Posts Tagged ‘lane-splitting’

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This Is What We Face Out There

Monday, April 27th, 2026


You know, if you really have to go super fast they have racetracks for that kind of thing.

I’ve heard from a number of sources that the situation out on the streets took a definite turn during Covid. People–especially younger men–decided that with the streets nearly empty they could race at very high speeds and commit all sorts of other violations that would have been unthinkable before. The big problem is that they apparently didn’t give up these new practices when the traffic came back.

Just a week ago I was headed out Parker Road on my bike and this guy came scorching along in the merge lane on the right. It’s a more or less continuous lane, serving as an acceleration lane past intersections and deceleration lane approaching intersections. Only this guy was blasting past all the much slower traffic in the actual traffic lanes and not even slowing down approaching intersections. Imagine if you had been just pulling onto the road as he came along.

In fact, when I told Judy about this later she told me that some friends of our had been hit in exactly that situation just a few weeks ago. Though their car was badly damaged they were unhurt, which is probably why I had not heard of it sooner. But what a jerk!

On Thursday a few days ago I decided to go up to the north side of town to visit my friend John. On this one trip I witnessed a whole series of these sorts of stupid acts. Getting onto I-25 some buffoon in a hot car floored it and blasted past every other car he possibly could on the on ramp. Then a short while later, in heavy traffic moving about 30 miles an hour, some guy on a motorcycle came lane-splitting right up alongside me and whole lot of other people. Yes, Colorado allows lane filtering, when the traffic around you is at a complete stop. This was not that situation. And yes, I know this sort of lane-splitting is permitted in some places, and presumably can be done safely.

But it’s not legal here and after we worked so hard to get filtering approved it would be an incredible shame if the legislators, reviewing the results in a couple years as mandated, decide to rescind that OK because a few riders pull stunts like this guy.

Later on my trip north I spotted another guy on a bike behind me and I watched him to see what he would do but he just cruised along behind me for a pretty good ways. That was smart because, while he didn’t know it, I had his front and kept him in mind the whole way.

On my trip home I was going west on 136th to get to I-25 and was stopped at a light. Again to my surprise, a guy on a bike came right up the middle beside me to take his place at the front. A totally legal, well-executed filtering move. Good for you, fella.

Then as I went south on I-25 there were at least three different cars in three different instances that went screaming by everyone, weaving in and out of traffic with inches to spare. What is with these people? I was glad I was at least in my car, not on my bike so I would have had some protection if these antics had led to disaster.

But after a serious crash in my car in 2024, a serious crash on my bike in 2025–both totally the other guys’ fault–I really don’t want a three-peat now in 2026.

Biker Quote for Today

If it were illegal to kill insects, I’d be in the clink for three million years. — Foster Kinn

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Posted in Motorcycle legislation, motorcycle racing, Motorcycle Safety | No Comments »

CSP Seems Unclear On Filtering Law

Monday, July 14th, 2025

The revised article on the KRDO website.

In the middle of last week I saw a piece by KRDO out of Colorado Springs titled “State Patrol says confusion over new motorcycle law leading to more crashes.” This was in reference to the recent law that allows filtering–not lane-splitting–on Colorado roads. The new headline is “Law enforcement says motorcycle crashes and deaths are up across the state.”

The information KRDO got from the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) was so bad I knew immediately I had to do a blog post about it. It turns out, it was so bad that going back to the article today I found that KRDO had revised the headline and inserted a three-paragraph editor’s note pointing out the original inaccuracies and clarifying the information. Good for you, KRDO. Bad on you CSP. KRDO also extensively revised the article, which makes me wish I had copied it down at the time because now I can’t quote you the really bad information that had been given.

When I had initially mentioned to Judy what the CSP had said she just shook her head and said “The State Patrol is just rewriting the legislation the way they think it should have been written.”

