles per hour faster than traffic gives you the same ability to react regardless of speed.

I'm all for being safe, but restrictions for restrictions sake are silly and unnecessary. We have plenty of data to show that speed limits are unnecessarily low. Michigan State Police agree. The University of Texas agrees. It isn't the speed that's dangerous, it's impaired driving and inattention. Many who study transportation believe speed limits should be set by something called the 85th percentile rule, which states that limits should be set to the speed that 85% of drivers drive safely.

Like the speed we travel in general, lane-splitting safety is about riding in a manner safe for the current conditions. In the same way that a speed limit may be too high for the current conditions on a road (you know, if it's full of cars or ice or fog or is being covered in tons of water), there are tons of factors that dictate how to lane-split safely or if it's even safe at all given the current conditions.

The good news is that AB 51 will likely pass the State Assembly, which will finally stop any confusion to the practices legality and hopefully create more conversation around how to codify its practices. More study is needed on the matter, but that will benefit riders all over the country as we get more information that isn't anecdotal.

Until then, this is what we have:

SECTION 1. Section 21658.1 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
(a) For the purposes of this section, “lane splitting” means driving a motorcycle, as defined in Section 400, that has two wheels in contact with the ground, between rows of stopped or moving vehicles in the same lane, including on both divided and undivided streets, roads, or highways.
(b) The Department of the California Highway Patrol may develop educational guidelines relating to lane splitting in a manner that would ensure the safety of the motorcyclist and the drivers and passengers of the surrounding vehicles.
(c) In developing guidelines pursuant to this section, the department shall consult with agencies and organizations with an interest in road safety and motorcyclist behavior, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(1) The Department of Motor Vehicles.
(2) The Department of Transportation.
(3) The Office of Traffic Safety.
(4) A motorcycle organization focused on motorcyclist safety.