LANE FILTERING IN BRITISH COLUMBIA Improving BC's Transportation Systems and Reducing BC's Cost of Living
Prepared by Lane Filter British Columbia May 2017
Proposal To legalize lane filtering in BC within the following parameters: 1) Motorcycles must maintain a speed of 30 kilometers per hour or less while filtering. 2) Motorcycles must filter to the left, and must not filter next to the curb, on the shoulder, next to parked vehicles, or in school zones. 3) Only riders holding a Class 6 license shall be permitted to lane filter. 4) Motorcyclists must comply with all existing road rules when lane filtering. This includes stopping before the stop line at a red traffic light or stop sign, never in front or over it. 5) Motorcyclists must only lane filter when it is safe to do so.
Safety Advantages Rear-End Collision Avoidance
Intersection Collision Prevention
ICBC’s reports indicate that the rate of rear-end crashes resulting in injury has increased faster than any other type of accident, having gone up 14% in BC from 2009 to 2014; a figure largely resulting from a corollary rise in distracted driving.1 According to the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, BC “has the highest observed rate of personal electronic devices (PEDs) by drivers among Canadian provinces (B.C. was 5.5 per cent; Canadian average was 4.4 per cent).” ICBC conservatively estimates that distracted driving is a contributing factor in roughly 25 to 33 per cent of crashes reported to ICBC.2
Furthermore, the practice of lane filtering allows motorcyclists to be more visible near intersections, which are historically the most dangerous places for motorcyclists. While rear-end collisions are the most common accident on the roads today, the most common injurious or fatal motorcycle accidents involve being struck by an oncoming left-turning vehicle or a vehicle turning right onto the road way in the path of a motorcycle3. Allowing motorcycles to filter moves motorcycle and scooter traffic to the first position at an intersection in urban environs, ensuring they are visible to all oncoming traffic, rather than hidden behind larger vehicles. If a motorcycle must rejoin a lane before reaching the front of the queue, they will be bracketed by more visible vehicles fore and aft, rather than trailing traffic where oncoming left-turning vehicles cannot see them. Additionally, by allowing motorcycles to lane filter, motorists are made more aware of the motorcyclists around them due to the increased visibility of motorcyclists filtering through traffic.
By allowing motorcycles to utilize the space between stopped or slow-moving lanes of traffic, motorcyclists and scooters effectively remove themselves from the path of vehicle traffic approaching from the rear, which in turn negates the risk of a motorcyclist being struck from behind. The European MAIDS study, which examined motorcycle accidents across five countries over three years and included a sample size of 921 accidents, found that motorcyclists that were lane filtering were more than six times less likely to be involved in an accident than motorcyclists stopped in traffic conventionally.3 Likewise, a comparison of rear-end crash data comparing the rate of fatal accidents wherein a motorcycle was struck from behind (per 100,000 registered motorcycles) revealed that California, where lane splitting is legal, possesses a rate roughly three times lower than states with similar riding environments; just over 1 in 100,000 motorcyclists is killed in such a scenario in California while over 3 in 100,000 are killed in Arizona, Texas and Florida.4 This data point is especially relevant given the MAIDS study strongly linked population density with accident rates, finding almost 75% of all motorcycle accidents occur in urban environments. The population of Los Angeles’ urban sprawl (3.9 million) is well over double the size of any city in any of those comparable states with the exception of Houston (2.2 million).
Injury Prevention A new study by the University of Berkley studied the practice of lane filtering and splitting in California and found that lane splitting is objectively safer than the alternative if traffic is moving at 50 mph or less, and if motorcyclists do not exceed the speed of traffic by 15 mph.5 The study also found that lane filtering was at its safest when traffic was moving at 30 mph or less, and motorcyclists were exceeding the speed of traffic by no more than 10 mph. When those conditions were met, the Berkley study found lane-filtering motorcyclists “were notably less likely to suffer head injury (9.1 per cent versus 16.5 per cent), torso injury (18.6 per cent vs. 27.3 per cent) or fatal injury (1.4 per cent vs. 3.1 per cent) than other motorcyclists.” Additionally, the Berkley study found lane splitting motorcylists were also more likely to wear safer protective gear Including safer helmets, less likely to speed, and were less likely to be under the influence of alcohol.
