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
On December 17th, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) raided with armed tactical agents the offices of Ducati North America in Mountain View, California.
Though only a handful of employees were in the Mountain View office because of COVID restrictions during the time of the raid, it is being reported that roughly 30 agents stormed the building with a search warrant in hand.
An account of this happening was posted by a Ducati North America employee to the Bay Area Riders Forum, with RoadRacing World subsequently publishing the news.
Andrea Iannone has lost his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against his suspension for failing a drug test.
The CAS ruled that Iannone had failed to prove that he had ingested drostanolone, the banned substance that had appeared in the urine sample taken from him after the Sepang race, as a result of eating contaminated meat.
Both Iannone and the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) had appealed against the 18-month suspension imposed by the FIM’s International Disciplinary Court (CDI).
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.
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is set to consider a bill that would legalize the practice of lane splitting by motorcyclists.
Accordingly, House Bill 2314 aims to allow motorcyclists and moped riders the ability to ride between vehicles in traffic, under certain sensible conditions.
HB 2314 builds upon the failures of previous attempts to pass lane splitting in the State of Oregon, and there are some important distinctions in this bill that set it apart from previous attempts.
As regular readers of Asphalt & Rubber surely know by now, legalizing lane splitting in Oregon will help reduce traffic congestion, help make motorcyclists safer on the road, and help lower the amount of pollution from transportation.
The future of MV Agusta has hinged on a crucial court decision for the past five months now – one that would allow the Italian motorcycle brand to restructure its debt, thus reducing its financial liabilities and freeing up a greater portion of its cash flow for continued production.
News comes today from Varese, Italy that a local court has approved MV Agusta’s new business plan, and allowed the motorcycle manufacturer to restructure its debts with creditors and suppliers.
This is positive news for MV Agusta, and it sets in motion a number of possibilities for the Italian brand, namely closing its investment deal with Black Ocean, an Anglo-Russian private equity firm.
Legalizing lane-splitting in Washington State just got a step closer to reality, as the State Senate of the Washington State Legislature has passed a bill that would allow lane-splitting under very specific circumstances.
Senate Bill 5378 (SB 5378) would allow lane-splitting only during slow traffic conditions – up to 10mph faster than the flow of traffic, but no faster than 25 mph – and only on numbered highways that have a median and multiple lanes of traffic in each direction.
The bill passed the senate with 32 “yea” votes from both Republicans and Democrats, while the 17 “nay” votes came solely from Democrat members.
Oregon once again is trying to join the 21st century when it comes to pragmatic transportation laws, and as such State Senator Jeff Kruse (R-Roseburg) has re-introduced a lane-splitting law to the Oregon legislature, with the hopes that it will get voted on later this year.
That might be a tall order to ask from the Oregon legislature though, since the proposed lane-splitting law is no different from the one that Oregon shot down back in 2015.
Both proposals aimed to make lane-splitting legal under very stringent conditions: only on roads where the posted speed limit is 50mph or more, only when traffic is traveling 10mph or slower, and only at a rate of no more than 20mph.
Things keep getting worse motorcycle helmet startup Skully, as its production partner Flextronics has filed suit for money and materials allegedly owed it.
According to court documents, Flextronics is demanding payment of roughly $2 million dollars – $505,703 in past-due bills, $514,409 in unpaid bills, and another $1.5 million in what Flextronics calls “materials and inventory related to the Skully project.”
This lawsuit is the second legal action taken against Skully since the company laid off its workforce and shut its doors for lack of funding.
It finally happened, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 51 into law, making California the first state to put lane-splitting on its books.
Lane-splitting has always been legal of course (despite what other headlines might suggest), though was legal only by a technical loophole in the California Vehicle Code (CVC).
The passage of AB 51 now formally adds lane-splitting as a condoned practice by the CVC; and more importantly, it expressly allows government agencies, like the California Highway Patrol, to create and teach best-practice guidelines.
There is good news for those following California Assembly Bill 51 (AB 51), which would formally codify lane-splitting as legal under the California Vehicle Code and empower state agencies to develop safety guidelines for its practice.
That news is that the California State Assembly yesterday concurred with the California State Senate on the most recent wording of AB 51 (AB 51 had been changed by the State Senate, dropping the provisions about maximum speed and traffic speed deltas for when lane-splitting was permitted).
The State Assembly’s vote yesterday was needed in order to create a concurrence on the same language of the bill between the two legislative bodies. With the Assembly’s unanimous vote, AB 51 now goes to California Governor Jerry Brown for his signature, the last step before making lane-splitting a law.
Gov. Brown is expected to sign AB 51, especially since both the State Assembly and State Senate had unanimously passed the codification of lane-splitting.
California is now just a single signature away from being the first state in the United States of America that expressly allows lane-splitting for motorcyclists. Booyah!