Scanning and Anticipating Virginia Road Hazards

Virginia doesn't give you one kind of road. You get all of them. In the same afternoon you can be stuck behind a tourist bus in Virginia Beach and then thirty minutes later be the only vehicle on a two-lane near Suffolk with cornfields on both sides. That's why scanning matters more here than in flatter, simpler states.

The DMV test will throw scenarios at you. A car waiting to turn left. Somebody stepping off the curb in Norfolk over by ODU, or a pothole sitting in the shadow under an I-64 overpass in Newport News where you can barely make it out. What the test really wants to know is whether you'd have caught it soon enough to deal with it calmly instead of panicking.

Here's what works. I tell my students to keep their eyes moving every couple of seconds, from the road right in front of you out to way up ahead, with a glance in each mirror before you come back to the road again. Check your escape route constantly. On a motorcycle you don't have a steel cage. Your escape route is your only airbag. So if a pickup starts drifting into your lane on I-264 by the Downtown Tunnel, you ought to already know whether there's open shoulder over there. Check if a jersey wall blocks it. The test will offer more than one answer that sounds correct. One says brake hard. The other says change lane position. The correct one usually involves the escape route you identified before the hazard even appeared.

This one trips people up.

Don't stare at the bumper ahead. Look through the car in front. Look at the road surface beyond it. In Portsmouth, that might be a drawbridge grate. In Alexandria, it might be a jaywalker. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles calls it "searching ahead." Seeing things coming early is honestly what keeps you alive out here in Virginia.

Deer, Wildlife, and Rural Two-Lane Dangers

Ride outside Virginia cities and you'll meet deer. Even some city rides have them. Maybe not today. Maybe not this month. But ride enough at dawn or dusk on the Southside or through the Shenandoah Valley and it's not a matter of if. It's when.

The test questions love deer scenarios. Here's the thing they want you to know: do not swerve. Swerving is the natural reaction. It's also the wrong one. You swerve to miss the deer, you end up in the opposite lane or off the shoulder into a ditch. The DMV wants controlled braking. Do these three things.

• Brake firmly.
• Stay in your own lane instead of diving for the shoulder.
• Hold the bike upright and pointed straight while it slows.

And if you end up hitting the deer anyway, I'd still take that over the alternative. That's better than a head-on with a logging truck on I-81.

Early morning and right around sunset are when I see the most of them, because that's when they're moving in little groups between where they bed down and where they feed. If one crosses, expect another. I'd ease off the gas and keep a couple of fingers on the brake lever. Scan the tree line. In rural Chesapeake or southern Virginia Beach, the fields and woods come right up to the road. The deer can appear in one second.

A test question may describe a deer running into the road ahead. It then asks what you should do. Two answers sound good. One of them says to swerve into the empty lane, and the right one says to brake firmly and stay where you are, and it's that word "empty" that pulls people in. You don't know that lane is empty. Your check two seconds ago doesn't count. Brake and hold your line. The DMV wants that answer.

Gravel, Fog, and Mountain-Road Surface Hazards

The Blue Ridge is beautiful. Gravel likes to pile up right in the middle of the curves, and come October the wet leaves pack down into a layer that's slicker than ice in some spots. Both can slide your tires out. Fog on Afton Mountain can drop visibility to fifty feet in the time it takes to finish a song.

The Virginia motorcycle test will ask about surface hazards a lot. Not because the DMV is obsessed with gravel, but because motorcycles react to surface changes in ways cars don't. A car hits a patch of loose gravel and the driver barely feels it. A motorcycle hits it and the front tire can wash out.

The test asks what to do first. Reduce speed before the hazard. Not during. Don't brake on gravel. Doing that is how the tires start sliding, so get your braking done while you're still on clean pavement and then roll across the gravel with the throttle held steady. Avoid sudden inputs. Keep your weight centered. Let the bike move a little. Fighting it makes it worse.

Fog is a different animal. Down in Tidewater it rolls in off the water and just parks itself on the road, and out on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel you can get fog and wind restrictions at the same time. When the test asks about fog, the answer they want is that you come off the gas, run your low beams and leave a lot more room between you and the car ahead.

High beams in fog just reflect back at you. That's a classic test answer. They'll offer "use high beams for better visibility" and it's wrong every time.

Where you sit in the lane makes a big difference up in the mountains, so if there's gravel along the right edge I'd ride in the left tire track, and if the oncoming cars keep cutting over the center line you scoot over to the right. The test asks about lane position constantly. The answer is almost never "stay in the center of the lane." That's where oil and debris collect. You're better off riding in one of the tire tracks where the pavement's clean.

