Proposed bill will target aggressive motorcycle driving

SALT LAKE CITY — A new bill targeting aggressive motorcyclists will be introduced during the upcoming legislative session. 

Bill sponsor Rep. Norman Thurston, R-Provo, said that recently, there has been an increase in aggressive motorcycle driving.

“If you’re out on I-15 you will see motorcyclists weaving in and out of traffic, going faster than everyone else and kind of weaving in between lanes and trying to get ahead of everybody.”

Thurston said he has worked with law enforcement officials to identify practices they would like to introduce harsher penalties for or ban.

Motorcycle bill provisions

First is lane splitting, which Utah law already prohibits. Under the new amendments, police have more power to address the problem.

Lane splitting describes motorcyclists driving between lanes of traffic while traffic is in motion.

This would not ban lane filtering, where a biker can proceed to the front of the line at a traffic stop.

Thurston said this is necessary since traffic stops are one of the most dangerous times for a motorcyclist.

The bill would also crack down on wheelies

“There is no good reason to do that, it’s just showing off, or whatever it is, or whatever reason they have for doing that… It just endangers public safety and can cause accidents,” Thurston said.

The third provision in the bill would allow law enforcement officers to give harsher penalties for hiding a license plate.

“I feel like if you are not going to respect the special privilege of riding a motorcycle and you are going to be engaging in these dangerous behaviors, that privilege could be suspended for a while.”

This could be in addition to any fines garnered at the stop.

Thurston said many people in the biking community support these changes.

“They do great things and so they are saying ‘Yeah if people are going to be doing that, we don’t want them to be part of the motorcyclist community. So just suspend their privileges for a while.’ And hopefully, they’ll get the message and say ‘ok yeah I’ve had my motorcycle privileges suspended for a while now. I’m ready to come back and ready to follow the rules.”

Penalties under the bill

Under the bill provisions, a person engaging in these acts could lose their motorcycle license for 90 days on a first offense.

If a person does not have a motorcycle license, their driver’s license could be taken in addition to their motorcycle being impounded.

On a second offense, the time increases to 180 days. For three or more offenses, their motorcycle endorsement would be revoked.

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