Motorcycle behavior — New York Permit Test
Motorcycle behavior on the New York permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
A motorcyclist may quickly change speed or lane position to avoid loose gravel, debris, seams or grooves in the pavement, sewer or access covers or small animals.
What a car rolls over can put a bike on its side. The rider has to move for it.
The motorcyclist may quickly change speed or lane position to avoid loose gravel, debris, seams or grooves in the pavement, sewer or access covers or small animals.
When approaching a railroad crossing a motorcyclist may decrease speed and rise off the seat to cushion the rough crossing, and change direction to go across the tracks at a right angle.
Rails and timbers make the surface rough. Standing on the pegs lets the legs take it.
When approaching a railroad crossing, a motorcyclist may decrease speed and rise off the seat to cushion the rough crossing and change direction to go across the tracks at a right angle.
On steel deck bridges a motorcyclist may move to the center of the lane to adjust for the uneven surface, so a driver should stay a good distance behind.
Steel grating pulls a bike from side to side. The rider needs room while it does.
On steel deck bridges the motorcyclist may move to the center of the lane to adjust for the surface that is not even.
A driver should not tailgate a motorcycle, because motorcycles can stop in a shorter distance than cars under the right conditions and it may be more difficult to notice that they are slowing.
A bike can out-brake a car and shows it less clearly. Both argue for more room.
Don’t tailgate. Motorcycles can stop in a shorter distance than cars – under the right conditions.
If it is raining or dark a driver should give motorcycles even more space.
Rain costs a rider grip and darkness costs them visibility. Space covers both.
If it’s raining, or dark, give motorcycles even more space.
A driver should be careful when they pass a motorcyclist, because like bicycles the air pressure created by vehicles as they quickly pass by can affect motorcycles.
A truck going past shoves air at the rider. It can move the bike across the lane.
Be careful when you pass a motorcyclist.
On the test
Why may a motorcyclist suddenly change lane position?
To avoid gravel or a sewer cover. What a car rolls over can put a bike on its side. The rider has to move for it. New York State Driver's Manual, p.73: “The motorcyclist may quickly change speed or lane position to avoid loose gravel, debris, seams or grooves in the pavement, sewer or access covers or small animals.”
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 New York State Driver's Manual, published by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-15.