Rumour of lane-splitting crackdown

[rainman]

Anyone know if there's any truth to the rumour that a crackdown on lane-splitting is currently being executed by the Auckland police? I did see someone who'd been pulled over just before Fanshawe St offramp on the Northern on my way in to work this morning - HP car and bike in attendance - but that could've been for anything. (Anyone from in here have a bad start to the day?)

I've heard the crackdown rumour from two people, not sure if either of them would know for sure. In the absence of any insider info, anyone been pulled over for lane-splitting on the motorways recently?

[jafar]

There is no law against lane splitting , so a "crackdown" on it would be difficult to do

[Mom]

There is no law against lane splitting , so a "crackdown" on it would be difficult to do

There appears to be a crackdown on "parking" in the middle of the road however, i got a telling off today from a plod today in my car......naughty me!

[steved]

The thing I never understand is if you are filtering in traffic, how do the cops stop you? I'm not advocating running, just that it would be very hard to notice if a cop started flashing their lights as you have already gone.

[jrandom]

They'd need to devote all the bikes to anti-filtering duties if they were having a 'crackdown'.

No four-wheeled vehicle has a shit-show of keeping up with me during Auckland rush hour.

[Toaster]

The legal technicalities are more complex than you may think. It is a bit of an anomaly as the normal passing rules apply.

[Toaster]

There appears to be a crackdown on "parking" in the middle of the road however, i got a telling off today from a plod today in my car......naughty me!

you just like men in uniform!! I know about Maha's nurses outfit.

[jrandom]

There is no law against lane splitting...

They can and will do you for passing on the left and/or failing to indicate properly.

Also, I was passed by a guy a few years ago who was filtering at 160kph through free-flowing motorway traffic, and who was pulled over by a bike cop shortly thereafter. I bumped into him later that night, recognised his bike and asked him how it went, and he said they were charging him with either careless or dangerous, I forget which. But that has little to do with filtering at 50kph through traffic moving at 20.

I won't repeat any of the stuff about how to filter that's already been posted ad nauseam over the last few years.

[Toaster]

The thing I never understand is if you are filtering in traffic, how do the cops stop you?

Simple... open the door before you get to the patrol car.

Keep in mind most cops have no clue as to whether it is legal or not.

[FROSTY:Me]

There is no law against lane splitting

There my son you are WRONG --
All you need to do is ride in what they concider is a dangerous manner or if you are seen to be riding to the left of a car within the same lane then then can book ya
I will put money some idiot or idiots have been zig zagggin all over the motorway or splitting lanes at very high speed

[Grub]

Based on what we saw going to the Wednesday Night Ride, maybe they need to do this.

We were in dual streams of traffic doing 100kmh at 5.40pm. Along comes a prat on a Harley doing 110-115 weaving in and out of traffic and splitting all the way through two sets of lights on the Hutt Rd.

I can just imagine the moan as he posts on KB about the ferking cage that pulled over on him ... and we'd all sypathise because we didn't know what he was *really* doing.

I hope they do the crackdown on bikers who are being stupid and turn a blind eye to those being sensible and careful

[jrandom]

Simple... open the door before you get to the patrol car.

Unless they timed it so that it was impossible to stop for and caused a crash, there's always a way around. A single HP car with driver can't block lanes 1A and 2A, not to mention the emergency shoulder (which I personally never use) and the gap between the fast lane and the median barrier (which I would only ride in to avoid a car that swerved toward me while I was in the fast lane).

Anyway, opening the door seems a bit drastic and dangerous; you'd think that flicking the disco lights on and making a hand gesture or two would be a more useful and civilised way of indicating to a rider that he should pull over for a chat.

[jafar]

Keep in mind most cops have no clue.

[Toaster]

There my son you are WRONG --
All you need to do is ride in what they concider is a dangerous manner or if you are seen to be riding to the left of a car within the same lane then then can book ya
I will put money some idiot or idiots have been zig zagggin all over the motorway or splitting lanes at very high speed

Completely correct. It's the way people lane-split that makes all the difference.

[jrandom]

some idiot or idiots have been zig zagggin all over the motorway...

Nail on the head there Frosty.

It's entirely possible to filter at a significant speed differential without any perceptable swerving. Only mild and gentle steering inputs should be required. If you're swerving all over the road, you're riding like a plonker. Gently sliding between cars is the key, with gentle acceleration and braking and plenty of your bike's handling envelope always available for any difficult situations that arise such as cars pulling over without indicating or swerving around within their lanes.

On the whole, it's generally best to consider whether one is going to save a decent amount of time without adding appreciable levels of risk to one's journey. If those conditions aren't satisfied, why bother going to the effort of constantly moving around other vehicles? Filtering isn't fun, it's just what you have to do when using a motorcycle as transport around an urban area. Anyone who treats it as an opportunity to ride noisily and ostentatiously is an idiot.