Idaho Adds Bicycle Questions to Driving Tests
If your driver’s education was anything like mine, you spent far more class time watching grisly, outdated horror films about the perils of teenage driving than learning how to interact with bicycles on the road.
But in Idaho, that hole in the curriculum is about to change. After a five-year-old boy on a bike was hit and dragged by a car in September, the Idaho Department of Transportation decided to add more bicycle questions to the testing process. The young cyclist is now home from the hospital, but his horrible crash is effecting lasting change for bike advocacy and motorist education.
"I think it is fair to say this tragedy kind of opened the discussion," Steve Grant, a spokesperson for the department told the Idaho Statesman.
While bicycle questions were always a part of the general question pool, previously it was possible to get a test that didn’t include them. Now all Idaho drivers’ tests will include at least one bicycle question—a change that will go into effect within the next few weeks.
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This is great news for cyclists in the Gem State. After all, if more motorists are aware of the existence of cyclists in the road and the legal need to share space with them, they’ll be less likely to cause a crash—or get away with feigning ignorance and blamelessness in the event one happens.
Want to check your own knowledge with a little sample of what could be on the Idaho DMV test? Here are a few questions composed from tidbits in Idaho’s driver manual:
What is the minimum passing space that motorists should leave when passing a bicyclist? (3 feet)
How many feet should cyclists ride from the edge of pavement to avoid accumulated edge debris? (3 feet)
If you are preparing for a right turn and a bicyclist is ahead of you, how far behind him or her should you drive until he or she rides past the point where you will turn? (5 to 7 feet)
Does a cyclist need to come to a stop at a stop sign? (No, as long as they yield the right-of-way to vehicles in or already at the intersection, and then proceed with caution through the intersection.)
What can a cyclist do at a red light in Idaho that’s rarely legal elsewhere? (Proceed with caution through the red light after stopping and yielding the right of way to vehicles already in the intersection.)
If you want to know more about your own state’s cycling laws, look up your local Department of Transportation—and get involved in advocacy pushes for more bike education for motorists and cyclists alike.
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