Essentially, KRDO quoted the CSP as saying that confusion on the filtering law has led to more crashes. It also said people mistakenly believed that filtering was allowed on highways, when actually it only applies to city streets. That particular statement is mind-boggling in how far off it is. In fact, KRDO said in the original article that nothing in the law differentiates between highways and city streets, but CSP was saying if they see people filtering on the highway, even if traffic is at a dead stop, they will issue citations.

Here are a couple of the clarifications:

At the time, CSP stated that confusion over the law was contributing to an increase in motorcycle crashes and fatalities this year. They have since clarified that there is no data linking the law to the rise in incidents.

Additionally, CSP initially told KRDO13 that it is illegal for motorcycles to pass cars in standstill highway traffic. We sought confirmation multiple times and were assured this was correct. CSP has now clarified that under the new law, motorcycles are permitted to pass vehicles at 15 mph or less when traffic is stopped on the highway.

Now, there’s no question that some motorcyclists are using this filtering law as a justification for doing things the law does not allow. I have more than once seen riders blasting between cars at speed on the highway. If the CSP nails them I won’t shed a tear.

But dang, CSP, how can you guys enforce this law when you don’t even seem to understand it?

Biker Quote for Today

Darkness will always be looming in the background, somewhere in the distance, just around the bend. But at least we can have faith in our motorcycles to keep us grounded, to give us courage and perspective, and to light the way in the face of our demons.

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Posted in Motorcycle legislation, Motorcycle Safety | No Comments »

Filtering And Lane-Splitting In Barcelona

Thursday, October 17th, 2024

When people and vehicles share the very narrow street like this you better believe everyone is careful and nobody drives recklessly.

We just spent five days in Barcelona (Spain) and as always, I observed the traffic scene–i.e., the two-wheeled type–closely. I’ll tell you two things: No non-California city in the US is ready for this scene, and it is then a good thing that no such city will soon be experiencing this.

Barcelona streets are packed with traffic so vehicles frequently move slowly and even when they move fast they are slow by our norms. And because traffic moves so slowly, the filtering and lane-splitting are constant.

We took a cab one day. The right-hand curb lanes on busy streets are reserved for buses and taxis so those types of vehicles can make better time. Of course motorcycles use that lane a lot. And apparently they’re allowed to, either officially or unofficially.

Let me make a side note here. In Europe they tend to use the word “motorbike” and that’s actually probably a better word for them. The highly dominant two-wheeler is the step-through scooter, like the Vespas of old. There are also real motorcycles but anything over 500cc is rare. Baggers are non-existent.

But you also have plenthy of the stand-up scooters that have become popular, plus lots of power-assisted bicycles–ebikes. And of course plain old people-powered bicycles and skateboards. All of these, for our purposes, can be grouped under the term “motorbikes.”

OK, back to the narrative. I was saying we took a cab.

The one problem with taking the right-hand cab and bus lane is that both of these conveyances are prone to making stops. And when they do you can end up sitting a while before they move again.

The obvious thing to do is go around them but that means merging into the next lane and on our cab ride, as the cab would start to insinuate its way in, the motorbikes behind the cab would dart into the opening and block the cab out of the space it had created. We missed getting through red light cycles a couple times for exactly that reason.

Our cab driver stayed totally cool, showing no frustration or aggravation. I’m sure because he deals with this all day every day. And he was vigilantly watchful for these scooters and all.

How do you suppose a typical American driver is likely to respond to something like this? Rhetorical question. We know the answer.

So no, no non-California city in the US is ready for this but it’s not going to happen anywhere any time soon. In Europe motorbikes are everywhere by the thousands. Until Americans take up two-wheeled travel in those kinds of numbers that kind of scene cannot develop. And hopefully, as it will happen gradually–if it ever does–we’ll all have time to adapt to it just as gradually. Until it feels normal.

How crazy would that be?

Biker Quote for Today

Why did the motorcycle stay at home? It was two-tired.

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Posted in Motorcycle Safety, Motorcycles, Scooter | No Comments »

Filtering? I Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Filtering!

Monday, September 2nd, 2024

This illustration from the Colorado State Patrol website shows enough space between cars for a while other car. How often is that the actual case? Like never?

