Lane Positioning, Sharing the Road, and Following Distance
Lane-position and following-distance questions are the ones riders most often answer with a guess. The exam wants you to see the lane as three usable tracks with different trade-offs, and to treat two seconds as a floor, not a target.
The three lane positions
- Left third - best view around traffic ahead and the position most likely to put you in an oncoming driver's line of sight; but it is closest to oncoming traffic.
- Right third - good view of side streets and driveways on your right, which is exactly where cars nose out; also closest to parked cars and their opening doors.
- Center - where oil drips, chain lube and coolant collect. It is greasy in dry weather and treacherous in the first minutes of rain. Cross it; don't live in it.
Pick a position block by block based on what threatens you most, and change it as conditions change. Do not share a lane with a car - lane splitting and lane sharing with cars are not legal in Kentucky - and ride where a driver's mirrors will catch you.
Following distance
Two seconds behind the vehicle ahead on dry pavement in daylight is the minimum. Add a second for rain, gravel, darkness, a heavy load or a passenger, and add more behind a truck or any vehicle that blocks your view of the road ahead.
Worked example
You are two seconds behind a pickup whose bed is stacked with unsecured furniture. You cannot see the pavement past the tailgate, so you get no warning when a mattress slides out. The correct response is to drop back to four seconds and shift to a position that lets you see around the load - ideally into another lane - so you have both time and an escape path.
Traps
Treating two seconds as safe in rain; sitting in the center strip; riding in a blind spot because you can see the driver.