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Road rules criminalise safer riding: motorcyclists

Apr 01, 2015

Motorcyclists want the State Government to legalise riding between lanes of traffic at slow speeds, claiming the practice would improve safety and reduce congestion on Adelaide roads.

But the RAA says legalising “lane filtering” would only reduce safety on the roads.

South Australian road rules do not explicitly prohibit the practise, but it is extremely difficult to perform without breaching several related road rules.

President of the Motorcycle Riders Association of South Australia, Phil McClelland, told InDaily the legalisation of lane filtering in New South Wales (in July last year) and Queensland (in January) showed the practice was safe.

“Lane filtering has been trialled and found to be successful, and has been implemented (in NSW and Queensland),” McClelland said.

“It is a safer way for motorcyclists to be in traffic, and it eases congestion.

“It also encourages motorcycles to be used for transport in and out of the CBD, which eases congestion and reduces costs to the government for infrastructure.”

McClelland said motorcyclists were six times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in an accident on the road.

He said allowing motorbike riders to ride between lanes of traffic at below 30km/h, or when cars are stopped at traffic lights, would help to prevent those injuries.

“It gets the bikes out of the cars’ (way),” he said.

“There are times where you can definitely ride safely and lane filter.”

However, McClelland acknowledged that the practice can also be dangerous if judgement is not correctly applied by both motorcyclists and car drivers.

RAA senior legal advisor Graeme O’Dea told InDaily that rather than improving safety for road users, it would cause greater risks, especially for pedestrians.

“Pedestrians are legally entitled to cross the road as long as they’re not within 20 metres of a pedestrian crossing,” said O’Dea.

“Pedestrians see two lines of cars stationary, waiting for lights to change … and they will move across legally, and suddenly, in the middle of the road, between the two lanes of traffic, illegally, is a motorcycle.”

He said he had serious concerns that not only pedestrians, but motorcyclists themselves, would be put in harm’s way by legalising lane filtering.

“They put themselves greater at risk by lane filtering if they can’t get to the front of the queue,” he said.

“I don’t accept that they’re safer in the middle of two cars, closely knitted on a road, where suddenly those cars are going to take off, and that motorcyclist has to divert in front of one of those vehicles.

“Drivers wouldn’t be expecting that and that can create accidents.”

Traffic

He acknowledged that motorcyclists already regularly engage in lane filtering on SA roads, despite breaching several road rules.

“Currently riders who do that breach any number of … road rules.”

“(They include) things like no overtaking on the left, keeping a safe distance while overtaking, driving within a single marked lane of traffic, moving from one marked lane to another across a continuous line, giving enough indication about a change of lanes, getting to the front of a queue of traffic putting themselves over the stop lines, which they are not allowed to do.

“I would see every day coming to work on Marion Road 10 to 15 motorcyclists either lane filtering or riding in the bicycle lane, which is illegal for them.”

O’Dea said the New South Wales experience had not demonstrated improved safety or reduced congestion through legalised lane filtering.

“There’s a lot of objection to it in NSW,” he said.

“The NSW trial proved that it did not – in any way, shape or form – (reduce) traffic congestion.

“They had a short trial which didn’t prove successful, but they introduced the legislation anyway.”

Road Safety Minister Tony Piccolo said the government would wait until New South Wales lane filtering had been operating for 12 months, and more information were available about its safety impacts, before considering changing the rules here.

He said a working group, made up of several government agencies including the Motor Accident Commission and SA Police,  had agreed on the position.

“The group members agreed that South Australia would monitor and review what happens in the first 12 months in NSW, before deciding whether benefits to riders outweigh road safety concerns,” he said.

Photo: Motorcycle Lane Filtering QLD, Facebook.

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