Sharing with bicyclists — Vermont Permit Test
Sharing with bicyclists on the Vermont permit test — 7 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Under state law bicyclists have the right to ride on all roads unless they are specially prohibited, as on limited-access highways like the Interstate.
A bicyclist on a main road is where they are allowed to be, which is worth knowing before you get impatient.
Under state law bicyclists have the right to operate on all roads, unless they are specially prohibited, such as on limited-access highways like the Interstate.
Bicyclists have the same rights and duties as motor vehicle operators, and the same traffic rules apply to them.
Treating a bicycle as traffic rather than as an obstacle is what makes the rest of the rules make sense.
The same traffic rules and regulations for vehicle drivers apply to bicyclists.
Leave at least four feet of passing space between the right side of your vehicle and a bicyclist.
Four feet is what it takes for a rider to swerve around a pothole without ending up under your mirror.
Leave at least four feet of passing space between the right side of your vehicle and a bicyclist.
If the road is too narrow for motor vehicles and bicycles to travel safely side by side, wait until it is safe to pass without forcing the rider off the side of the road.
Squeezing past on a narrow road leaves the rider the shoulder or the ditch, and neither is a real choice.
If the road is too narrow for motor vehicles and bicycles to ride safely side by side, wait until it is safe to pass the bicyclist without forcing them off the side of the road.
Do not honk at a bicyclist unless you have good cause to warn them. The loud noise could startle the rider and make them lose control.
A horn a foot behind a rider does not move them over. It makes them swerve.
Do not honk at a bicyclist unless you have good cause to warn them.
Two bicyclists may legally ride side by side. Slow down until it is safe to pass, or give them time to adjust their position.
Riding two abreast is legal, so waiting is the only lawful way past.
Be aware that two bicyclists may legally ride side by side.
When turning left at an intersection, yield to oncoming bicyclists just as you would to oncoming motorists. Bicyclists may be traveling faster than you realize.
A bicycle closes the gap faster than it looks as if it should, and the turn is made on that misjudgment.
Bicyclists may be traveling faster than you realize, so give them adequate space.
On the test
Where may a bicyclist ride in Vermont?
On all roads except where they are specially prohibited. A bicyclist on a main road is where they are allowed to be, which is worth knowing before you get impatient. 2025 Vermont Driver's Manual, p.40: “Under state law bicyclists have the right to operate on all roads, unless they are specially prohibited, such as on limited-access highways like the Interstate.”
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 2025 Vermont Driver's Manual, published by the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-15.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/VT.pdf (2025 Vermont Driver's Manual, form VN-007, retrieved 2026-09-14)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/VT.pages.txt (pdftotext -layout over that PDF; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/SOURCES.json (sha256, folio offset 1, folioMarker, nonLawPages, signGalleryPages and the extraction flag, each with its basis)