I was headed over to see some friends on the other side of town and the only sensible way to get there was to go up I-25 and then west on I-70. You do what you’ve got to do.

Traffic was heavy on northbound I-25, and going slowly, and what a surprise to see this guy on a motorcycle come blasting past me, lane-splitting. As I think everyone knows by now, Colorado recently legalized lane-filtering, where it is legal to pass between vehicles as long as they are at a dead stop. Lane-splitting, where you pass between moving vehicles, remains illegal. But by now it’s no secret that some riders see the legalization of filtering as giving them license to split.

One thing I noticed about this guy once he was past me was that he had only one side bag, which I wonder if was because that made him that much narrower and thus able to split lanes more safely. Whatever. I’m pretty sure he knew what he was doing was not what the law made legal.

Shortly after this guy blasted past I saw another bike come on the highway and while this guy was not as aggressive about it, mostly sticking to weaving from one lane to another and back opportunistically, I did see him do a little splitting as well.

And then, on my way home, now southbound on I-25 with heavy traffic moving slowly once again, here comes another guy splitting lanes. I guess this is just how things are these days, the proverbial give them an inch and they take a mile approach.

Let me hasten to note that I have no personal objection to lane-splitting. I just hope these guys doing this don’t screw things up for the rest of us by annoying the legislators enough that they decline to renew the filtering law when it comes up for review in three years.

On a side note, I recently saw a couple articles about how lane-splitting is now going to be legal in Minnesota. It appears that their bill is more permissive than ours, allowing bikes to split at up to 25 miles an hour while going no more than 15 miles an hour faster than the cars they are passing. But what also struck me as interesting was mention in these articles that the bill was signed by Gov. Tim Walz. I’m pretty sure a little more than a month ago most of us would have read that article and not had any idea who was governor of Minnesota. And now all of a sudden it’s, “Oh yeah, that guy.”

And another side note: I was actively studying the space between vehicles available for a bike to pass through and it just reconfirms my certainty that the idea of someone filtering while staying entirely within the lane of the vehicle they are passing is utterly absurd. Not once did I see enough room even for a scooter to get past. You have got to ride the lane divider. Those illustrations on the Colorado State Patrol website are ridiculous in that they show cars vastly smaller in proportion to the lane width than in fact is real.

Biker Quote for Today

“I have discovered biker paradise. It is called the Great Smoky Mountains.” — Foster Kinn

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Lane Splitting Vs Lane Filtering

Thursday, June 20th, 2024

Not apropos of anything, just kind of a cool shot.

Was it truly inevitable? The Colorado legislature this session passed a bill making it legal for motorcycles to filter to the front when traffic is at a standstill. Although passed and signed by the governor, lane filtering does not become legal in Colorado until August 7. But they’re doing it already.

You’ve probably seen it. And the thing is, it’s not just filtering. There are riders out there right now who are doing full-blown lane splitting even though that is not what has been legalized.

On Monday Judy and I were headed out of town to go spend a few days in the mountains. We were headed up US 285 near Conifer, a four-lane, divided highway stretch, and seemingly out of nowhere a guy on a sportbike blazed past us and proceeded to weave his way, lane-splitting, through the whole group of cars ahead of us. And he was immediately followed by two other guys doing the same.

Now, a couple things about these guys. First off, they were seriously geared up. These were not weekend bikers just running over to the bar. These were serious riders on serious sportbikes and just from the way they were riding I would not be surprised to find that they were Europeans. They didn’t look like guys just trying out this new thing, they looked like they knew exactly what they were doing.

And they were going fast. Within about a mile they were far out of sight up ahead of us. Did they even know about the change in Colorado law, or were they just riding that way because why not? We’ll never know.

But these were not the first lane-splitters I’ve seen, and I know you’ve probably seen it, too. At last month’s RMMRC meeting Roy said he had seen a guy blasting his way through traffic on Hampden. I saw someone lane splitting somewhere recently, though I don’t remember where. Lane filtering is not even legal yet and people are lane splitting. Wow.

