Senator John Carona of Dallas, Texas has introduced Senate Bill 506 to the Texas State Senate that would allow motorcyclists to lane-split through traffic. This would make Texas the only other state besides California to allow lane-splitting.
The bill proposes some strict guidelines to balance the public safety and traffic flow advantages:
The operator and the passenger have to be wearing helmets. The operator has to operate the motorcycle not more than 5 miles-an-hour faster than the rest of traffic is going. Traffic can’t be going over 20 miles-an-hour and it can’t be done in a school crossing zone or somewhere where the speed limit is less than 20 miles-an-hour.
These regulations are more clear and precise than the California legislations which states that a motorcyclist must simply be riding prudently and safely (something that is often left to the discretion of the police officer). If you live and ride in Texas and have an opinion on this bill, now is the time to let your legislators know.
Source: The Kneeslidder; Photo: eschipul / Creative Commons – Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic
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