Motorcycle Licensing, Laws & Costs by State
Helmet laws, lane splitting and riding regulations by state.
No, and Maryland says so in as many words Maryland Transportation Article 21-1303, headed “Operating on laned roadways”, contains the sentence that settles it: a person may not operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles. There is no exception for stopped traffic, no speed threshold and no … Read more
Two true statements that sound contradictory Lane splitting is illegal in Utah. Utah was the first state in America to legalize lane filtering. Both are correct, and the gap between them is why the second-highest result for this question is a Reddit thread titled “Utah to pass law banning lane splitting”. The distinction is the … Read more
Two insurances, not one Missouri’s helmet exemption is usually summarised as “26 and insured”. That summary is missing half the requirement. RSMo 302.026, in force since 28 August 2020, states that a qualified motorcycle operator aged twenty-six or older may ride without protective headgear “if he or she in addition to maintaining proof of financial … Read more
No — and Missouri does it without a motorcycle law Lane splitting is not permitted in Missouri, and neither is filtering past stopped traffic. What is interesting about Missouri is how the state gets there, because it is not the way most people assume. Several states prohibit this in a statute written specifically about motorcycles. … Read more
Everyone, on everything with two wheels and a motor North Carolina’s rule is one of the simplest in the country and one of the broadest. In the NCDMV’s own words: “all operators and passengers on motorcycles and mopeds must wear a motorcycle safety helmet of a type that complies with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard … Read more
Age alone does not exempt you The version of this law that circulates is “no helmet needed at 21 in Pennsylvania”. That is not what the law says, and riding on it can leave you in breach. PennDOT’s own wording: any person who operates or rides a motorcycle, including an autocycle, must wear protective headgear … Read more
No — but not the way the other states say no Lane splitting is illegal in New Jersey, and so is filtering past stopped traffic. That much is settled and the state’s own driver manual says so. What makes New Jersey worth a page of its own is the mechanism. Most states that prohibit this … Read more
No — and what Colorado legalized is not quite what people describe Lane splitting is illegal in Colorado and always has been. What changed in 2024 is narrower and stranger than the coverage suggests, and it comes with an expiry date. Senate Bill 24-079 was approved by the Governor on 4 April 2024 and took … Read more
No, and the wording is unusually blunt Washington prohibits it in a single sentence. RCW 46.61.608: “No person shall operate a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles.” There is no exception for stopped traffic, no speed threshold and no carve-out of the kind Utah, Montana, Arizona, Colorado and … Read more
No. And the thing you are probably asking about is legal anyway Both answers circulating online are wrong, and they are wrong in the same way: they treat “lane splitting” and “lane filtering” as one thing. Arizona’s statute does not. Riding between lanes of moving traffic — splitting — is prohibited in Arizona. Riding between … Read more