NH: lane splitting bill (HB1308) - going to house comittee

[bagodoosh]

house bill 1308 has been drafted in NH that will allow motorcycles to overtake a vehicle or travel between lanes of traffic if the vehicles are stopped or traveling less than 10mph. bill status shows it heading to the transportation committee. public hearing is held on Tue Mar 1st, 10AM.

i'm in favor. however i think it has a slim chance of being adopted.
your thoughts?

[Howie]

Fingers crossed.

[hbliam]

Only allowed to split when the vehicles are stopped or going less then 10 MPH? I guess that's progress. Lame but better then nothing.

[koko64]

That just came through in my state down here. Stopped traffic or under 30kmph is the margin iirc and it's been titled "Lane filtering" as distinct from lane splitting which is still illegal.

[bagodoosh]

i'm ok with using a different term to differentiate the low-speed practice.
berkeley university has done a study that found the practice can be safe up to 50mph if the speed differential is less than 15mph. but that's in CA where it's been common practice. one could argue that the drivers there are used to it.

i'm not for setting speed limits. it should be up to the riders to use their judgement (i.e. helmets). personally i would not be comfortable, if the bill passes, zipping by cars at hi speed until said cars are used to bikes zipping by at hi speed.

any opposition other than rider safety?

[OT]

  Don't take this the wrong way, but having driven in NH a fair bit over the past few years, I have to wonder what your elected officials do with their time.

1) I wouldn't split lanes on any highway within 100 miles of (a) New England (driver)
2) Other than rush-hour around Nashua and about 2-miles along Rt. 4 north of Pease, there aren't more than 50 cars on the road, anywhere

[koko64]

 

[ducpainter]

Not any more to say about this without crossing the politics line.