Lane Sharing Lane Splitting Essay

One afternoon an automobilist was driving his powered four-wheeled vehicle (automobile) in heavy, slow moving traffic down Highway 99 in California. Suddenly, this automobile driver noticed a man riding a powered two-wheeled vehicle (motorcycle) carefully move into the automobilist’s lane sharing lane space between the automobilist and that of another automobile in an adjacent lane. The automobile driver watched as the motorcyclist continued to cautiously drive at a speed only slightly above the general flow of traffic all the while sharing lane space with other vehicles. Shortly thereafter, this same automobilist exited Highway 99, subsequently stopped at a stop light, and encountered a similar experience to what he had just observed. For the second time, a motorcyclist shared the automobile driver’s lane, drove in between the automobilist and another car, and carefully maneuvered towards the front of the line of traffic. The automobilist had seen this practice on several other occasions, but was unsure of its legality. What this automobilist had witnessed is a practice known as lane-splitting. According to CA.gov DMV Handbook: Motorcycle, “The term lane-splitting, also known as lane sharing, filtering, or white-lining refers to the process of a motorcyclist riding between lanes of stopped or slower-moving traffic or moving between lanes to the front of traffic stopped at a traffic light” (19-20). As Victoria Alvarez explains in her AB 51 Bill Analysis, the legality of the practice of sharing lanes with automobilists in the state of California is confusing because there is nothing in the codes books declaring the practice to be legal or

While there are automobilists (and even some motorcyclists) who may believe that the practice of lane-splitting should be illegal, the practice of lane-splitting, in fact, should be legalized, codified, and regulated in