Lane filtering might become legal....

[LePhillou]

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As with anything else involving riding in traffic... you take your own risks. If you misjudge the space and end up gouging a door or knocking a mirror off, well... just like any other fender bender... it's your problem.

RTI actually sums up the need for education and awareness between drivers and riders in the statement on their website:

"– If pursued, we will work with the city on an advanced signage/messaging campaign along the proposed corridors to alert drivers of the upcoming change. Ideally, this messaging campaign will have a 6-8 month lead in time prior to the launch of the pilot

– RTI will not support the initiative unless an active messaging campaign is deployed well in advance, additionally, we will work with media partners to get the message out to riders about the right & wrong way to perform the activity if and when the pilot is approved"

At the end of the day, no amount of education, training or resources on proper filtering tactics will fix bad judgement, ego, or just plain stupidity in either camp. The good thing is, if/when collisions occur, the research suggests that the risk of serious injury or death is significantly reduced (in slow speed filtering... not ridiculous high speed lane splitting).

But it's a new type of manoeuvre for most riders. The very few times i did single track i realized how narrow a motorcycle is... next up was following cyclists on streets with street parking that leave enough space to ride on the 1/3rd of lane left, i can pretty much fit most places a cyclist would go...moto gymkhana also helped build some more confidence in slow speed riding.

but for people who don't ride in those conditions often... the proper judgement might not be there. The messaging campaign is great, but the training aspect of it is lacking. Yes it will be included in the new curriculum but the existing riders will just have to "wing it"?

 

[nobbie48]

Do people even read on this forum??? Jesus.
The post by RTI clearly states what the video was made to do (to demonstrate motorcycle size and mitigation of traffic in general, NOT specifically lane filtering) AND the video was apparently instrument in actually getting to where they are now in terms of

1) increase in motorcycle parking spots / reinforcement of ticketing cars in these spots

2) allowing motorcycles to use more reserved lanes

And yes, hopefully
3) slow filtering at lights on certain streets as a pilot project.

People just love complaining about **** they didn’t even read properly. Put some effort into something once in a while.


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All a pipe dream. Cars outnumber bikes 100:1. Who are the politicals going to cater to?

Unless you can fit 100 bikes in the same space as one car they'll give the space to the car. Your only hope is spaces not usable to a car.

P.S. Don't filter or split without a GoPro.

 

[Acadian1974]

All a pipe dream. Cars outnumber bikes 100:1. Who are the politicals going to cater to?

Unless you can fit 100 bikes in the same space as one car they'll give the space to the car. Your only hope is spaces not usable to a car.

P.S. Don't filter or split without a GoPro.

Yeah, I guess that makes sense, the city totally privileges cars over everything else.

I mean... it's not like bicycle lane infrastructure development has outpaced road expansion by 60% in the past 5 years, or like the city already has a 30% expansion target for cycling lanes in the next 3, or like the city has closed off a major downtown corridor to all non bike/pedestrian/transit traffic... hey, wait a minute...

 

[Nevo]

Its refreshing to see RTI and the City of Toronto working on something like this, despite it not being able to overwrite provincial and hta laws and regulations...

I'll continue to look at this as a grey area as I filter and split regardless.

If filtering and splitting would become legal legal... that would be excellent.

 

[PrivatePilot]

I'll continue to look at this as a grey area as I filter and split regardlest.

Been riding just over a month and splitting already, huh?

No grey area about it. Both are illegal. The latter is dangerous and can and probably will fetch you a ticket some day, potentially one that’ll end your 2 wheel insurability.

 

[iblastoff]

Been riding just over a month and splitting already, huh?

No grey area about it. Both are illegal. The latter is dangerous and can and probably will fetch you a ticket some day, potentially one that’ll end your 2 wheel insurability.

sigh. if not cars, its overconfident beginner morons who will ruin it for everyone else.

 

[GreyGhost]

Its refreshing to see RTI and the City of Toronto working on something like this, despite it not being able to overwrite provincial and hta laws and regulations...

I'll continue to look at this as a grey area as I filter and split regardless.

If filtering and splitting would become legal legal... that would be excellent.

It's not legal at all. Period. Full stop.

There was a forum member on here that caught a 172 ticket for filtering or splitting (I can't remember which) and sold his bike to pay for the ticket. AFAIK he never came back. It's ashame, he seemed like a decent guy.

EDIT:
G4getmoney was the poor soul that lost all his money.

 

[Low rider]

Its refreshing to see RTI and the City of Toronto working on something like this, despite it not being able to overwrite provincial and hta laws and regulations...

I'll continue to look at this as a grey area as I filter and split regardless.

If filtering and splitting would become legal legal... that would be excellent.

There is no GREY area.
It is illegal now. End of sentence

 

[Riceburner]

Unless you are talking about riding in the lane with parked cars. Filtering and splitting between moving or active lanes is illegal.

