Motorcycles and mopeds — North Carolina Permit Test

Give a motorcyclist or moped rider the same right-of-way consideration as any other driver; a motorcycle is entitled to the full width of its lane, and to pass one you must change lanes as you would for a car.

A motorcycle may be small, but its lane is not shared. Passing inside the lane leaves the rider inches from your mirror.

Motorcycles are entitled to the full width of their lane. To pass a motorcycle, you must change lanes and pass in the same manner as you would for a larger motor vehicle;

When you pass a moped or other cyclist, leave enough room that your vehicle’s windstream cannot cause the rider to lose control.

Your car drags a gust of air behind it that can knock a light moped sideways. The room you leave is what the gust has to cross.

You must leave any cyclist enough room when you pass so your vehicle’s windstream cannot cause the rider to lose control.

About two-thirds of motorcycle crashes in North Carolina involve a car, and in most of them the car’s driver is at fault, usually claiming not to have seen the motorcycle.

“I didn’t see him” is the most common sentence after a motorcycle crash, and it is the driver who says it.

About two-thirds of motorcycle crashes in North Carolina involve a car. In most of these crashes, the driver of the car is at fault.

Be especially watchful for motorcycles and mopeds when turning, changing lanes at intersections or entering the road from a driveway; they are hard to see and can be hidden entirely by your blind spots.

A motorcycle fits entirely inside a blind spot. The moment you turn or change lanes is the moment it matters.

Be especially watchful for motorcycles and mopeds while turning or changing lanes at intersections or entering the road from a driveway. Mopeds and motorcycles are difficult to see, and can be entirely hidden by your blind spots.

Never crowd a motorcycle or moped, allow a greater following distance on slippery surfaces because two wheels become unstable easily, and give riders room at railroad crossings and on rough, uneven or metal surfaces.

A motorcycle on a wet road can go down without warning. Following close means running over the rider when it does.

Allow a greater following distance when road surfaces are slippery. It is easier for the motorcycle or moped to become unstable because it has only two wheels in contact with the road surface;

Watch for sand, gravel, wet leaves or water on the pavement that could make a motorcyclist ahead of you fall, and for riders who wobble or hesitate, which are signs of a beginner needing extra room.

What is a patch of gravel to a car is a fall to a motorcycle. Seeing it ahead of the rider is seeing the fall before it happens.

On the road, a cyclist traveling ahead of you could lose control when materials such as sand, gravel, wet leaves or water are on the pavement.

How must you pass a motorcycle?

By changing lanes, as you would to pass a car. A motorcycle may be small, but its lane is not shared. Passing inside the lane leaves the rider inches from your mirror. North Carolina Driver Handbook, p.92: “Motorcycles are entitled to the full width of their lane. To pass a motorcycle, you must change lanes and pass in the same manner as you would for a larger motor vehicle;”