An important notice for Colorado drivers: Starting in August motorcycles will be allowed to pass stopped vehicles by squeezing between lanes of traffic – a practice called lane filtering.
Motorcyclists ride in a single file between traffic lanes June 21 in Caracas, Venezuela. Colorado just joined California, Utah, Montana and Arizona in allowing the traffic skipping practice. Motorcyclists can only lane split when traffic is stopped and they drive 15 miles per hour or slower. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
“Look twice, save a life,” will be more important than ever as drivers get used to the possibility of a motorcycle driving between lanes when all the other vehicles on the road are stuck in traffic or stopped for a red light.
Senate Bill 79 is not without risk. Motorcyclists are already vulnerable on the roadways (accounting for almost 15% of the road deaths but less than 1% of all miles traveled in the U.S.), and data from California indicates lane splitting (when traffic is moving) or filtering (when traffic is stopped) does cause crashes, just less severe ones compared to most other motorcycle crashes.
A 2015 California study, which was cited by the bill sponsors in their legislative declaration, concluded that legal lane splitting is no less safe than riding a motorcycle in general. And another study in California found that after the state issued safety tips for lane splitting, dangerous rear-end collisions with motorcyclists decreased by 30%.
However, of almost 6,000 motorcycle crashes studied in a 14-month span, 997 were attributed to lane splitting or 17%. We’re confused about how the report didn’t spark conversations about stopping the practice in California to prevent 1,000 extra motorcycle crashes a year.
Those crashes, while found to be less dangerous than full-speed collisions at intersections, represent injuries, property damage, and certainly during the 1.2% or 11 crashes that were fatal, emotional trauma for the other drivers involved.
Colorado also does not require helmets for riders over 18 and of the 148 motorcycle fatalities in 2022, 75 were riders not wearing helmets, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
An estimated 65% of riders wear helmets, CDOT reports.
The confluence of Colorado’s libertarian take on helmets and lane filtering may prove fatal for some unfortunate riders.
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The goal of legalizing lane splitting in Colorado is to give motorcycles a small incentive (skipping stopped traffic) for driving what is often a much more fuel–efficient choice than a car or truck. The legislative declaration with Senate Bill 79 also claims lane splitting will help reduce traffic congestion.
Those benefits do not seem to outweigh the risk. We certainly wish the bill included funding for a public safety campaign notifying motorists of the change and to look twice before switching lanes in traffic. The campaign could also urge motorcycle riders to use caution, wear helmets and be prepared to stop while lane filtering.
The bill signed by Gov. Jared Polis does require the state to collect robust data to see if lane filtering is indeed as safe as some data has shown from Oregon and Australia.
We hope the data demanded by the bill will show the same thing after three years of implementation. It’d be tragic if the data were to show a number of unnecessary and avoidable crashes start occurring when motorcycles pass cars stuck in traffic in the same lane.
The bill will automatically expire in September 2027 allowing lawmakers to review data collected to determine if lane filtering is a good idea for Colorado.
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