Congestion Abatement
Adoption
The Lower Mainland’s traffic congestion issues are well known. Vancouver perennially ranks as one of the world’s most congested cities6 due to a number of factors. The geography of the region, with numerous water crossings, as well as the volatile housing market all play a role in creating congestion. Employees are forced ever-farther from their workplaces by rising house prices. Difficulty in procuring funding and the structural makeup of the region's governing bodies conspire to prevent infrastructure expansion. But while infrastructure growth is difficult, lane filtering provides an easy and affordable efficiency countermeasure to BC's congestion woes.
By placing stringent parameters on lane filtering to increase safety for all road users, little motorist education would be required. Strictly regulating lane filtering in the manner proposed reduces the degree of cooperation required of motorists and places the responsibility on the motorcyclists that choose to lane filter. Put another way, by regulating lane filtering with such proposed measures as an easily enforceable speed limit, situations where motorcyclists will be able to legally filter will be situations wherein automobile drivers need not be proactive or reactive to filtering motorcyclists; all motorists need do is continue to drive their vehicles as they currently do.
A Belgian study found that if just 10% of motorists were to commute by motorcycle, travel times for all road users would be reduced by eight minutes per journey, which represented a 63% reduction in travel time. The same study also found total emissions on major thoroughfares would be reduced by 6%.7 One would expect similar effectiveness on the availability of parking in urban areas.
Individuals with Class 6 licenses can be informed of the change in law by mail, while those motorists without a Class 6 but who ride motor scooters can be made aware of the changes at ICBC Autoplan agencies with notices and pamphlets given to all those obtaining insurance for motorcycles and motor scooters. A modest advertising capaign utilizing conventional and social media co-opting the standard rhetoric during May's Motorcycle Awareness campaign would serve as adequate notice to motorists. ICBC study guides and handbooks would be updated to reflect the regulations surrounding lane filtering.
Furthermore, the emphasis placed on increasing housing density in some of the province's most congested areas precludes car ownership for many, but would still allow for scooters or motorcycle ownership. Paired with the expanding mass transit network or any of the burgeoning car share programs in operation, lane filtering may provide the incentive required to convince Vancouver commuters to trade their passenger car for more efficient modes of transportation without sacrificing their self-reliance.
By legalizing filtering through the amendment of MVA Section 157 (1) “Duty when overtaking” to include the aforementioned proposed regulations limiting filtering behavior to specific road conditions, the legal onus of responsibility would lie on the motorcyclist engaged in filtering.
Conclusion
Contact
Given the economic environment in many parts of BC, where home prices are pushing many away from the metropolitan cores they work and recreate in, allowing lane filtering for motorcycles and scooters would increase the adoption of such vehicles within the most congested and urban areas, and provide many with an affordable method of transportation while simultaneously alleviating some of the burden on our transit system and roadways. Often citing European cities as models for BC’s urban transportation plans such as the incorporation of bicycle lanes and bike share programs, the adoption of lane filtering as is practiced across Europe, is a logical next step for British Columbia. And given the safety ramifications of an ever-increasing number of distracted drivers on roads that are ever-more congested, British Columbia cannot afford not to.
Daniel Fritter dgfritter@gmail.com 604-790-3136
References 1: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/ICBC+applies+hike+fees+cent+come+November+updated/10150385/story.html 2: http://www.icbc.com/about-icbc/newsroom/Documents/2014Sept04/Backgrounder.pdf 3: http://www.maids-study.eu/pdf/MAIDS2.pdf (Table 5.7) 4: http://www.ridetowork.org/files/docs/LANE_SHARING_A_GLOBAL_SOLUTION_FOR_MOTORCYCLE_SAFETY. pdf 5: http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/05/29/motorcycle-lanesplitting-report/ 6: http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/jessekline-vancouvers-traffic-headaches-result-from-poor-cityplanning 7: http://www.tmleuven.be/project/motorcyclesandcommuting/home.htm