When passing a large truck, you should:
- Re-enter your previous lane and immediately slow down.
- Give the truck plenty of space before re-entering your previous lane. ✓
- Re-enter your previous lane whenever you feel like it.
- Re-enter your previous lane when you are directly next to the truck.
Answer: B. Give the truck plenty of space before re-entering your previous lane.
When you pass a large truck, give it plenty of space before you move back into your previous lane.
Why this is the answer
The handbook points out that a fully loaded tractor-trailer needs far more room to stop than a car, and it describes the blind spot behind a truck that the driver cannot see in the mirrors. Those two facts point the same way when you pass: don't cut back in tight in front of the truck. Leave enough room that the truck driver can see you and still have space to react if you slow down.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Re-enter your previous lane and immediately slow down. — Moving back in and then slowing right away puts you close in front of a vehicle that needs much more distance to stop than your car does.
- C. Re-enter your previous lane whenever you feel like it. — Re-entering whenever you feel like it ignores the space a big truck needs and whether its driver can see you at all.
- D. Re-enter your previous lane when you are directly next to the truck. — Coming back over while you are directly beside the truck puts you alongside it, not safely ahead of it, so the driver has no room to see you or react.
Remember it
Pass a truck like you'd merge in front of a train: get fully ahead, see the cab in your mirror, then slide over.