Officials say the motorcycle season is off to a good start in Minnesota this summer.
State motorcycle safety coordinator Jay Bock says they’re seeing fewer deadly crashes…
“We currently have 15 fatalities in Minnesota. Any fatality is a problem and I’m not encouraged by the fact that there’s been some fatalities, but obviously from the standpoint of comparing that to last year at this time we had 28. So that’s encouraging.”
Bock says July and August are usually the months with the highest number of deadly crashes. There were 74 motorcycle fatalities on Minnesota roads in 2024.
Meanwhile, there’s a lot of talk about Minnesota’s new motorcycle lane “splitting” law that went into effect July 1st…
“Splitting is a motorcyclist sharing the lane with a motorist at no more than 25 miles per hour. So, if traffic is slowed the motorcyclist can split sharing the lane. Once that motorcycle gets back up to 25, they have to go back to a lane assignment.”
Bock reminds all motorists that lane “splitting” is only allowed when two or more lanes of traffic are traveling in the same direction and traffic is moving. Lane “filtering” is allowed when traffic on the roadway is stopped.
