Bill to Legalize Lane Splitting / Sharing in Nevada

[Surj]

This isn't specifically Bay Area or California related, but since this is "Streetrider's Rights" I hope I won't get into too much trouble. If you have rider friends in NV, pass this along so they can get involved and help push it through. It'll be great for us CA riders when we head thataway. :cool

Assemblymen Richard “Skip” Daly (District 31), Richard Carrillo (District 18) and James Healey (District 35) have introduced AB236 which would legalize lane splitting in Nevada. The bill language is interesting because it's simple and smart - State Senator Beale and the folks working on SB 350 here in California would do well to take a peek and consider similarly elegant language:

A person may drive a motorcycle or moped between moving or stationary vehicles occupying adjacent traffic lanes and traveling in the same direction as the motorcycle or moped provided that the person drives in a cautious and prudent manner and the motorcycle or moped does not exceed a speed of 30 miles per hour while driving between such vehicles.

Bill page is here. I'll post updates as I have them under the Nevada lane splitting news tag of LaneSplittingIsLegal.com too.

 

[Ferenc]

...
Bill page is here. I'll post updates as I have them under the Nevada lane splitting news tag of LaneSplittingIsLegal.com too.

california dmv offers more of a "parley" guide (not law) in their following first "R":
The Four R's or “Be-Attitudes” of Lane Splitting:

Be Reasonable, be Responsible, be Respectful, be aware of all Roadway and traffic conditions.

- Be Reasonable means not more than 10 MPH faster than traffic flow and not over 39 MPH.

and i thought nevada had no helmet or speed limit laws!
enjoy,
ferenc

 

[CABilly]

30 MPH :|

 

[Ferenc]

i always thought safe sharing speed was traffic speed +15 ...
the longer one spends next to a car the longer one gets exposed to a side swipe! by zooming by, the cagers have no time re/act and do something stupid or spiteful ... by the time they wake up and see you, and re-act, you're already past them!
enjoy,
ferenc

 

[thedub]

30 MPH :|

What's your point?

Are you saying that if you lived in NV you would rather have no splitting at all than be limited to 30 mph?

 

[B_wreckless]

i always thought safe sharing speed was traffic speed +15 ...
the longer one spends next to a car the longer one gets exposed to a side swipe! by zooming by, the cagers have no time re/act and do something stupid or spiteful ... by the time they wake up and see you, and re-act, you're already past them!
enjoy,
ferenc

+1

 

[Surj]

i always thought safe sharing speed was traffic speed +15 ...
the longer one spends next to a car the longer one gets exposed to a side swipe! by zooming by, the cagers have no time re/act and do something stupid or spiteful ... by the time they wake up and see you, and re-act, you're already past them!
enjoy,
ferenc

+1

If you go "zooming" past cars all the time, they have plenty of time do something spiteful - like ban splitting. The more drivers that are freaked our or pissed off by rider behavior, the more likely this becomes.

It's true that you shouldn't hang out next to cars, but there's a significant difference between "not hanging out" and "zooming."

 

[wildwhl]

As a Nevadan, I'm hopeful...

WW

 

[budman]

As a motorcyclist I am glad to see it. Go voters!

 

[Chill]

If you go "zooming" past cars all the time, they have plenty of time do something spiteful - like ban splitting. The more drivers that are freaked our or pissed off by rider behavior, the more likely this becomes.

It's true that you shouldn't hang out next to cars, but there's a significant difference between "not hanging out" and "zooming."

You are correct, riders who do not follow the Four R's and abuse the right can mess it up for the rest of us.

As a motorcyclist I am glad to see it. Go voters!

This. Hopefully, this will build some momentum for other states too...

 

[2strokeYardSale]

30 mph beats the shit out of 0 mph.

I rarely split, but when I do, it seems drivers are more surprised and angered about it than in California. I wonder how long it would take to acclimate (integrate!) them to a lane sharing culture.

 

[CABilly]

What's your point?

Are you saying that if you lived in NV you would rather have no splitting at all than be limited to 30 mph?

Something (anything) is better than nothing, but there's definitely room for improvement. Having to creep along at 30 MPH in traffic on the freeway sucks balls. If I lived in Nevada I would advocate for elimination of a concrete limit in favor of something along the lines of the CA basic speed law applied to splitting. As long as you're being safe, you should be fine.

