Motorcyclists and cyclists

A cyclist or a motorcyclist is narrow, quiet and easily lost against a busy background. They are missed most often when coming up from behind, when emerging from a junction, on a traffic circle, when overtaking you, and when filtering between lanes of slow traffic. Look for them deliberately, because a glance that is only checking for cars will not find them.

Before you pull out of a junction, look again. A motorcycle closes the distance faster than its size suggests, and a driver who has looked once has usually looked only for a car.

When you turn right across a line of slow moving or stationary traffic, expect a rider coming up the inside of the queue you are crossing. Check the mirrors and the blind spot before every change of direction or lane, and give width when you pass.

A rider steers round what a car simply drives over. A pothole, loose gravel, a drain cover or a patch of diesel will move them sideways without warning, so leave them the room to do it and do not sit close behind.

Riders carry obligations of their own, and a learner should know them. A cyclist keeps to the left of motor traffic, holds a regular course instead of weaving through it, and rides single file where possible and never more than two abreast. At night a cycle must show a white light at the front and carry red reflective material at the rear. A motorcyclist and any passenger must wear a securely fastened crash helmet, and a pillion passenger may be carried only on a proper pillion seat fitted with footrests.