A bill authorizing the California Highway Patrol to set hard guidelines for “lane splitting,” motorcycles making way between lanes of traffic, passed through the state assembly with a 69-0 vote. Once Governor Jerry Brown signs it, which is expected, CA will be the first state with formally legal lane splitting. 
 
 
 
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 While never explicitly legal or illegal, California cops and motorcyclists have maintained a tacit understanding about lane splitting– it’s allowed, within reason. Putter through gridlocked cars and they won’t raise an eyebrow. Bash somebody’s side-mirror off at full noise and the cops might decide to come after you. 
 
 But as the LA Times reports, the public started making noise when the CHP tried to publish “safe strategies on the practice.” Seems like the main complaint was against the idea of the police creating laws, but regardless, the bill “AB 51” has now been kicked around since December of 2014 regarding the regulation of lane splitting. 
 
 
 
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 The bill supposedly started out specifying that a biker could split lanes “only when a motorcycle was moving no more than 15 miles per hour faster than the traffic around it, and it prohibited the practice at speeds above 50 mph” but this language was shot down my motorcycle enthusiast groups. As it stands, the bill “provides a basic definition of ‘lane’ and leaves the rest to the CHP,” the LA Times explains. 
 
 Once the bill is passed into law, which local news outlets seem to think is likely, we’ll have to wait and see how specific the CHP decides to be with their guidelines. As far as I’ve observed in a few months of living in Los Angeles, the cops are pretty blasé about the practice as long as the biker doesn’t have their cell phone out or engine pegged on the rev limiter (I’ve seen both.) 
 
 I will also say that splitting lanes isn’t for everyone. The canyons of swaying cars can be pretty intimidating, even on a bike as tall as my Yamaha WR. But it definitely makes a motorized two-wheeler the second fastest way around the city in rush hour by a long shot. ||||| Motorcycles splitting lanes on California roads is technically neither legal nor illegal, and some riders said it’s necessary. 
 
 "We do it to be safe ourselves, especially with all the guys on the cellphones not paying attention,” said Matt Hemworth, who started riding motorcycles a few years ago. 
 
 "We have to lane split because sometimes our motorcycles overheat. That's what it's built for is to go and not stand still in traffic like cars,” motorcyclist Greg Tate said. 
 
 The California Assembly unanimously green-lighted AB 51 on Thursday. The bill would give the California Highway Patrol the authority to establish parameters for safe lane splitting, like speed limits while passing between cars. 
 
 Now, it's headed to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk. 
 
 "We recognize there are people who do it safely and some who don't, so anything to make our roads safer is what Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) strongly believes,” said Tomasa Dueñas, Chief of Staff for Quirk, who helped work on the bill. “We should do something that takes us in that direction.” 
 
 Lane splitting is illegal in every state except California, and AB 51 would make California the first state to create formal guidelines about lane splitting. 
 
 “It would be good to have some kind of structure,” said Larry Lovisone, who has been riding for 50 years. “Every time I'm stopped by CHP, they have a different idea of lane splitting.” 
 
 CHP tried to post guidelines on its website in 2013, but a lone citizen from Sacramento put the brakes on it. 
 
 “Someone filed a complaint,” Dueñas said. “Because of that complaint, everything had to be scratched. The guidelines had to be removed from their website." 
 
 The bill does not spell out what conditions CHP should consider. But riders hope if signed, it will lead to new guidelines that give them the green light to continue to split safely. 
 
 “If we can cut between the cars to keep us safer, I say go for it,” Hemsworth said. “If the law is meant to protect the rider, I say go for it.” ||||| SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California may become the first state to explicitly allow motorcycles to weave between stalled cars in traffic. 
 
 The Assembly on Thursday approved legislation permitting lane-splitting. 
 
 Bikers who navigate congested roads by driving through the middle of lanes are in a legal gray area in California, though law enforcement has permitted the practice. Other states explicitly ban lane-splitting. 
 
 Assemblymen Bill Quirk of Hayward and Tom Lackey of Palmdale say the practice should be legal so the state can offer safety guidance. 
 
 Their bill, AB51, says motorcycles must drive below 50 miles an hour when splitting lanes. 
 
 It is supported by law enforcement groups. The American Motorcyclist Association opposes AB51 in favor of less strict rules. 
 
 The bill heads to the Senate after passing on a 53 to 11 vote, without debate. ||||| By Graham Johnson 
 
 A bill in the state Legislature would legalize what's known as "lane-splitting" under certain circumstances. 
 
 
 
 Only California allows it now. 
 
 
 
 The Washington State Senate Transportation Committee considered a bill on Tuesday to allow motorcyclists to lane-split, as long as they keep their speeds below 35 miles per hour and go no more than 10 mph above the flow of traffic. 
 
 
 
 Any vehicle driver who intentionally blocks a motorcycle from riding between lanes would be guilty of a traffic infraction. 
 
 
 
 Advocates say it would cut down on dangerous front- and rear-end crashes involving motorcycles. 
 
 
 
 "We think it's a terrible idea," Washington State Patrol spokesman Bob Calkins wrote to KIRO 7. "Washington drivers are not used to looking for motorcycles ?coming up between the lanes. We also have no way to enforce. How would we catch up to a violator?" 
 
 
 
 Several drivers in Seattle were also skeptical and raised concerns about safety. 
 
 
 
 One said it "seemed like a recipe for road rage." 
 
 
 
 University of California Berkeley researchers found if motorcyclists split lanes while going slightly faster than the speed of traffic, they're no more likely to get in an accident than at any other time. 
 
 
 
 But if they go faster than 10 miles per hour above the flow, it's a lot more dangerous. 
 
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– Lane-splitting—where motorcycles pass other cars in traffic by cruising in between—might soon be legal in at least one state: California. The state's Assembly unanimously passed a bill Thursday giving the California Highway Patrol authority to create guidelines for the practice, reports the Los Angeles Times. The bill, which would make California the first state to give the official OK to lane-splitting, has kept things vague, simply defining what a "lane" is and directing the CHP to fill in the blanks. The bill's original wording would've allowed the practice only if a motorcycle was going less than 50mph and not more than 15mph faster than traffic, but the specifics were later removed before passage. While critics say lane-splitting is dangerous for all involved, advocates cite several reasons for why zipping between cars is desirable: It saves fuel for bikers, cuts down on traffic congestion, and even keeps motorcycles from overheating, as the bikes aren't designed to sit in traffic, one biker tells KCRA. "It definitely makes a motorized two-wheeler the second fastest way around the city in rush hour by a long shot," Andrew Collins writes for Jalopnik. And it could even spare motorcyclists from injury: NJ.com says motorcycle groups and a University of California at Berkeley study point out that stop-and-go traffic can be dangerous for bikers because drivers in big cars may not spot them.