By Lance Oliver
Limited lane filtering — not really lane splitting, as most think of it — will be legal later this year in Colorado. At least for three years.
After previous attempts to allow filtering failed, the proposed law was revised and was signed by the governor last week. The new law places several restrictions on riders:
- Motorcycles can only filter between two lanes of traffic going in the same direction and cannot pass on the shoulder or on the right of vehicles in the far-right lane.
- Motorcycles can only filter when surrounding traffic is stopped and if traffic starts moving again, the motorcycle must rejoin the regular flow.
- Maximum speed is 15 mph.
- The law says motorcycles can filter only when the lanes are wide enough to do so safely but doesn’t define that precisely.
That means Colorado will join Montana, Utah, and Arizona as states that have passed laws in recent years allowing some form of lane splitting or filtering, which used to be legal only in California in the United States.
The law takes effect in August and is scheduled to be automatically repealed on September 1, 2027. Before then, the Colorado Department of Transportation is supposed to collect data to see what effect lane filtering has on road safety. Changes such as the low maximum speed of 15 mph and the automatic repeal were made to get enough support to push the bill through.
Let’s hope the state government uses the time between now and when the law takes effect to spread the word, including positive messages that filtering helps reduce overall congestion and traffic delays, thus benefitting everyone, as well as reducing rear-end collisions that are especially dangerous to motorcyclists. Otherwise, expect some road rage incidents as frustrated drivers get angry at motorcyclists “cutting line.” Let’s also hope motorcyclists don’t abuse the law and give opponents ammunition for keeping the repeal in three years, instead of letting the practice stand.
