How much distance between you and other vehicles/obstructions should you maintain on either side of your motorcycle while riding?
- Over a metre of side space margins further when visibility or road conditions are poor.
- Over a metre of side space margins if you are travelling fast.
- At least one metre of space between you and any other vehicle, pedestrian or cyclist in ideal riding conditions.
- All of the above ✓
Answer: D. All of the above
Keep at least one metre of clear space on each side of your motorcycle, and add more when you ride fast or when visibility and road conditions are poor, so all of the listed choices are correct.
Why this is the answer
The handbook sets one metre as the basic side margin: keep that much clear space on either side, away from curbs, sidewalks, medians and any object or road user. When you pass pedestrians, cyclists or other vehicles, it asks for as much room as possible, and one-and-a-half metres once you are travelling 51 km/h or more. It also tells you to widen your side margins further when visibility or road conditions are poor. Each of the other choices describes one piece of that same rule.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Over a metre of side space margins further when visibility or road conditions are poor. — Widening your side space when visibility or road conditions are poor is part of the rule, but on its own it leaves out the basic one-metre margin and the extra room at higher speed.
- B. Over a metre of side space margins if you are travelling fast. — Adding side space when you travel fast is part of the rule, but alone it skips the one-metre minimum and the wider margins for poor conditions.
- C. At least one metre of space between you and any other vehicle, pedestrian or cyclist in ideal riding conditions. — The one-metre minimum in ideal conditions is correct as far as it goes, but it leaves out the larger margins the handbook asks for at speed and in poor conditions.
Remember it
One metre is your everyday bubble on both sides; speed or bad weather only stretches it wider.