Lane splitting in Nebraska is illegal. State law prohibits riding a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent rows of vehicles, and it draws no distinction between moving and stopped traffic. The ticket itself is small. The consequences that follow a crash are not.
What the Statute Says
Nebraska Revised Statute 60-6,308 does two things for motorcyclists. It guarantees you full use of a traffic lane, meaning no car or truck can crowd you out of your lane space. It also flatly prohibits operating a motorcycle between lanes of traffic or between adjacent lines or rows of vehicles.1Justia Law. Nebraska Revised Statutes 60-6,308 – Operating Motorcycles on Roadways Laned for Traffic; Prohibited Acts
The statute does not separate “lane splitting” (riding between moving cars) from “lane filtering” (moving between stopped cars at a light or in a backup). Some states have begun treating those two scenarios differently. Nebraska treats them the same. Weaving through a slow highway jam and threading past cars at a red light are both violations.
The one carve-out in the statute is for peace officers performing official duties.1Justia Law. Nebraska Revised Statutes 60-6,308 – Operating Motorcycles on Roadways Laned for Traffic; Prohibited Acts There is no exception for congested traffic, for slow speeds, or for a momentary maneuver.
The Fine, the Points, and Your License
The direct financial penalty is smaller than most riders expect. Nebraska’s waiver fine schedule sets the fine for a motorcycle lane restriction violation at $25.00, plus court costs.2Nebraska Judicial Branch. Nebraska Court Rules – Waiver Fine Schedule
The driving-record hit is where the longer-term cost sits. A motorcycle lane violation adds one point to your record under Nebraska’s point system.3Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. Nebraska Point System One point on its own won’t take your license. Points stack, though. Accumulate 12 or more within any two-year window and your license faces automatic revocation for six months on a first offense, or three years if it’s your second revocation within five years.4Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. Point Revocations
Reinstatement after a point revocation requires filing proof of financial responsibility, typically an SR-22, which has to stay on file with the DMV for three years.4Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. Point Revocations SR-22 filings almost always raise your premiums, and they follow you for the full three years regardless of where you live.
What a Lane-Splitting Ticket Does to a Crash Claim
This is where the stakes become serious. Nebraska follows a modified comparative negligence rule. Your compensation after an accident is reduced by your percentage of fault, and if a court finds you more than 50 percent responsible, you recover nothing at all.
Violating a traffic law at the moment of a crash is strong evidence of negligence. If you were between lanes when another driver merged into you, that driver’s insurer will point to your violation of 60-6,308 and argue you caused or substantially contributed to the collision.1Justia Law. Nebraska Revised Statutes 60-6,308 – Operating Motorcycles on Roadways Laned for Traffic; Prohibited Acts Even if the other driver was clearly careless, the statutory violation gives adjusters and defense attorneys an easy argument to shift fault onto you.
In practice, splitting lanes at the time of a crash can push your share of fault past the 50 percent threshold that bars recovery entirely. The $25 ticket is a nuisance. Losing a six-figure injury claim because you were between lanes is a different kind of problem.
Defenses That Actually Have a Chance
The statutory language leaves almost no room to argue the law. The realistic defenses challenge the facts instead.
The strongest factual argument is that you never left your own lane. Nebraska law guarantees motorcycles full use of a lane, so riding near a lane line is not the same as riding between lanes. If you can show the bike stayed inside its lane and was only positioned toward one side, you haven’t violated the statute. Dashcam footage, a passenger’s account, or a credible independent witness is the kind of evidence that supports this.
An emergency necessity argument is theoretically available but hard to win. If you moved between lanes specifically to avoid an immediate hazard, such as a vehicle swerving at you, you can argue the maneuver was needed to prevent serious harm. Courts set a high bar. The threat has to be immediate and concrete, not a general sense that traffic felt dangerous, and you have to show no safer option was available.
Is the Law Likely to Change?
Not soon. As of 2026, California is still the only state that permits full lane splitting in moving traffic, which it legalized in 2016.5California Legislative Information. California Assembly Bill 51 – Vehicles: Motorcycles: Lane Splitting A handful of other states, including Utah, Arizona, Montana, Colorado, and Minnesota, have legalized lane filtering between stopped cars under strict speed and road-type conditions.6Ride to Live Utah. Lane Filtering
Nebraska has not introduced legislation to legalize or even study the practice, and no bill is pending. Motorcycle advocacy groups, including the American Motorcyclist Association, continue to push for lane-filtering laws nationally, citing research on rear-end collision risk in stopped traffic. For now, that pressure has not reached the Nebraska legislature.
One Note If You Ride Across State Lines
Among Nebraska’s immediate neighbors, Colorado is the only one that allows lane filtering, and only under its own specific conditions. Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, and Wyoming all prohibit lane splitting and filtering the same way Nebraska does. If you cross into Colorado, read that state’s rules before assuming you can move between cars; crossing any other border changes nothing about the rule you’re already riding under.