What must you do about motorcycles when you change lanes on a multi-lane road?
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A.
Trust your side mirrors alone, since a motorcycle at highway speed will show up in them
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B.
Signal your lane change; motorcyclists must hold back once they see the signal
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C.
Check for motorcycles and use your mirrors, because motorcycles disappear in blind spots Correct
The answer is "Check for motorcycles and use your mirrors, because motorcycles disappear in blind spots"
Check for motorcycles and use your mirrors when you change lanes or enter a road. A motorcycle's narrow profile slips into a blind spot the mirror sweep alone can't cover, so the scan is a mirror check plus a shoulder check, not one or the other. Choice A comes from trusting mirrors alone because bigger vehicles are easy to catch in them, and that habit skips the shoulder check a motorcycle-sized profile still needs.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Trust your side mirrors alone, since a motorcycle at highway speed will show up in them
Mirrors leave a blind spot a narrow silhouette can hide inside, which is why the manual pairs 'check for motorcycles' with 'use your mirrors' as a two-step scan rather than a mirror check by itself. This answer assumes bigger vehicles are easy to catch in a mirror and stretches that into permission to skip the shoulder check, when the blind spot still hides a motorcycle in any lane change.
B. Signal your lane change; motorcyclists must hold back once they see the signal
A turn signal announces your intention; it doesn't hand you the lane. Motorcyclists aren't required to yield to a signal, and a signaled move into an occupied lane is still your fault. This answer generalizes the courtesy where a car driver eases off for a blinker into a legal duty motorcyclists don't actually owe a signaled lane change.
This question tests your knowledge of Lane Changes & Merging in California. Source: California Driver Manual, "Sharing the Road: Motorcycles," p.44..
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