Although it is common to see motorcycles circulating between rows of cars, this practice is prohibited in the highway code. Although motorcyclist associations have been calling for the legalization of traffic between lanes for a long time, since 2016 an experiment has been carried out in around twenty departments to, ultimately, decide whether or not to give a legal framework to this practice completely. trivialized for motorcyclists. -wheelers and so far tolerated.
After a first experiment between 2016 and 2021, which did not allow a decision to be made on the issue, the government decided to carry out a second three-year experiment, following the previous one. Thus, traffic between lines was authorized, exceptionally, in around twenty departments. This second experiment was extended twice, to September 15, 2024, and then to December 31, 2024.
21 apartments
Once again the deadline for bikers has been extended. A decree of December 27, 2024 further expanded the experiment until July 31, 2025 in the affected departments. An extension validated at the last moment by the new Bayrou government.
The decree extends the experiment until July 31, 2025 in the following 21 departments:
- the departments of Île-de-France: Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne, Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Essonne and Val-de-Oise
- departments of the Rhône Valley: Rhône and the metropolis of Lyon, as well as Drôme, Vaucluse and Isère
- departments of the Mediterranean arc: Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Hérault and Pyrénées-Orientales
- and also Haute Garonne, Gironde, Loire-Atlantique and the North.
Rules to respect
Circulation between lanes is authorized on highways and highways separated by a median and with at least two lanes each, where the maximum authorized speed is equal to or greater than 70 km/h – which, in theory, implies a traffic ban. . the Paris ring road, where the maximum authorized speed has been reduced to 50 km/h.
Other rules must also be respected:
- Circulation between rows of stopped vehicles or vehicles traveling at very low speed is carried out in the two lanes, in the same direction of traffic, the leftmost lanes of a road.
- The lateral space between vehicles traveling in the two leftmost lanes of a roadway must be sufficient
- Circulation between lanes is practiced at a maximum speed of 50 km/h, with a differential of 30 km/h with respect to the rest of the vehicles.
- None of the highway’s travel lanes are under construction or covered in snow or ice.
- Before driving in interrows, the driver notifies other users of his intention
- Motorized vehicles with two or three wheels must not force passage.
- It is prohibited for a vehicle in the lane to overtake another vehicle in the lane.
- When traffic becomes more fluid and vehicles travel at more than 50 km/h in at least one of the two lanes, motorized two- or three-wheeled vehicles must return to their place in the lanes.
Source: BFM TV
