U-turn (again) over motorbikes riding between lanes in queues on certain French roads

A trial allowing motorcyclists to drive between lanes of slow-moving traffic on some French roads has been extended once more.

The trial on ‘inter-filing’ currently in place in 21 departments – mostly around Paris and the south of France – was set to end on January 1 but will now continue until July 31, 2025. 

During the trial period, which has been in place in some departments for nearly ten years, motorcyclists can drive between lanes on motorways and certain dual carriageways during traffic jams. 

This is provided they stick to rules, including staying on the lane furthest to the left, and not going faster than 30km/h more than the traffic. 

The practice, despite being illegal, is commonplace among motorcyclists, who claim it is safer than being waiting in-lane in a traffic jam, where they may be rear-ended by a driver or breathe in noxious fumes. 

In theory, however, the move is illegal except where the trial is taking place, and motorcyclists can be fined €135 and potentially lose three points on their licence.

An end to the trial has been pushed back a number of times. 

Previously set to end in September 2024, it was delayed until January 1, 2025, before the new government again extended it via decree on December 27.

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Will practice become law under new government?

Prolongation of the trial was rubber-stamped at the last minute by the new government of prime minister François Bayrou. 

“It's a question of regulating the practice and moving from de facto inter-vehicle traffic to de jure inter-vehicle traffic, but subject to certain conditions,” said Florence Guillaume, minister for road safety, to the AFP. 

This means that the practice, despite not being legal, was already widely used by motorcyclists before the trial began. 

Her comments suggest that the new government plans to conclude the end of the trial later this year by making the manoeuvre legal across France, either with the same restrictions in place or slightly altered ones.

The minister said that the experiment “showed that there are no excess deaths linked to this practice,” both in the original trial (2016 to 2021) and its expansion to more departments (2021 to now). 

However, a study of the earlier trial claimed that whilst road accidents involving motorcyclists fell by 10% overall during those years, they increased 12% in or near roads where the trial was taking place.

A more in-depth study of the trial, conducted by road safety authority Sécurité Routière, is scheduled to come out in 2025. 

It should shed light on whether it has been effective in reducing accidents, and will likely be used to usher the manoeuvre into the French road safety rules (Code de la Route) or resign it to being permanently illegal. 

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