You may have recently seen news emanating from the US that ‘Lane Splitting’ has been made legal in California.  Apparently California is the first state to legalise this.  Lane splitting in the UK is commonly referred to as ‘Filtering’

Some of the news articles can and have led some of our UK bikers to question the legality of this commonplace practice in the UK.

Whilst we were unable to find any direct and simple communication supporting this activity, it is referred to in a section of the DVSA’s rule book (almost as an afterthought).

The final point of ‘Rule 151’ of the Highway Code states, In Slow Moving traffic: “be aware of cyclists and motorcyclists who may be passing on either side.”

So there you have it, Our Highway Code which is very much directed to Car Drivers, in a round about way, does endorse the filtering of Motorcycles through slow moving traffic.

Reference : https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKDVSA/bulletins/15a0248

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