Vermont Bans Lane Splitting and Riding Two Abreast in One Lane

Section 1115 is a single short section that does four separate things, and reading only the first subsection produces the wrong answer. Subsection (a) grants Vermont riders a full-lane entitlement: motorcycles and motor-driven cycles "are entitled to full use of a lane" and no motor vehicle may be driven so as to deprive them of it. Subsection (b) then bars the rider from overtaking and passing in the same lane occupied by the vehicle being overtaken, which closes the door on same-lane passing even where the lane is wide. Subsection (c) is the lane-splitting prohibition proper, and its wording is unusually broad. Most state bans speak of passing between lanes of moving traffic; Vermont's also reaches riding "between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles," which captures filtering forward through stopped traffic at a light and threading a queue on a shoulder-width gap, neither of which is carved out.

Subsection (d) is where Vermont separates itself from the states that ban splitting but allow lane sharing. Wisconsin and Indiana permit two consenting riders to occupy one lane, and Maryland and Louisiana write express two-abreast allowances into the same sections that ban filtering. Vermont writes the opposite rule: no motorcycle or motor-driven cycle may be operated in the same lane with, and alongside or closer than 10 feet ahead of or 10 feet behind, another motorcycle, motor-driven cycle or other motor vehicle. A pair of riders travelling side by side in one Vermont lane is committing an offence, and a staggered formation has to keep 10 feet of daylight in the same lane. Group rides in Vermont therefore have to run one machine per lane position with real spacing rather than in pairs, and the rule is written as a flat prohibition with no consent-of-both-riders qualifier.

The police exemption in subsection (e) is deliberately narrow. It disapplies only subsections (b) and (c), so an officer may pass in the same lane and may split traffic, but subsection (d) still applies to police, and the full-lane entitlement in (a) is not something anyone needs an exemption from. There is no emergency-services exemption for fire or ambulance motorcycles and no waiver for a declared emergency.

The section reaches both "motorcycle" and "motor-driven cycle," which are separately defined in 23 V.S.A. § 4. A motorcycle under § 4(18)(A) is a motor vehicle with a seat or saddle designed to travel on not more than three wheels, and it expressly includes autocycles while excluding motor-driven cycles, motor-assisted bicycles, electric bicycles, golf carts, track driven vehicles, tractors and electric personal assistive mobility devices. A motor-driven cycle under § 4(45)(A) is a two- or three-wheeled vehicle of up to two brake horsepower and 50 cubic centimetres that will not exceed 30 miles per hour unassisted and has an automatic drive system. Because autocycles are motorcycles in Vermont, a three-wheeled autocycle is covered by the filtering ban as well.

Surrounding sections fill out what a Vermont rider must do in traffic. Section 1116 forbids attaching a rider or machine to another vehicle on the roadway. Section 1117(b) caps handlebars at 15 inches above the seat. Section 1256 requires protective headgear conforming to 49 C.F.R. § 571.218 for anyone operating or riding on a motorcycle on a highway, with the single exception of occupants of fully enclosed autocycles, and § 1257 requires glasses, goggles or a face shield where the machine has no windshield or screen.

chapter 29. Section 1115 fixes no dollar figure of its own, so the § 2302(c) ceiling applies and the penalty may not exceed $1,000. The conviction carries two points under the § 2502(a)(1)(PP) schedule, and § 2502(b) adds two more points where the violation caused a crash that was the rider's fault. Points accumulate on the licence, and § 2505 requires the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles to start suspension proceedings once a driver reaches 10 points within two years; § 2506 sets the suspension at 10 days for 10 points, 30 days for 15, 90 days for 20, and a further 30 days for each additional 5 points.

A hearing before the Judicial Bureau, or a Superior judge, may waive the assessment of points in the interests of justice under § 2502(a) and § 2501(b). Adjudication records may be expunged two years after the judgment is satisfied under § 2303.