Colorado Edges Toward Allowing Lane Filtering
Larry Montgomery, ABATE’s state rep, awaits his turn to speak at the hearing.
A bill (SB24-079) to allow lane filtering by motorcycles when traffic stopped was passed out of House committee Tuesday and will now go to the floor. Let me back up, though, before I go forward.
I reported on this bill passing the Senate committee in February but I had been oblivious to later events. The situation is that apparently I depend too much on Stump, the ABATE of Colorado legislative liaison, to keep me up to date on these things. I assumed Stump would keep us advised on the progress of the bill but I guess maybe his main focus is on getting people to come in support of bills when they come up for hearings.
What that means in this case is that while I reported that the Senate committee OKed it on February 7, I did not know that on February 13 the entire Senate passed it, sending it over to the House. Oops. Big omission.
So it came to committee hearing in the House Tuesday, March 12, where it was passed on an 8-3 vote, sending it to the House as a whole. Its fate on the House floor is beyond my ken. I have no idea how the other members feel about this. But this time I’ll be watching and when it gets scheduled for floor debate I plan to be there to hear what is said.
In Tuesday’s hearing the list of witnesses wishing to speak pro or con was largely the same as in the Senate hearing. Several Colorado law enforcement agencies expressed their strong opposition, as did one fellow who is both a rider coach and an accident investigator. ABATE of Colorado maintained its neutrality, although State Rep Larry Montgomery, in his remarks, seemed to me to be leaning pro in that he said ABATE sees both sides but ABATE is a motorcyclist rights organization that strongly adheres to the philosophy that the rider should be able to choose. You can’t legally choose to filter if filtering is not legal.
Speaking in favor again were Nick Sands, representing the American Motorcyclist Association, and other individuals, including Tiger Chandler, representing the Coalition of Independent Riders and the Colorado Confederation of Clubs.
Several of the representatives expressed concern and two indicated they will seek to have amendments made on the House floor to address their concerns.
In the most forceful statements offered, the rider coach/accident investigator, Ed Shoenhite argued that Colorado motorcyclists are more privileged than they deserve or need to be and that they’re doing a “terrible job of keeping themselves alive.” He said that making helmets mandatory would do more than anything else to cut motorcycle fatalities in the state.
Countering such statements in their summation, one of the bill’s sponsors, Javier Mabrey, pointed out that no one in the opposition had pointed to any data from other states where filtering is allowed that show an increase in crashes or fatalities. In fact, most such data show a decrease in these incidents.
So now we’ll see what the House as a whole does, and then, if it passes, whether the governor will sign it. Neither is a certainty.
Biker Quote for Today
“It’s about the time I was riding my motorcycle, going down a mountain road at 150 miles an hour, playing my guitar.” — Arlo Guthrie
Tags: ABATE of Colorado, American Motorcyclist Association, Coalition of Independent Riders, Colorado Confederation of Clubs
