Signs showing riders where legal lane filtering ends and recommences are being erected in Victorian cities to mark the beginning of the new laws from today (November 2, 2015).
Victoria is the third state of Australia to introduce lane filtering laws along with Queensland and NSW, while the ACT is in the first year of a two-year trial. Several American states are also considering introducing lane splitting, a faster version of lane filtering which occurs in slow-moving or stationary traffic.
The Victorian Government has published the complete list of regulations.
You can read the full regulations here.
They include signs that show where lane filtering is not allowed, presumably where the lanes are too narrow.
They are indicated with a lane filtering depiction and a big red line through it, Ghostbusters style.
The end to the banned lane filtering zone is indicated by the same sign but with a black line, instead of red, the word “END”.
The Victorian Motorcycle Council has welcomed the new laws which “both improves rider safety and helps reduce traffic congestion to the benefit of all road users”.
VMC chair Rob Salvatore says that, coupled with footpath parking and a comprehensive City of Melbourne motorcycle plan, “Victoria is now a leading motorcycling state where motorcycles and scooters are encouraged as a legitimate transport choice and as part of transport policy”.
“It made no sense that riders were penalised for using their vehicle’s small foot print to both improve their safety and make progress through traffic,” Rob says. “Now filtering will be an expressly legal activity that will help to maximise the efficient use of our limited road resource for the benefit of all road users.”
“Joining NSW, QLD and the ACT and many other jurisdictions around the world, Victorian motorcycle and scooter riders can now legally take advantage of their smaller footprint, improving their safety and better sharing the roads with all other road users.”