Now, I have no problem with lane splitting. The fact is, most riders in Colorado are not even likely to filter because let’s face it, if you’re on a big Harley or some big BMW or Indian you aren’t going to have room to slip between cars, stopped or not. Heck, I slipped past a car stopped in a right turn lane one time on my Concours, which was a big bike, and my mirror clipped his. Oops. Not a good thing.

It’s only the sportbike crowd that is going to filter. Those bikes are narrow and can do it safely. And if they want to split as well, well, good luck if some cop sees you doing it. It might not be such a good idea. The point is, though, that splitting is not what was made legal, filtering is.

All I’m hoping is that these guys don’t flout the law so much that when it comes time in three years to review this lane-filtering law that the legislature reverses course. That would be very unfortunate. So maybe you guys ought to tone it down just a bit. Maybe?

Biker Quote for Today

I don’t need you, my bike is enough to drive me crazy.

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Inside The Biker Lane Splitting Discussions

Thursday, March 16th, 2023

Motorcyclists lane split in Bangkok, Thailand. Lane splitting is common practice in much of Asia and Europe. (Roland Dobbins via Wikimedia Commons)

While I don’t think anybody expects the lane splitting/filtering proposal currently in the Colorado legislature to pass, at least not this session, there continues to be discussion within the biker community of the issue. Here’s some of what is being said.

Not surprisingly, Stump, ABATE of Colorado’s legislative liaison, has been talking with legislators and others. This is from Stump:

One main concern is lane splitting with traffic moving at 40 mph. The sponsor’s main premise for lane splitting is that motorcyclists stuck in stop-and-go traffic when it’s 90+ degrees out, sitting on top of an engine making it a lot hotter, with an air cooled engine that isn’t getting any air, is both dangerous for the motorcyclist and bad for the motorcycle. But if traffic is moving at 40 mph, isn’t the rider and motorcycle getting air? I’m thinking it should be more like Utah and Arizona where traffic has to be stopped or at most traveling at 10 mph.

Another concern is that the bill specifies CSP and CDOT do the study. How about involving stakeholders such as motorcycle organizations, insurance companies, the trucking industry, and manufacturers. Virginia’s Lane filtering study invited 22 different organizations to participate and got a lot more pertinent data.

Also, the sponsor hasn’t explained the difference between lane splitting and filtering, which is something the legislators should know. Lane splitting is done primarily on freeways and filtering is done mainly on urban streets with speeds posted at less than 45 mph, filtering to the front of stopped traffic at traffic lights.

At my meeting with the bill sponsor this week, he informed me that these issues are going to be addressed. I don’t know if he plans to introduce an amendment about these concerns or just discuss them at 2nd reading. So, I’ve been addressing these concerns with 4 of my “friendly” legislators ensuring that these issues are addressed at 2nd reading, either with amendments or at least meaningful discussions.

Stump also sent around a photo with the the message, “Is this what Colorado is going to look like if lane splitting passes? (Note all the helmets too!)” That would be the photo above. And no, I seriously doubt this is what Colorado would look like. There are just a heck of a lot more motorcycle riders in Thailand than there will probably ever be here.

Deb had this to say:

Thanks for the update, Stump. Now I wonder if any/all of you saw the 9news report on this bill. The video shows a bike splitting between two cars on the highway while doing a wheelie.

Here’s the link to the video that showed yesterday. The part with the wheelie is about 1:57 in. Study may allow motorcycles to split lanes | 9news.com The reporter also made a short comment on the wheelie. The video this morning ran the part with the wheelie twice.

The segment really seems mostly pretty fair but the inclusion of that lane-splitter wheelying his way through traffic is very much over the top and does not strike me as a good journalistic thing to do. And guaranteed to make the general public strongly object to allowing this change.

So anyway, the thing is just hanging at this point. I’ll do an update when there is actual news.

Biker Quote for Today

Put vibrations in your life, marry a motorcycle rider.

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Posted in Motorcycle legislation, Motorcycle Safety | No Comments »

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