Lane splitting crackdown in Wellington?

[Akzle]

Which is an excelent point and illustrates perfectly the obsurdity of charging ACC by type of vehicle (or any other demarcation). Take if out of the general tax take and all these arguments disappear.

*absurdity

[swbarnett]

*absurdity

Fixed. Along with a couple of other spelling errors. The one time I don't spell check...

[rastuscat]

Just a wee recap on the law on this.

Our law doesn't use the words "lane splitting" or "filtering". There's no law for it, or against it.

What we have is the law on passing, both on the left, and on the right.

The guts of it is contained in the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004, in sections 2.6 to 2.11

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regul...DLM302188.html

Note that on each occasion the rule says you can legally overtake on the left or on the right, it goes on to say this

2.6 General requirements about passing other vehicles
(1)
A driver must not pass or attempt to pass another vehicle moving in the same direction unless—
(a)
the movement can be made with safety; and
(b)
the movement is made with due consideration for other users of the road; and
(c)
sufficient clear road is visible to the driver for the passing movement to be completed without impeding or being likely to impede any possible opposing traffic; and
(d)
until the passing movement is completed, the driver has a clear view of the road and any traffic on the road for at least 100 m in the direction in which the driver is travelling.
(2)
Subclause (1)(c) and (d) does not apply if the passing vehicle and the vehicle being passed are in different lanes and are, throughout the passing movement, either on a one-way road or on the same side of the centre line.
(3)
A driver must not, when passing another vehicle moving in the same direction, move into the line of passage of that vehicle until the manoeuvre can be made safely and without impeding the movement of that other vehicle.
Compare: SR 1976/227 r 8(3), (4)

I'm sure that everyone ever ticketed for lane splitting would argue that what they were doing is safe, but the officer issuing the ticket would argue that what they were doing wasn't safe. Most of those tickets would be for "Overtaking In An Unsafe Manner"

The concept of safety is subjective. Most folk would argue that riding to Akaroa like Valentino Rossi is unsafe. But the rider who has done it 200 times would argue to the contrary.

Back to lane splitting. The opinion that counts is that of the JP hearing the case of the defended ticket. If the officer gives evidence of what they saw and the JP looks over their glasses at you and sucks air in through their teeth, I'd bet they don't think it was safe either.

Standing arguing with the cop at the roadside is likely to be as fruitful as disputing a penalty already awarded at the World Cup final.

Most lane splitting I've seen while in a private capacity has been what I consider to be safe. Some has been legal and safe, some illegal and safe.

But some has been just plain dumb. I agree with those who mentioned speed differential as the issue, not speed itself. However, the higher the absolute speed, the greater the chance of even a small differential ending in tears, if used unsafely.

I must stop thinking about these things.

[Akzle]

Just a wee recap on the law on this.

Our law doesn't use the words "lane splitting" or "filtering". There's no law for it, or against it.

What we have is the law on passing, both on the left, and on the right.

The guts of it is contained in the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004, in sections 2.6 to 2.11

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regul...DLM302188.html

Note that on each occasion the rule says you can legally overtake on the left or on the right, it goes on to say this

2.6 General requirements about passing other vehicles
(1)
A driver must not pass or attempt to pass another vehicle moving in the same direction unless—
(a)
the movement can be made with safety; and
(b)
the movement is made with due consideration for other users of the road; and
(c)
sufficient clear road is visible to the driver for the passing movement to be completed without impeding or being likely to impede any possible opposing traffic; and
(d)
until the passing movement is completed, the driver has a clear view of the road and any traffic on the road for at least 100 m in the direction in which the driver is travelling.
(2)
Subclause (1)(c) and (d) does not apply if the passing vehicle and the vehicle being passed are in different lanes and are, throughout the passing movement, either on a one-way road or on the same side of the centre line.
(3)
A driver must not, when passing another vehicle moving in the same direction, move into the line of passage of that vehicle until the manoeuvre can be made safely and without impeding the movement of that other vehicle.
Compare: SR 1976/227 r 8(3), (4)

I'm sure that everyone ever ticketed for lane splitting would argue that what they were doing is safe, but the officer issuing the ticket would argue that what they were doing wasn't safe. Most of those tickets would be for "Overtaking In An Unsafe Manner"

The concept of safety is subjective. Most folk would argue that riding to Akaroa like Valentino Rossi is unsafe. But the rider who has done it 200 times would argue to the contrary.

Back to lane splitting. The opinion that counts is that of the JP hearing the case of the defended ticket. If the officer gives evidence of what they saw and the JP looks over their glasses at you and sucks air in through their teeth, I'd bet they don't think it was safe either.

Standing arguing with the cop at the roadside is likely to be as fruitful as disputing a penalty already awarded at the World Cup final.

Most lane splitting I've seen while in a private capacity has been what I consider to be safe. Some has been legal and safe, some illegal and safe.

But some has been just plain dumb. I agree with those who mentioned speed differential as the issue, not speed itself. However, the higher the absolute speed, the greater the chance of even a small differential ending in tears, if used unsafely.

I must stop thinking about these things.

* legislation