A driver should be extra alert to motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians because:
- They’re difficult to see in traffic. ✓
- They obey different traffic laws than larger motor vehicles.
- They always have the right-of-way.
- They don’t have rearview mirrors.
Answer: A. They’re difficult to see in traffic.
A driver should be extra alert because motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians are difficult to see in traffic.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's sharing-the-road section tells you to watch for motorcycles and look carefully before entering an intersection or changing lanes. It explains that a motorcycle takes up less of your field of vision, which interferes with depth perception, so it can look much farther away than it is. The same small size makes these road users easy to miss when you scan for traffic. Because they are hard to pick out, you have to search for them deliberately instead of waiting for them to catch your eye.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. They obey different traffic laws than larger motor vehicles. — The passage never says smaller road users follow a different set of traffic laws; it says every driver, motorcyclist, moped rider, pedestrian, and bicyclist must do everything possible to avoid a crash.
- C. They always have the right-of-way. — Nothing in the passages gives these road users an automatic right-of-way over you; right-of-way rules decide who goes first in each situation.
- D. They don’t have rearview mirrors. — Rearview mirrors are not discussed in these passages at all, so that is not the reason given for being extra alert.
Remember it
Small profile, big blind spot: if a road user is narrow enough to hide behind a mirror or pillar, assume they are there and look twice before you move.