Lane Splitting or Filtering Is Now Legal in Six States
Lane splitting and filtering remain contentious topics between motorcyclists, lawmakers, and car drivers. Nonetheless, the number of states that allow some form of lane splitting/filtering in the U.S. has now grown to six with the additions of Colorado and Minnesota.
In April, Colorado joined Arizona, California, Montana, and Utah to become the fifth state where motorcyclists are allowed to pass cars in full lanes until 2027. That said, Colorado’s law doesn’t permit complete, unrestricted lane splitting.
Colorado riders are allowed to filter between two lanes traveling in the same direction at a maximum speed of 15 mph when all surrounding traffic is stopped. Motorcycles aren’t allowed to pass vehicles on the shoulder or on the right side of vehicles in the far-right lane. If the surrounding traffic starts moving, motorcycles must immediately fall in line with other road users.
This experimental lane filtering law will come into effect in August and expire on September 1, 2027. At that point, the Colorado Department of Transportation will examine the law’s effects on road safety and make further decisions.
Meanwhile, Minnesota governor Tim Walz signed the Gopher State’s new lane filtering bill into law in May. This new law amends Section 61 of Minnesota Status 2022, which previously outlawed lane filtering.
Coming into effect on July 1, 2025, the Minnesota law allows riders to overtake vehicles in the same lane, provided the motorcycle doesn’t exceed the speed of 25 mph and moves less than 15 mph faster than the speed of traffic.
To put that into clearer terms, a Minnesota motorcyclist can legally lane filter as long as the surrounding traffic moves at 10 mph or slower.
What’s more, the Minnesota law prohibits other road users from blocking motorcycles from making “full use of a traffic lane.” That’s a welcome addition, as some car drivers are known to try and stop lane filtering even when it's legal.
Previous Lane Filtering Laws
Although the number of states allowing lane filtering has now grown to six, there’s little resemblance between the law from state to state. As such, riders should be aware of the stipulations in each filtering state before attempting to do so.
In Arizona, riders can cruise between lanes at a speed no faster than 15 mph if all other vehicles are stopped. The speed limit on the road must be 45 mph or less, and riders aren’t allowed to pass vehicles using the shoulder or the median.
California boasts the most permissive lane splitting law in the country. Motorcyclists in the state are allowed to overtake other vehicles in the same lane (without using the shoulder) as long as they follow all applicable speed limits and other traffic laws.
The Montana law, which went into effect in 2023, permits two-wheeled motorcycles to overtake vehicles traveling in the same direction in the same lane if they are stopped or moving no faster than 10 mph. Additionally, the motorcycle may not exceed the speed of 20 mph, and traffic conditions must “permit continued reasonable and prudent operation of the motorcycle while lane filtering”—whatever that means.
The Utah law is virtually identical to the Arizona one, as it served as the inspiration for the latter. Motorcycles can lane filter on roads with two or more lanes in the same direction where the speed limit is 45 mph or lower. All other traffic must be stopped during lane filtering, and the motorcycle must not exceed a speed of 15 mph.
Yay or Nay for Lane Splitting?
Any debate about lane splitting and/or filtering is bound to elicit strong opinions from both its proponents and adversaries. There are valid (as well as unreasonable) arguments from the both the “yay” and “nay” camps.
In the pro-camp, lane splitting has been proven in multiple studies to improve both road safety for motorcyclists and to reduce congestion and traffic emissions. As long as motorcyclists and other road users abide by the relevant laws, lane filtering significantly reduces the likelihood of motorcycles getting rear-ended while sitting in traffic.
That previous sentence, however, contains the most common argument used by the opponents of lane filtering. In order for it to improve traffic safety, motorcyclists must obey the law’s restrictions.
Sadly, we’ve all seen the bad apples that zip between cars at 60 mph, begging to get into an accident. In the same vein, if you’ve tried lane filtering, you’ve certainly (almost) run into the motorist that intentionally steers their vehicle to block your path.
Part of the reason lane splitting inspires such road rage is that pilots of four-wheeled vehicles may see the practice as “cheating” or “cutting in line” even when it’s done legally and responsibly. Attitudes like this will be difficult to change, but driver and rider education campaigns can help alleviate them.
In the end, however, lane splitting and filtering can make motorcycling much safer. Here’s hoping more states will join the current six instead of following Texas in formally outlawing the practice.