A law that would finally make lane-splitting in explicitly legal in California has been put on the back burner because the lawmakers behind the bill aren’t exactly sure how they would make it work.
Assembly Bill 51 was authored by Bill Quirk of Hayward and passed the state Assembly with bipartisan support. It was due to land in the Senate policy committee on July 17, but that’s not going to happen now.
“There were some concerns of how the bill would be implemented in real-life,” a Quirk spokeswoman told Lanesplitter, but wouldn’t elaborate on exactly what those implementation issues were.
California is the only state in the U.S. that doesn’t explicitly outlaw lane-splitting, and motorcyclist groups – including the AMA – have voiced concerns about regulating the practice.
Quirk’s office says the bill will be brought back later this year and discussions will continue this fall.