Right here is a few excellent news that we’ve come throughout. The state of Montana will permit restricted types of bike lane sharing, after the state governor signed into legislation SB 9 on March 2.

The invoice was sponsored by State Senator Russ Tempel and State Consultant Barry Usher; you may learn all of the textual content right here. It takes impact on October 1.

Not like most authorized speeches, the textual content of SB 9 is extremely transient. It is a one-page bill, with the next textual content:

Part 1. Lane filtering for bikes. (1) The operator of a two-wheeled bike could
interact in channel filtering when:
(a) the operator of a two-wheeled bike is on a street the lanes of that are broad sufficient to cross safely;
(b) the passing bike is just not pushed at a velocity exceeding 20 miles per hour when cross the stopped or gradual car; and
(c) circumstances allow cheap and prudent operation of the bike to proceed within the lane filtration.
(2) As used on this part, “lane screening” means passing and passing one other car. who’s stopped or touring at a velocity not exceeding 10 miles per hour in the identical path of journey and in the identical manner.

Part 2. Codification instruction. [Section 1] is meant to be codified as an integral a part of the title
61, Chapter 8, Half 3, and the provisions of Title 61, Chapter 8, Half 3, apply to [section 1].

If solely all of the site visitors legal guidelines have been so quick and candy and easy!

Now there are three states within the US the place lane sharing is legalized for bikes: Montana joins California (the place riders have been doing it since time immemorial) and Utah (which legalized filtering in 2019, permitting bikes to experience between the vehicles in entrance at stops). Hawaii additionally has a very lame type of legalized lane sharing, proscribing bikes to only passing over the shoulder for proper turns at stops.

Montana lies between California let it go Utah’s perspective in direction of lane sharing and pretty strict laws. Montana permits racers to overhaul transferring vehicles, however provided that they’re touring at very low velocity. That is in all probability adequate for Montana, a state barely identified for its mass site visitors jams, but it surely’s unlikely to go far sufficient for the crowded highways in LA County.

So what about Canada? After speaking a couple of pilot lane sharing program within the Higher Toronto Space just a few years in the past, there was no actual motion on the problem in years. In america, three or 4 states are reviewing the problem yearly now, however Canadian bike advocacy organizations do not appear too keen to deal with the problem, in contrast to the American Motorcyclist Affiliation, which holds this place.

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