Nevada Senate Split Over Lane Splitting – Kills it on the Floor

OFF THE WIRE
May 29, 2013 By J. Weeston
The Nevada lane splitting bill, better known to some as AB236, has officially died on the state senate floor. While it looked as if the bill had a great chance of succeeding after passing with flying colors in the Nevada Assembly, the momentum of the proposed new law quickly sputtered like a 60′s Vespa, and died like an 80′s Harley in the road (sorry, we couldn’t help it).
The Nevada lane splitting proposal was amended in the assembly and then again in the senate to give the bill a better chance of passing, which is why its harsh defeat caught many of us over here by surprise. The amended bill would have made lane splitting in Nevada legal only when traffic was stationary, not regularly flowing, unlike lane splitting in California; another reason why many of us thought the bill would be passed. The amended law got rid of most of the ill-perceived ‘dangers’ of lane splitting and left a bare-bones law that would have at least helped alleviate traffic and actually made riding in traffic safer for motorcycles, a fact which has been discussed and proven many times over in the past.
While many lawmakers (and, sadly, many riders as well) tend to think that lane splitting is dangerous and unsafe, the facts and evidence just don’t back up that claim. In fact, almost every other country outside of the USA allows lane-splitting in some fashion, and famed motorcycle safety guru David L. Hough has even gone on the record to state that given a choice between lane splitting and sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, motorcycle lane splitting is almost ALWAYS the safer option. Motorcycles sitting in heavy traffic are up to ten times more likely to suffer injuries and accidents from rear-end collisions and other ‘cager’ mistakes.
So, while it looks like us California riders will continue to be the only ones in the country to have an advanced form of transportation on two wheels, we here at X-Motorcycle continue to hope that the rest of the country will still come around someday. The false, negative stigma around lane splitting really does need to come to an end, and we sincerely hope that major organizations, such as HOG and the AMA will continue to push harder for lane splitting to be legal and recognized in all 50 states — sooner rather than later.
As for you Nevada riders out there, we weep for you, and your tears will not go unnoticed, friends.