 

[packnrat]

where in nevada is there traffic? except in carson city were they still need to build a fwy.

i deliver frozen foods and have to go there every so often, and in a rig i have not been caught in traffic.
yes some manf slow/stop when they were rebuilding the spaghetti bowl.

and i wish my company would open up the computers on the trucks and let us do the speed limit in nevada. sorry about going slow in the slow lane, it's a company thing. :wow

 

[2strokeYardSale]

where in nevada is there traffic?

My commute.

except in carson city were they still need to build a fwy.

They built it.

 

[packnrat]

only problem i see here is nevada should at least make the law the same as in ca. if for nothing else then just to conform, as in how so many laws dealing with motor vehicles are the same across the country.
aka stop on red. go on green. speed up on yellow. etc. :teeth
yes i know many traffic laws are not the same. this is a problem for travelers. this needs to be fixed.
if nothing else then like paint on the rd. certain type size of lines mean one thing it changes it means another. as in like a lane ending / is a turn off ONLY etc.
and this is just the lines between the lanes. a safety thing.


.

 

[Surj]

Something (anything) is better than nothing, but there's definitely room for improvement. Having to creep along at 30 MPH in traffic on the freeway sucks balls. If I lived in Nevada I would advocate for elimination of a concrete limit in favor of something along the lines of the CA basic speed law applied to splitting. As long as you're being safe, you should be fine.

The problem is that legislators like to be able to define everything. "Safe" is in the eye of the beholder.

A bit of an update on AB236. The bill went to the Transportation Committee late last week, which is chaired by Carrillo, one of the co-sponsors of the bill. Writeup and video here. Gnarly quote from one of the opposing legislators, Assemblywoman Carlton: "I’m picturing a scenario, I’m on the highway, we’re going down… 25 miles an hour, I’ve got a kid in the back seat. They roll the window down, they stick their arm out, my kid ends up with a broken arm, the motorcyclist’s guts end up all over the back of my car. Uhm… it just doesn’t seem to me to make a lot of sense. I’m sorry, it doesn’t. It just seems like a very dangerous thing to be doing."

Another disturbing bit: they're talking about adding a something to the bill that would make accidents that occur during splitting the fault of the motorcyclist by default. No details on this yet, and not sure it would actually fly, but Assemblyman Daly said "…on the liability side, talking with people in law enforcement is that if there was an accident, and the lane splitting, that they would cite the motorcyclist anyway, say it was his fault. So we was just looking at it a little more in the… trying to give people a little more peace of mind to say that, if a person decides to do the lane splitting, you do so at your own risk. So we just want to make it clear that, you know, we’re not trying to put anybody on the hook, or get the regular people in their cars to have additional liability ’cause someone else… you know, did something else."

So if that's added and this bill is passed and you’re splitting lanes legally – cautiously and prudently as required by the new law – and a driver hits you, it’s your fault because we can’t have “regular people” (which apparently doesn’t include motorcyclists) being “on the hook” to be aware of their surroundings and check their mirrors to avoid “additional liability” if they hit a rider who’s doing “something else.” Something else being lane splitting, which would be legal. Isn’t not hitting other drivers something all drivers are already on the hook for? No bueno.

Anyway, check out the video and presentations from the meeting here.

 

[Matzoballa]

WOW, I was happy to read NV is trying to do something for motorcyclists but the at fault part is total BS.
From experience, creeping up I-15 past the Strip at 3pm in August on a bike is almost torture. The heat isn't so bad as long as you are moving, so If this bill will allow me to keep riding to the front of the line at a stoplight or not have to stop on the fwy then I am all for that. Some of the intersections take 3-4 cycles to get all traffic through.

 

[packnrat]

WOW, I was happy to read NV is trying to do something for motorcyclists but the at fault part is total BS.
From experience, creeping up I-15 past the Strip at 3pm in August on a bike is almost torture. The heat isn't so bad as long as you are moving, so If this bill will allow me to keep riding to the front of the line at a stoplight or not have to stop on the fwy then I am all for that. Some of the intersections take 3-4 cycles to get all traffic through.

this sounds like a very good reason to take another way home.

 

[Surj]

Making progress in Nevada! AB236 passed the Assembly Transportation Committee today with slight amendments and limited opposition. Full story here.

 

[Surj]

AB236 has passed the Nevada Assembly with very strong support. Next up, the state Senate - hopefully with just as much support. :thumbup