BILL NUMBER: AB 51 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY FEBRUARY 11, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Quirk
Members Quirk and Lackey
( Coauthor: Assembly Member
Chu )
DECEMBER 1, 2014
An act to amend Section 21658 of the Vehicle Code, relating to
vehicles.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 51, as amended, Quirk. Vehicles: motorcycles: lane splitting.
(1) Existing law requires, whenever a roadway has been divided
into 2 or more clearly marked lanes for traffic in one direction,
that a vehicle shall be driven as nearly as
practical entirely within a single lane and shall
not be moved from the lane until the movement can be made with
reasonable safety. A violation of the Vehicle Code is a crime.
This bill would authorize a motorcycle to be driven between rows
of stopped or moving vehicles in the same lane if the speed of
traffic is 35 30 miles per hour or less
and the motorcycle is driven no more than 10 miles per hour faster
than the speed of traffic. The bill would provide that these
provisions do not authorize a motorcycle to be driven in
contravention of other laws relating to the safe operation of a
vehicle. By creating a new crime crime,
this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 21658 of the Vehicle Code is amended to read:
21658. Whenever any roadway has been divided into two or more
clearly marked lanes for traffic in one direction, the following
rules apply:
(a) A vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practical entirely
within a single lane and shall not be moved from the lane until such
movement can be made with reasonable safety.
(b) Official signs may be erected directing slow-moving traffic to
use a designated lane or allocating specified lanes to traffic
moving in the same direction, and drivers of vehicles shall obey the
directions of the traffic device.
(c) (1) A motorcycle, as defined in Section 400, may be driven
between rows of stopped or moving vehicles in the same lane,
including both divided and undivided streets, roads, or highways, if
both of the following conditions are present:
(A) The speed of traffic moving in the same direction is
35 30 miles per hour or less.
(B) The motorcycle is not driven more than 10 miles per hour
faster than the speed of traffic moving in the same direction.
(2) This subdivision does not authorize a motorcycle to be driven
in contravention of other laws relating to the safe operation of a
vehicle.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.