CA AB 51 Update

[greenwald]

WARNING: This is simply information about the status of California's efforts to legalize lane splitting. As a member of MoSAC (Motorcycle Safety Advisory Committee), we peruse such pending efforts to better monitor and understand where motorcycle laws are headed.

For those who already thought that: a. it was legal, b. that the earth is flat, c. that Elvis is still alive and d. that DB Cooper is actually Sasquatch, read no further. Thank you.

The original Assembly Bill to legalize lane splitting, introduced back in 2013, failed in committee vote.

Assembly Bill 51 is currently in re-draft in California's Senate Transportation Committee, and might actually survive to be debated and voted on in late 2016 or early 2017.

Marc Cook, long-time respected Editor-in Chief for MOTOR CYCLIST Magazine (located in Southern California!), recently published an excellent editorial on the subject (Sept., 2016 issue), which you might find enlightening. Suggested reading.

The End.

 

[Omega Man]

Previous thread- http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread...ne-Splitting-Is-NOT-Legal&highlight=splitting

om

 

[lkraus]

WARNING: This is simply information about the status of California's efforts to legalize lane splitting. As a member of MoSAC (Motorcycle Safety Advisory Committee), we peruse such pending efforts to better monitor and understand where motorcycle laws are headed.

For those who already thought that: a. it was legal, b. that the earth is flat, c. that Elvis is still alive and d. that DB Cooper is actually Sasquatch, read no further. Thank you.

The original Assembly Bill to legalize lane splitting, introduced back in 2013, failed in committee vote.

Assembly Bill 51 is currently in re-draft in California's Senate Transportation Committee, and might actually survive to be debated and voted on in late 2016 or early 2017.

Marc Cook, long-time respected Editor-in Chief for MOTOR CYCLIST Magazine (located in Southern California!), recently published an excellent editorial on the subject (Sept., 2016 issue), which you might find enlightening. Suggested reading.

The End.

https://legiscan.com/CA/bill/AB51/2015
AB51 was passed by the California Senate on August 4, 2016.
AB51 was passed by the California Assembly on August 19, 2016.
The Sacramento Bee reported that the Governor signed it into law the same day.

Have not seen Mark Cooks editorial, but to appear in the September issue, usually delivered to subscribers in early August, it would have to have been written in July.

The bill itself, as passed, does not amount to much:
SECTION 1. Section 21658.1 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
21658.1. (a) For the purposes of this section, “lane splitting” means driving a motorcycle, as defined in Section 400, that has two wheels in contact with the ground, between rows of stopped or moving vehicles in the same lane, including on both divided and undivided streets, roads, or highways.
(b) The Department of the California Highway Patrol may develop educational guidelines relating to lane splitting in a manner that would ensure the safety of the motorcyclist and the drivers and passengers of the surrounding vehicles.
(c) In developing guidelines pursuant to this section, the department shall consult with agencies and organizations with an interest in road safety and motorcyclist behavior, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(1) The Department of Motor Vehicles.
(2) The Department of Transportation.
(3) The Office of Traffic Safety.
(4) A motorcycle organization focused on motorcyclist safety.

It defines lane-splitting, and allows (but does not require) CHP to develop educational guidelines for safe lane-splitting after consulting with other interested parties.
That's all AB 51 did.

As of today the CHP website still says this:
Lane Splitting:
Information regarding "lane splitting general guidelines" is no longer available. A petitioner complained to the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL) that there was no formal rulemaking process for the guidelines, and raised other objections. The CHP discussed the issue with OAL and chose not to issue, use, or enforce the guidelines and thus, removed them from the website.

The underlying purpose of the guidelines was to provide common-sense traffic safety information. California law does not allow or prohibit motorcycles from passing other vehicles proceeding in the same direction within the same lane, a practice often called "lane splitting," "lane sharing" or "filtering."

So far, CHP has not re-issued any guidelines. So effectively, nothing has changed, and lane-splitting in California is as legal as it ever was. Though I doubt the legislature and governor would authorize the CHP to issue guidelines for illegal behavior.

 

[greenwald]

Larry -

Good news for the CA motorcyclists that embrace that maneuver.

Gov. Jerry Brown did indeed sign AB 51 that Friday, making August 19th, 2016 the FIRST time that 'lane splitting' is legal in California.

I spoke with a DA, who advised that once a 'practice' is legally defined in statutes, "in effectum," it has been legalized.

A two-week period of publication is needed to codify the law, but that too has passed, effective September 2nd, 2016.

We'll see if this leads to traction in any other states?!

 

[dbrick]

The bill itself, as passed, does not amount to much...

I disagree. This legislation is a positive step in the right direction.

Previously, lane splitting wasn't mentioned in the Vehicle Code. That generated arguments that lane splitting was legal (because it wasn't expressly prohibited) and arguments that it was illegal (because it wasn't expressly approved).

Now, however, the Legislature has mentioned lane splitting. By doing so and empowering the CHP to adopt guidelines, the Legislature has in effect taken the lane splitting-is-legal position. In addition, traditional legal analysis holds that by having now debated and considered something (here, lane splitting) and deliberately not acted to prohibit it, the Legislature has indicated its approval of the practice.

I think we're in better shape than we were.

 

[henzilla]

I had an Emily Latella ( Gilda Radner) moment

Thought there was a new direct road from CA to AB being constructed The 51!


Never mind...

Carry on with the attempt to define it by legislative offerings since it has been practiced and accepted by most for years.