Indiana Motorcycle Permit Test

A properly chosen lane position can optimize a number of safety factors. Your lane position should keep you out of other vehicles’ blind spots, increase your ability to see and be seen, help you avoid surface hazards, help you avoid wind blasts from other vehicles, and provide you with an escape route from any hazards that might arise. You should be positioned in a way that discourages other drivers from trying to share your lane.

For your protection, you should always wear a long-sleeved jacket when riding, even in warm weather when you may not think you need a jacket. It can help protect you against the sun and dehydration in hot weather.

When riding in a group, riders should maintain close ranks while also allowing adequate space cushions around each rider. Staying close together makes the group easier to see and reduces the risk that riders will become separated. Riders should not pair up because doing so does not allow adequate room for them to maneuver.

Blind spots, by definition, are areas that you cannot see by just looking in your mirrors. Turn your head to the side and check over your shoulder for vehicles in your blind spot before you change lanes.

An expanded cushion of space is needed if your motorcycle will take longer than normal to stop. If the pavement is slippery, if you cannot see through the vehicle ahead of you, or if traffic is heavy and another driver may try to squeeze in front of you, open up to a larger following distance.

All motorcycles are slightly different, so you should check the controls and make sure you know the gear pattern before riding an unfamiliar motorcycle. Work the throttle, clutch, and brakes a few times prior to riding.