Lane splitting/filtering: the legal and commonsense answers

**PHATVW** · 20th October 2008, 19:38

Everyday before and after work, I'll hit rush hour traffic, so when I'm driving the car, it'll take me around an hour to drive. Whereas on a bike, it takes around 15 minutes by filtering through the traffic, pretty much why I wanted to start biking in the first place (plus cheap petrol etc).

Most people/cops that I pass are usually good at giving space to bikers

, but I have encountered ones who will drive on the white line just to block you (perhaps jealousy is setting in?), but then you just go around the other side and give them a friendly wave as they watch

Mind you in Auckland, not only cars get crazy, I've seen bikers who get road rage and tailgate cars

REMEMBER YOU HAVE NO AIRBAG TO PROTECT IF YOU DECIDE TO KISS THE BUMPER!

Enjoy the sun and ride safe!

**samgab** · 28th November 2008, 08:15

I don't know if the LTSA link to this matter has been posted yet:
http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/roa...g/passing.html

So it says in part:

Passing on the left

You can only pass on the left when:

* there are two or more lanes on your side of the centre line and you are able to pass safely by using the left-hand lane
* you are directed to by a police officer
* the vehicle you are passing:
o has stopped, or
o is signalling a right turn, or
o is turning right.

At all other times, when you are passing, you must pass on the right.

So this means that if the cars in front of you are stopped; be it for the lights or traffic jams, or for whatever reason, you are allowed to pass them on the left or the right, if there is room and if it is safe to do so.
Also, if the car in front is still moving but is indicating right, or is slowing down to turn right but has failed to indicate you can pass them on the LEFT.

So this covers passing all the other cars that are stopped at a red light. As long as there's a gap, it's legal to pass them all and go to the front of the queue, because they're stopped.
Technically, it doesn't cover motorway splitting unless the motorway traffic has come to a complete stop, or unless you're in the same lane as the vehicle on your left. If you cross the cat-eyes to enter the lane with the vehicle on your right, then again technically, you are breaking the law.

And yes, I work for the Police, but I'm a non-sworn member. So I have no authority to issue tickets or get you off your tickets, sorry. But I know that a lot of the cops I've met are bikers themselves, and biker-friendly.

**PHATVW** · 28th November 2008, 10:20

Oh I see, thanks for that samgab!

Another dumb question though, what if on the motorway, the traffic has stopped completely, are we allowed to ride on the far left hand side of the motorway? ie. not really a lane, more like the road where people stop when broken down.

The reason I ask this is because my bike is aircooled and lane splitting during summer in rush hour traffic, the engine gets really hot and could overheat and cut out.

Btw I used to have a FXR as well! Definitely a cool bike

**bsasuper** · 28th November 2008, 16:26

Ive used the emergency lane which you are talking about and got a ticket, misuse of emergency lane.

**samgab** · 28th November 2008, 17:03

Originally Posted by bsasuper

Ive used the emergency lane which you are talking about and got a ticket, misuse of emergency lane.

Yes, unfortunately this is true. The shoulder is only for breakdowns/emergencies. If you are caught using this lane you will get ticketed.

But yeah, I'm really enjoying the FXR! And I've started seeing them around on the road. Saw one on my way home from work this morning. Isn't it weird how that happens: you buy a vehicle, and suddenly start to notice them all over the place...

**samgab** · 28th November 2008, 17:25

Oh, and several times after passing all the cars stopped at a red light on my scooter to go to the front of the queue, and moving in front of the front car, it would beep it's horn at me. This happened quite a few times. Now, on the scooter I'm leaving the lights and getting up to 50ks faster than the cars, so I don't understand what their problem is, exactly. It's like they think they're at the drivethrough and I've pushed in front of them and will get the order sooner or something.
I never get dangerously close to any of the cars, and NEVER touch them. If the gap is too small, I don't go through.

**Slyer** · 28th November 2008, 17:30

Scooter?

**samgab** · 28th November 2008, 17:33

Originally Posted by Slyer

Scooter?

Who me? Yeah. I'm talking about normal roads, not the motorway. I have a scooter too, which I used to ride all the time before I got the bike.

**Slyer** · 28th November 2008, 17:40

No you said scooter not bike.

**samgab** · 28th November 2008, 18:03

Originally Posted by Slyer

No you said scooter not bike.

Ha, yeah: The anecdote I was talking about happened a lot when I was riding the scooter. I haven't ridden the bike enough yet to do much sneaking past cars at the lights. (And traffic has been minimal whilst I've been riding it, so the queues have been very short and in those situations I just sit in the queue with the rest of the traffic. I only resort to sneaking past everyone when the queues are long.)

**Mikkel** · 28th November 2008, 23:27

Annoyingly the height of the wingmirror on your average cage matches the level of the handlebars on a sportsbike.
A motard is nice - handlebars are well clear of these and 4WDs and vans tend to have them higher than the level of you handlebars. The issue then becomes MPVs... Oh well, I guess you can't win every time.

Dunno how naughty it is - but left and right turning lanes (and bicycle lanes and sidewalks... naughty naughty I know) can be very effective in getting you to the front of that queue at the lights very quickly and effortlessly. At least compared to having to weave through a jumbled mess of people not knowing what lane they actually wanna be in.

**CookMySock** · 29th November 2008, 06:01

Originally Posted by samgab

[...] moving in front of the front car, it would beep it's horn at me. [....] It's like they think they're at the drivethrough and I've pushed in front of them and will get the order sooner or something.

haha, I think you hit the nail on the head there. Thats one of the best things about biking I reckon - toasting the traffic - stationary or moving they are real gone, real quick. Love it.

Oh yeah, and the next best thing about biking, watching cagers fume as I do it, LOL. Seriously though, biking has made me a much more patient cager. In the car I will happily sit and wait rather than pushing through - I'm not on the bike and I'll wait my turn.

Steve

**gatch** · 11th December 2008, 22:35

im a big fan of splitting, i do it all the time in the city, get a few people frowning/boyracers frothing at the mouth, most of the time tho people just accept it, chances are ill be gone before they even know the lights have changed, usually pretty safe it you keep your eyes open and dont take chances, (altho a few days ago i did exactly that and had an incident because of it.. do'h) first time in traffic, hopefully the last

**samgab** · 11th December 2008, 23:06

Did my first bout of real motorway filtering on Wednesday; 5pm, and all the way from the CBD to Massey. I wasn't sure if I would or not, but traffic was creeping along, and a dude on a bike ripped past me, so I thought what the heck... It's kinda fun when you get the hang of it

And most motorists were very courteous, moving out of the way to give extra space and whatnot. I even passed a paddy wagon. So I'll definitely do that any time I need to use the motorway during rush hours.