 

[PrivatePilot]

There was a forum member on here that caught a 172 ticket for filtering or splitting (I can't remember which) and sold his bike to pay for the ticket. AFAIK he never came back. It's ashame, he seemed like a decent guy.

Yeah, now that you mention it, I remember that.

Nevo, may want to brush up on 172 if you're not familiar with it. It'll ruin your day...and splitting especially will get you one in a heartbeat - the OPP has zero sense of humour for motorcycles caught splitting in traffic.

Not to mention that as a beginner rider you're putting yourself in all sorts of harms way by doing it as you do not yet have the skills honed well enough to avoid a bad situation that is inevitably going to happen to you one day.

[video=youtube;kD0bIrR0KyE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD0bIrR0KyE[/video]

 

[frasermanx]

Will the insurance companies ask you if you are going to filter through traffic? I've been doing it for 50 more years without incident at least police incident

Sent from my A1-810 using GTAMotorcycle.com mobile app

 

[slowbird]

I've been seeing TONS of lane splitting this season. Way more than I'm used to seeing. Some of them obvious new riders, and all of them going WAAAAY too fast to be doing it safely.

In hot hot weather in stop and go traffic on the highways I will occasionally filter down past a few cars when the traffic comes to a halt. I always get a blast from a Large truck horn or a honk from a cager for it but a safe filter here and there I don't see a problem with.

That video with the truck door opening up is a new one. That's something extra to watch for I wouldn't have thought. Someone opening up their car door in traffic to dump their coffee or Huck-a-loogie.

 

[PrivatePilot]

That video with the truck door opening up is a new one. That's something extra to watch for I wouldn't have thought. Someone opening up their car door in traffic to dump their coffee or Huck-a-loogie.

Or just a vigilante cager who wants to "teach a lesson" to a motorcyclist who they figure is butting in line.

This is the biggest scenario I see happening here if even filtering was made legal, given our already terrible drivers in this province.

 

[iblastoff]

but for people who don't ride in those conditions often... the proper judgement might not be there. The messaging campaign is great, but the training aspect of it is lacking. Yes it will be included in the new curriculum but the existing riders will just have to "wing it"?

yep probably. i mean we somehow expect bicyclists of all ages to know and obey the rules of the road, despite zero training or mandatory classes or anything. its silly, really.

 

[Roadghost]

Why NOT filtering is not a good idea.

[video=youtube;hEDKM2XIuKc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEDKM2XIuKc[/video]

 

[Roadghost]

Probably a hundred like this.

[video=youtube;jivr3xlXHRY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jivr3xlXHRY&t=108s[/video]
​

 

[Baggsy]

Why NOT filtering is not a good idea.

[video=youtube;hEDKM2XIuKc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEDKM2XIuKc[/video]

First couple seem to be from Britain and motorcycles getting hit when first in line at a stop which filtering/splitting would do nothing for.

 

[Wingboy]

"I didn't see you".That is the reason i put Hyper-Lites" on my little 250.Not legal,but i haven't had a problem yet.
[video=youtube;j6Z6IdzqWIw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=j6Z6IdzqWIw[/video]

 

[Riceburner]

The bike I run now had those put on by a PO.

 

[Nevo]

Looks like I got some replies and some research about how long I've been riding. Excellent.

Should make it more interesting.

For starters, lets get the ball rolling.

If it is indeed illegal, why does the MTO officially state its not recommended rather then it being legal or illegal?

Furthermore, During the M1 examination, there is a question that comes up (I don't remember exactly how it was worded) however it asks you what you'd do in a situation if a vehicle is in front of you and another vehicle is coming in faster then you are comfortable with? The answer is that you would be expected to move forward and share the lane with the vehicle in-front of you, hence filtering.

I have done quite a lot of research on the matter and I've even spoken to a few different officers in various departments and the conclusion is that it comes down to the officer's knowledge of the law, if they choose to charge you with an offense and what ultimately happened, was it safe? Did it look safe? Were you in control of your vehicle? Was the officer is a good mood or bad? How the conversation took place, were both parties having a good time or was one rude?

In other words, you are looking at the following charges should the officer have evidence to back them up:

Failure to maintain lane.
Improper signaling.
Stunt Driving.
Careless Driving.
Reckless Driving.
Racing.

I may have missed some possible charges or violations.

If filtering or splitting is done right, nobody is put in harms way, same as if you are speeding.

I have had people change lanes last second, I have had people purposely try to block me from passing them.

Especially since I drive 140KM every-day and I've already put 6000KM+ on my R3... I only wish I had a camera to record this.

Its obvious that we live in a country where people do not know how to drive let alone feel that they should somehow punish you for getting ahead of them.

Many will know where I'm coming from and what I'm talking about, regardless what vehicle you or the road-warrior drives.

The moral of the story is that people don't like it when you pass them for whatever reason and they will try to block you, they will try to accelerate and not let you change lanes... etc

I have an European mentality, I try not to block someone from passing me, I do my best to let people go around, I don't block the left lane, I signal always and I understand what it means to drive.

Please, feel free to continue the conversation.

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