After speaking with motorcycle instructor and safety specialist, Bill Downey about lane filtering last week, KelownaNow heard from the BC Coalition of Motorcyclists (BCCOM).

Tara Borgstrom is the operations manager for BCCOM and she's working to get the word out to their members before May’s elections.

“Now and up to the election, we have asked our members and members of our facebook group and any kind of social media following to write in to different MLAs and people who are running and ask them for their opinion going forward - whether they would support it or not,” said Borgstrom.

Borgstrom says the main benefit of allowing lane filtering is that it makes the road safer for motorcyclists.

“One of the most dangerous places for motorcyclists to be is in stop-and-go traffic because people aren't as aware of what's happening because their on and off, and on and off the brakes. So people end up getting rear-ended,” said Borgstrom.

Borgstrom says lane filtering would allow motorcyclists to move to the front of the line, not for a better spot, but to have better visibility and be more visible to those around them.

She also says the BCCOM is only lobbying for lane filtering, not splitting.

“Lane filtering would only be allowed to be done if traffic is completely stopped and are going 30 kilometres or less. So that is in traffic jams or at a red light, when it's just completely stalled traffic,” she said.

As far as how to police or ensure that riders are abiding by the rules, Borgstrom hopes that riders will use common sense. She speaks more to the responsibility falling onto the riders who lobbied for lane filtering to respect the rules.

“If right off the bat, every single person is just breaking the rules, then OK it's illegal again,” she said.

“And I think that that needs to be portrayed to the motorcycling community, like don't mess this up basically. You've wanted it for so long, so treat it and follow the rules so that it's not going to be taken away.”

But what seems to work in other countries, may take time to operate smoothly in B.C. According to Borgstrom, the BCCOM has had members asking for lane filtering to be put forward for at least eight years. Many of these members are from Europe, where lane filtering is allowed.

“It's been done for so long. Everyone says you know it's common. It's common sense that motorcyclists are allowed to go up the lanes and they're allowed to filter here and there...but I think it's just something that people know,” she said.

As far as a timeline with this, it’s not going to happen over night, if it happens at all.

“I think the roll out would at least be two years after it's been approved. If they say, 'Yes, let's try it.'”

Borgstrom says the BCCOM hopes to sit down with the Ministry of Transportation, ICBC and Translink and come up with a plan.

Borgstrom has been with the BCCOM for eight years.



