The goal of this petition is to adopt a law in Ohio legalizing lane filtering for motorcyclists similar to the law which is already enacted in the state of California. Studies have shown that responsible lane splitting significantly reduces the risk of injury for motorcyclists because it all but eliminates the risk of being rear ended by another vehicle. Rear end accidents account for 40% of all traffic collisions. Lane splitting also helps reduce traffic congestion by allowing motorcyclists to filter through normal traffic thereby allowing more commuters to share the road more efficiently. [ See sources below ]
It's worth noting that safe and responsible lane filtering has strict limitations. In California for example lane splitting is only permitted if the regular flow of traffic does not exceed 45 mph and the lane filtering motorcyclist can only filter at a speed not exceeding 10 mph over the regular flow of traffic. So if traffic is at a standstill, motorcyclists can lane filter at a speed not exceeding 10 mph. If traffic is flowing at the rate of 35 miles per hour, motorcyclists can filter at a speed not exceeding 45 mph. If traffic is flowing at 45 mph or more then lane filtering would not be legal.
The hope is that adopting this law will also have the added benefit of convincing more commuters to ditch their cars for motorcycles therefore reducing the overall number of cars on the road during rush hour making it a win-win for all commuters, both motorcyclists and otherwise.
[Sources cited]
https://newatlas.com/motorcycle-lane-splitting-filtering-safety-research/34425/
http://www.ots.ca.gov/pdf/Publications/Motorcycle-Lane-Splitting-and-Safety-2015.pdf
