Passing a bicycle — Kentucky Permit Test
Passing a bicycle on the Kentucky permit test — 5 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Where a Kentucky road has more than one lane in the same direction, a driver overtaking a bicycle or electric low-speed scooter moves to the immediate left lane if it is available and reasonably safe.
Changing lanes puts the whole width of a lane between the car and the rider.
If there is more than one (1) lane for traffic traveling in the same direction, move the vehicle to the immediate left, if the lane is available and moving in the lane is reasonably safe
Where a Kentucky road has only one lane in the same direction, a driver passes a bicycle or electric low-speed scooter to the left keeping at least three feet between the vehicle and the rider.
Three feet is about an arm's length, and it is what keeps the rider upright when the car goes by.
If there is only one (1) lane for traffic traveling in the same direction, pass to the left keeping at least three (3) feet between your vehicle and the bicycle or electric low-speed scooter.
A Kentucky driver maintains the three-foot distance until safely past the bicycle or electric low-speed scooter.
Pulling back in beside the rider is the same as never having moved over at all.
Maintain that distance until safely past the bicycle or electric low-speed scooter.
A Kentucky driver uses reasonable caution in passing where there is not room on the roadway for a minimum distance of three feet.
On a narrow road the rule becomes a judgment, and the judgment is the driver's to get right.
Use reasonable caution in passing if space on the roadway is not available to have a minimum distance of three (3) feet between your vehicle and the bicycle or electric low-speed scooter.
A Kentucky driver may drive to the left of the center line, including in a no-passing zone, to pass a bicycle or electric low-speed scooter, only if the roadway to the left is clear for a sufficient distance.
The law bends for a bicycle, but only when there is genuinely nothing coming.
You may drive to the left of the center line, including when there is a no-passing zone, to pass a person operating a bicycle or electric low-speed scooter only if the roadway to the left of the center is clear for a sufficient distance to permit passing the person safely and avoid interference with oncoming traffic.
On the test
What does Kentucky say to do when passing a bicycle on a multi-lane road?
Move the vehicle to the immediate left lane if it is safe. Changing lanes puts the whole width of a lane between the car and the rider. Kentucky Driver Manual, p.48: “If there is more than one (1) lane for traffic traveling in the same direction, move the vehicle to the immediate left, if the lane is available and moving in the lane is reasonably safe”
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
What it costs
- One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
- Free to start: a 10-question test and the first section of cards. No sign-up and no account.
- Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
- Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
- Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Kentucky Driver Manual, published by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-16.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/KY.pdf (Kentucky Driver Manual, Kentucky State Police / Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, retrieved 2026-09-14; no edition statement in the document)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/KY.pages.txt (plain pdftotext over that PDF; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/SOURCES.json (sha256, folio offset 8, folioMarker, nonLawPages, the extraction flag and knowledgeTestBasis, each with its basis)