Ask Phoebe: Lane splitting' by motorcycles a tricky issue

Lane splitting' by motorcycles a tricky issue. Photo / Richard Robinson

I often see motorcycles overtaking cars when the traffic is moving slowly or stopped, for example at traffic lights. The motorbikes will sometimes pass on the left of the car, within the same lane, and sometimes on the right. My understanding is that motorcycles are required to use a whole lane, so what is the deal with the lane-sharing, or lane-splitting as it is called? Paul Stewart, North Shore.

This is a tricky one, and it is not dealt with adequately in the 2004 Road User Rule. The road policing manager for Auckland City police district, Inspector Gavin Macdonald, says it is necessary to factor in rules 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8 of the Road User Rule.

A motorcycle may overtake a vehicle on the right within the same lane if it is safe to do so. The traffic must be stationary or slow-moving and the way ahead must be clear. A motorcycle may overtake a vehicle on the left only if that vehicle is stationary or if it is turning right.

If high speed was involved, then the police would consider charges such as careless or even dangerous driving.

You can read the full version of the Land Transport (Road User) Rule 2004 at legislation.govt.nz

Both the Northern Gateway Toll Road tunnels appear to be the same width, yet the southbound tunnel has two lanes and the northbound tunnel has only one. Why is this? Chris Mullane, Belmont.

The information I have suggests it's a safety issue. Because SH1 north of the tunnels is only one lane, it was decided to make the northbound tunnel one lane to prevent high-speed motorway traffic trying to merge into one lane inside the tunnel, which would be dangerous, or just beyond it, which could cause traffic backups to within the tunnel. There is, as you point out, room for two lanes in the tunnel, which future-proofs it against the day SH1 is expanded to two lanes northbound. Because SH1 south of the tunnels is two-lane, the southbound tunnel is correspondingly two lane.

Are there plans to have an emission test as part of the warrant of fitness test? A few times I have been unfortunate enough to be stuck behind a vehicle that has smoke billowing out the back. Surely there must be some rules regarding this? Jason Smith, Auckland.

While I don't know of any requirement to have an emission test as part of the WoF inspection, there is legislation covering vehicle emissions. It is the Land Transport Rule Vehicle Exhaust Emissions Act 2007, and its various amendments.

There is a visible smoke check as well, and you can be ordered off the road if your vehicle is seen to be pumping out undesirable levels of emissions.

You can if you wish have a voluntary emissions test, and if your car passes, you receive a certificate.

In an attempt to further reduce vehicle emissions, legislation was introduced in 2007 - to howls of outrage from motor-vehicle dealers - banning imports of Japanese vehicles that run on petrol and were built before 2000, and restricting diesel imports to vehicles built since 2003.