From the year 2003 to 2012, 3,662 motorcycle accidents have occurred where a motorcyclist was killed or seriously injured. 13% of road fatalities and serious injuries were attributed to motorcycle riders, even though motorcyclist only make up 3.5% of all registered vehicles on the road (as of 2012). In 2012, per every roughly 600 million miles traveled 118.5 motorcyclist where killed while only 3.8 car drivers were killed, making riding a motorcycle 31.3 times riskier and deadlier than riding in a car. To help stop the high amount of motorcycle deaths, Tennessee needs to pass a lane filtering law to allow motorcyclist to get out of the way of danger being stuck at the back of traffic where they are completely exposed to distracted drivers, and allow riders to filter up to the front of an intersection through the spaces between stopped cars. Not only will this help save the lives of many motorcyclist, but it will also help cut down on traffic congestion due to basically taking motorcycles out of the equation.

California, which has one of the highest amounts of registered motorcycles in the country, not only has the lowest death rate of riders evaluating other states with similar riding seasons, but nationally (which includes states with limited riding seasons and thus much lower rider deaths) nowhere is even close. This can be attributed to their regulation on lane filtering.

Parts of Australia and Europe are increasing the rate at which lane filtering is becoming legal. In New South Wales Australia, on October 18 2012, the minister for roads conducted a trial on lane filtering. After two months of having a trial, there where zero crashes and they found that at lower speeds (30kmh ≈ 20mph) lane filtering was relatively low risk. The travel times were also improved for motorcyclist, and they saw that it had benefits of minimizing queuing at busy intersections.

Lane filtering can be made even safer when regulation can be applied to it. These regulations are very similar to the regulations NSW Australia implemented, and include:

-Only filter when in a safe area

-no filtering at high speeds

-riders must comply with all road rules as well while filtering

-maximum speed while filtering is 20mph (which will limit filtering to only low speed/stopped traffic)

-no filtering in school zones during hours of operation

Not being able to be seen is one of the biggest killer of motorcyclist everywhere. This is due to the small size of motorcycles, and due to other drivers being distracted. If lane filtering is legalized and properly regulated, the “being seen” factor can almost be completely omitted from the equation due to taking the riders out of dangerous situations, and putting them at the front away from danger.

Stats and Facts:

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811701.pdf

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2011/dv1c.cfm

http://nnsa.energy.gov/sites/default/files/nv_sweis/appendixE/NHTSA%202006.pdf

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811856.pdf

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=united+states+department+of+transportation+national+highway+traffic+safety+administration+traffic+safety+facts+2014+data+overview+DOT+hs+811+392

http://www.ridetowork.org/files/docs/LANE_SHARING_A_GLOBAL_SOLUTION_FOR_MOTORCYCLE_SAFETY.pdf

http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/nsw-government-set-legalise-safe-lane-filtering-motorcyclists

http://www.mccofnsw.org.au/a/364.html

http://www.ors.wa.gov.au/road-safety-topics/road-users/motorcyclists-scooter-riders

http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/stayingsafe/motorcyclists/lanefiltering/faqs.html

http://www.slashgear.com/study-says-lane-splitting-is-safer-and-faster-for-everyone-28352679/

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/article3204990.

htmlhttp://www.gizmag.com/motorcycles-reduce-congestion/21420/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorbikes/9272532/Why-commuting-by-motorcycle-is-good-for-everyone.html

http://www.ots.ca.gov/pdf/Publications/2014MCLaneSplittingSurvey.pdf

http://lanesplittingislegal.com/

http://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2010/title-55/chapter-8/55-8-182/

http://smartrrs.unizar.es/up_files/file/WORKSHOP/FEMA%20presentation%20Smart%20RRS%20Workshop%20%5BModo%20de%20compatibilidad%5D.pdf

http://roadsafety.transport.nsw.gov.au/downloads/motorcyclists/lane-filtering-results.pdf