One of the dangers of lane filtering is that if you use the highway verge or breakdown lane – as is legal in Queensland – you could wind up with a tyre puncture.
The sides of the highways are littered with sharp objects – broken bottles, screws, nails and other items that have fallen out of cars and tradies’ utes.
One daily commuter wrote in suspecting something more malicious.
He told us that he ran into what “appeared to be an entire box of wallboard screws strategically emptied on the verge for some six or so car lengths, over the entire width of the verge”.
“I had nowhere to go so just slowed as quickly as I could without braking, in the hope that no screws would penetrate the tyres on my cruiser,” he says.
“I pulled up at Springwood to inspect my tyres and found two screws in the rear. Luckily, I have ‘Ride-On’ tyre sealant running in my tubed tyres, as the penetration could have caused a popped tube and potentially an accident.
“I checked the tyre and proceeded home safely. I got a new tube and the tyre fixed the following day and did not return to the verge of the highway again, until Monday this week, where, at the same point under the Gateway overpass, I decided to try the other side – the right-hand side. To my astonishment, it was also littered with screws, the same ones as the other side.”
This led our rider to suspect foul play.
“Clearly, some bright spark (most likely a tradie) thought it was either funny, or, is cranky with motorcycles going traffic filtering and decided that he’d/she’d get one back for the car drivers,” he says.
“This is a dangerous and silly prank, and will have affected many motorcyclists and car drivers. It is becoming more and more evident that the car drivers (and it seems even more so of ute drivers in my opinion) are either ignorant to, or rebelling against the new filtering laws and and doing dangerous things to stop bikes doing so.”
The rider reports that since lane filtering was introduced he has encountered numerous times that drivers move over in front of him, jam on the brakes, swerve, “just plain make it difficult or to stop me from filtering lawfully” on his 150km daily commuting round trip.
Whether it’s paranoia or not, the emergency break-down lane or highway verge is a last resort for riders as it is often littered with dangerous objects to riders.