A French Transport Ministry official recently stated that the police would begin pulling over motorcyclists who ‘filter’ (lane split) between cars. The French Federation of Angry Bikers (FFMC) decided to show how this would play out in reality by organising a mass protest with some 40,000 motorcyclists taking part.
The motorcyclists made a point of taking up as much room as a car and not lane splitting. The result was that the Paris ring road suffered from massive congestion for hours on end. To add insult to injury the Metro system was also clogged after hundreds of motorcyclists, wearing full leathers, jammed onto the subway in response to French Transport Secretary Jean-Marc Belotti saying “they can take the metro like everyone else” (if they are told they can’t lane split).
It appears that the protest has worked with Belotti having since met with the FFMC and is currently said to be re-considering the lane splitting decision.
