Passing

Passing is a four-step procedure. First, establish your pre-pass position in the left third of the lane, scan in front and check your rearview mirror. Second, identify a good passing opportunity. Third, when the opportunity arises, signal your intentions, check your mirror and left blind spot, after passing the vehicle, signal right, check your right blind spot and return the original lane.

Not all motorcycles are capable of passing at high speeds. Some smaller motorcycles are not capable of even low speed passing. The Passing figure illustrates the distances covered for both a high speed and low speed pass. For this example, a high speed pass is defined as a pass where the initial speed is 50 mph and the terminal speed is 80 mph How your motorcycle performs depends on many things, such as your motorcycle's ability to go from 50 mph to 80 mph But, for the purposes of this example, assuming an average 350cc motorcycle, and an average passing speed of 65 mph, a high speed pass will cover about 1,100 feet and require about 12 seconds to complete. A low speed pass is defined as a pass where the initial speed is 20 m.p.h. and the terminal speed is 35 m.p.h. Assuming that the motorcycle is a typical 125cc bike, a low speed pass covers about 400 feet and takes about 8 seconds to execute.

When passing or being passed, there is generally a large wake of air turbulence being plowed by many large vehicles. This turbulence is strong enough to push even small cars out of the lane. Anticipate the wake.