Bicycles — North Carolina Permit Test

Bicycles are vehicles: bicyclists must obey the same traffic laws as drivers, including DWI laws, and may use the full travel lane.

A bicycle is traffic. It stops at the same signs and is held to the same drinking laws as the car beside it.

Because bicycles are vehicles, bicyclists must obey the same traffic laws as other drivers, this includes DWI laws.

Motorists should expect bicyclists in the road and understand that traffic conditions may require a bicyclist to use the full travel lane; bicyclists may ride in bike lanes, on paved shoulders or in regular lanes.

A rider takes the lane where the edge is unsafe, at a pinch point or a turn. The law lets them, and the driver waits.

Motorists should expect to see bicyclists in the roadway and understand that traffic operations may require bicyclists to make use of the full travel lane.

Drivers may pass a bicyclist only when there is abundant clearance and no oncoming traffic in the opposing lane; the safest way to pass is to change lanes.

A bicycle can wobble a foot or two without warning. Changing lanes puts the whole width of a lane between you and that wobble.

The safest way to pass a bicyclist is to change lanes.

Bicyclists must ride on the right side of the road, with the flow of traffic, stop for stop signs and red lights, and give hand signals; riding against traffic is dangerous because motorists do not look that way.

A driver pulling out looks left for traffic. A bicycle coming from the right, against the flow, is in the direction nobody checks.

Ride right, with the traffic, NOT facing traffic.

At night a bicycle must have a front light visible for at least 300 feet and a red rear light or reflector visible for at least 200 feet.

An unlit bicycle at night is invisible until the headlights reach it, which is too late. The lights are what make it a thing you can see.

At night, the law requires that a bicycle be equipped with a light on the front visible for a distance of at least 300 feet and a red light or reflector on the rear visible for a distance of at least 200 feet.

All bicycle riders and passengers under 16 must wear an approved helmet, and a passenger under 40 pounds or under 40 inches tall must ride in a bicycle restraining seat.

A child’s head is the part a fall reaches first. The helmet law covers every rider and passenger under 16.

All bicycle riders and passengers under age 16 must wear an approved protective bicycle helmet and must be seated on a saddle seat.

Watch for the left cross, drive out and right hook, the three common car-bicycle collisions, because bicycles are narrow, ride at the right of the lane and are easy to miss.

A bicycle takes up a fraction of a lane and sits where a mirror is weakest. The crashes come from drivers who never saw it.

Bicycles are narrow and typically operate at the right of the lane, so they may be obscured and difficult to detect.

Under North Carolina law, what is a bicycle?

A vehicle, subject to the same traffic laws as cars. A bicycle is traffic. It stops at the same signs and is held to the same drinking laws as the car beside it. North Carolina Driver Handbook, p.89: “Because bicycles are vehicles, bicyclists must obey the same traffic laws as other drivers, this includes DWI laws.”