Canberra’s motorists and pedestrians have been urged to “look twice and save a life” as part of Motorcycle Awareness Week which begins next Saturday (13 October) now that motorcycle lane filtering is permanently in place across the ACT.
Under lane filtering laws, motorcyclists are allowed to travel between stationary or slow moving vehicles, to reach the front of the traffic queue.
This allows motorcyclists to move quickly and safely away from congested areas of traffic.
Minister for Road Safety, Shane Rattenbury said motorcycle lane filtering began in the ACT as a trial on 1 February, 2015.
“It included a number of conditions on when a motorcycle rider could lane filter,” Mr Rattenbury said.
“For example, it is a condition that motorcyclists not filter at a speed greater than 30km/h, or in school zones, kerb-side or in a bicycle lane, and only if it is safe to do so,” he said.
“Earlier this year, an independent evaluation of the trial conditions found that a majority of Canberra drivers supported motorcycle lane filtering as a road safety measure.”
Mr Rattenbury said that following the evaluation, it was decided to allow lane filtering long-term in the Territory with additional conditions that it not be permitted in any 40km/h zone and learner and provisional riders not be permitted to do it.
“Despite a greater awareness of the need to protect vulnerable road users, in 2016 there were three motorcyclists killed on our roads, and 33 admitted to hospital, representing around one third of the overall road toll for the ACT,” Mr Rattenbury said.
“One of the benefits of lane filtering is that it allows motorcyclists to more quickly and safely get away from congested areas of traffic.”
