Bicycle passing clearance — Nebraska Permit Test
Bicycle passing clearance on the Nebraska permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
When passing a bicycle going the same direction, a motorist must leave no less than 3 feet of clearance.
A gust of wind or a pothole can push a rider sideways, and a car passing close hits him.
The law requires that motorists overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction must leave a safe distance of no less than three feet clearance, when applicable, when passing a bicycle and shall maintain such clearance until safely past the overtaken bicycle.
A motorist passing a bicycle must keep the passing clearance until safely past the bicycle.
Cutting back in as soon as your bumper clears the bike sweeps the rest of the car across his path.
The law requires that motorists overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction must leave a safe distance of no less than three feet clearance, when applicable, when passing a bicycle and shall maintain such clearance until safely past the overtaken bicycle.
If it is not safe to leave 3 feet of clearance, slow down and wait until it is safe to pass the bicyclist.
Squeezing past to save a few seconds is how a rider gets clipped by a mirror and thrown.
If it is not safe to leave three feet of clearance, the driver should reduce speed and wait until it is safe to pass the bicyclist.
On the test
How much clearance must you leave when passing a bicycle going your way?
No less than 3 feet. A gust of wind or a pothole can push a rider sideways, and a car passing close hits him. Nebraska Driver’s Manual, p.69: “The law requires that motorists overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction must leave a safe distance of no less than three feet clearance, when applicable, when passing a bicycle and shall maintain such clearance until safely past the overtaken bicycle.”
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
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Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Nebraska Driver’s Manual, published by the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/NE.pdf (Nebraska Driver’s Manual, Class O Drivers Manual-English 1-2025, Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-09-14 and re-checked 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/NE.pages.txt (plain pdftotext through scripts/ne-text.py, the fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/NE-exam.txt (Nebraska DMV, Driver Licensing Examiner manual, https://dmv.nebraska.gov/sites/dmv.nebraska.gov/files/doc/dls/DLE_ENTIRE_MANUAL_11222023.pdf, read 2026-10-04; states both exam figures in Section 3; sha256 pinned under examSource)
- https://dmv.nebraska.gov/manuals (read 2026-10-04; links the manual)