When it comes to states that are friendly to motorcyclists, we can add Arizona to the list, as the Grand Canyon State has passed a law that makes it legal to lane-filter on a motorcycle.
The states that motorcyclists can pass between stopped vehicles, at a speed no faster than 15 mph, and only on roads with speed limits below 45mph.
At the end of Oregon’s failure to pass a lane-sharing law, we asked those behind the effort to share their tips and commentary about the matter, so that those in other states could benefit from their successes, and learn from their failures. -JB
After the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed Oregon Senate Bill 574 by a healthy margin, Oregon Governor Kate Brown dashed the hopes of motorcyclists in the Beaver State by vetoing the bill.
Citing her concern over safety and enforcement for non-compliance with the law’s provisions, Brown sent the law back to the legislative branch unsigned and denied.
Episode 64 of the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast is out with another “weekly” episode, for your two-wheeled listening pleasure.
In this episode, we talk about how the Oregon legislature just just passed a lane-sharing law in the Beaver State, though we are sad to hear that the bill has just today been vetoed by Oregon Governor Kate Brown.
This will surely be a topic of discussion when we record Episode 65 of the Brap Talk motorcycle podcast.
Today was a big day for motorcyclists traveling in Oregon, as the Oregon Legislative Assembly has now passed Oregon Senate Bill 574, which allows lane-sharing under certain conditions on Oregonian highways.
On May 5th, the lane-sharing bill passed the Oregon Senate by a vote of 18 to 6; and now today (May 17th), the Oregon House of Representatives approved the bill with a vote of 42 to 14.
The lane-sharing bill now goes to Governor Kate Brown for signing, and if signed, it will go into effect later this year.
The State of Oregon has gotten one step closer to passing its lane-sharing bill, Oregon Senate Bill 574.
We say this because SB 574 passed a vote in the Joint Transportation Committee on April 1st (7 to 4), and now is ready for a vote on the Senate floor.
For those who don’t remember, SB 574 proposes legalizing lane sharing for motorcycles in Oregon when they are riding on a highway with a speed limit of 50 mph or higher; the flow of traffic is 10 mph or slower; and so long as the motorcyclist does not go faster than 10 mph than the traffic around them.
In the State of Montana, Senate Bill 9 was just signed into law, and if you are a motorcyclist, that should mean something to you because it means that lane-filtering is now legal in the Big Sky State.
Montana becomes the third state to approve of the practice, following California and Utah, with many other states contemplating similar laws of their own.
The Beaver State is set to consider a law on lane sharing in 2021, as Oregon Senate Bill 574 aims to legalize the practice, with a number of caveats coming from the proposed law.
Two months ago we wrote to you about efforts underway to legalize basic lane-splitting in Oregon. While the bill has considerable support in the Oregon State Legislature, HB2314 is stuck in the joint transportation committee.
In order to get HB2314 the vote that it deserves, the motorcycling public of the Pacific Northwest needs to reach out to the members of the committee leadership as well as Speaker of the House Tina Kotek.
Thankfully, the folks behind the Oregonian lane-splitting bill have made it very easy for us to reach our representatives, so that they can see the support the motorcycle community has for this bill.
Mark this as a win for those in favor of seeing lane-splitting becoming legal in the United States as the State of Utah has just passed a law that makes it legal to filter lanes in the Beehive State.
Signed into law on March 21st, the law (HB 149) doesn’t provide for full-out lane-splitting in Utah, but it does make it legal for a motorcyclist to filter through traffic when the automobile traffic is stopped and where the speed limit is 45 mph or slower.
This effectively means that lane-splitting won’t be legal for Utah riders on the freeway, and the pragmatic result of the bill is that it will allow motorcyclists to move through stopped urban traffic during rush hour commutes.
Great efforts are underway in the State of Oregon to legalize lane splitting, and now we see Oregon’s lane-splitting law moving to the next phase of its legislative process.
With testimony already heard in the Joint Committee on Transportation, the time is now for Oregonians to contact their state representatives about House Bill 2314.