NSW will be the first of the state and territories to legalise motorcycle lane filtering, Minister for Roads and Ports Duncan Gay announced recently.
Minister Gay released a package of changes to help ease road congestion and improve safety by reforming laws for motorcyclists.
“The NSW Government is releasing common sense solutions to key issues for motorcyclists while maintaining road safety for other road users,” Minister Gay said.
“Last year we held a successful trial in Sydney CBD of motorcyclists being exempt from existing lane filtering laws in an attempt to ease road congestion and measure potential safety issues for other road users.
“As a result of the trial we will introduce a new law that will permit fully licensed motorcyclists to legally filter past stationary vehicles at intersections when it is safe to do so,” the minister said.
“Riders will be able to filter at a speed limit of 30km/h.
“It is important to note the new law will not apply to school zones during hours of operation where there might be an increase in pedestrian activity.
“However, the dangerous practice of filtering over the speed limit of 30km/h will become its own specific offence.
“Filtering at high speeds is dangerous and will increase the crash risk for motorcycle riders and other roads users, particularly cyclists and pedestrians.
“The new rule changes will give us the opportunity to communicate with riders so they better understand the risks involved with lane filtering and educate them on safe filtering practice.”
The minister also announced new rules for the “minimum spacing for motorcycle rear indicators”.
“The legal spacing under Australian Design Rules is a minimum of 180 millimetres, yet under NSW legislation road authorities were enforcing a minimum of 300 millimetres.
“A lot of motorcyclists complied with Australian Design Rules yet riders driving around in popular bikes like the Suzuki GSXR-750 or the Honda XR250L were still getting hit with defect notices.”
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