Traffic Hazards in Northern Virginia Congestion

Northern Virginia is a different planet. Traffic on I-95, I-395, I-66 and the Beltway gets heavy, and those drivers are in a big hurry and packed in tight. For a motorcyclist, it's a video game where every car is trying to merge into you. The hazard awareness questions based on NoVA traffic are all about intersections, turning cars, and door zones.

Intersections are the number one place motorcycles get hit. A car turning left in front of you is the classic killer. The driver doesn't see you. Or maybe they do see you and just guess wrong about how fast you're coming. The test wants you expecting that left-turner, so you roll off the gas as you get close and get your fingers on the brake. Move to a lane position that makes you more visible. Don't assume the driver sees you just because you have your headlight on.

Door zones are another big one. Parked cars line the streets in Alexandria and Arlington. A driver opens a door without looking. You have one second to react. The answer on the test is to ride far enough away from parked cars that an open door can't reach you. That might mean taking more of the lane. Do it. If the parked cars are close enough that a door could get you, I'd take the lane and not feel bad about it.

The test often asks how to be seen at busy Richmond or Norfolk intersections. Usually they're looking for you to make yourself easy to see ahead of time rather than just reacting after a driver misses you.

• Wear something bright, like a hi-vis vest over your jacket.
• Use your headlight.
• Choose a visible lane position.

Leave space. Don't tailgate. On I-64 around Hampton Roads the stop-and-go traffic will slam to a halt out of nowhere, so you want enough room up front to either stop or get around it.

A question might show a car waiting to turn left across your path. You think, "I have the right of way." The test doesn't care about right of way. It cares about you not getting hit, so the answer they're after is to slow down and move over to the right while you get ready to stop.

How to Sharpen Virginia Hazard Awareness

You can't memorize hazard awareness. Use va motorcycle hazard awareness practice to train your eyes for early danger. The Virginia DMV motorcycle practice test helps with that. Repeated scenarios make your reaction automatic.

Your first step is a cold practice test. See where you miss. Most people miss the deer question. Or the fog question. Or the one about gravel. Then I'd go back and read whatever part of the motorcycle manual covers the ones you missed and take the test again, because doing it over and over is how the scanning turns into a habit.

When you ride, talk to yourself. "Car at the intersection. Pedestrian on the right. Gravel ahead." It sounds silly, but it works. What you're really doing is making your eyes go hunting for trouble, and after a few weeks of it you'll notice you're scanning without even trying.

Time pressure makes you misread. On the real test you're going to feel a little rushed, so take a breath and read the question again, watching for the words "not" and "except." The DMV loves those. When a question says "all of the following are correct except," you're hunting for the one answer that's wrong, and if you go too fast you'll spot a right answer first and grab it.

Practice tests are also how you get used to the way the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles words its questions, since they've got their own style. They use "should" not "could." You'll see "first" all over the place, and when they ask "What should you do first?" the answer is usually going to be slowing down or checking your mirrors. Not honk. Not swerve. Not accelerate.

I've watched a lot of people miss that kind of question.

When you're scoring around 90% on practice tests time after time, I'd call you ready, but if the same topic keeps getting you, go study that topic instead of retaking the test and hoping it goes better. That's how people fail the real thing.

Virginia Hazard Awareness FAQs

What hazards does the Virginia motorcycle test cover?

The Virginia motorcycle test covers these hazards:

• Deer and wildlife on rural roads
• Gravel and wet leaves on mountain routes
• Fog in the Blue Ridge and Tidewater
• Heavy traffic hazards in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads
• Intersection dangers and door zones
• Stuff on the road surface, like the metal drawbridge grates you'll ride over in Chesapeake and Norfolk

How should riders react to deer in Virginia?

You brake firmly and hold your lane. Do not swerve. If you swerve you might end up in the oncoming lane or off in the ditch. Deer usually move in groups, so when one crosses I'd assume there's another one right behind it, and I'd ride slower around dawn and dusk on the two-lane roads out by Suffolk, Chesapeake or up in the Shenandoah Valley.

How do gravel and fog affect Virginia riders?

Gravel takes away your grip and can wash the front tire out, so get slowed down before you hit it, not once you're on it, and keep the throttle steady with no sudden moves. Fog makes it hard to see anything, and you'll want your low beams on and a lot more following distance, since high beams just bounce back at you and make it worse. This matters on mountain roads and near the coast.

What traffic hazards matter most in Northern Virginia?

Watch for these hazards in Northern Virginia:

• Intersections with left-turning cars
• Door zones from parked vehicles
• Sudden stops in heavy congestion

Drivers up in NoVA tend to be pushy and a lot of them are looking at their phones, so make sure they can see you and keep some room around you with a way out if something goes wrong. The test asks about these scenarios constantly.

How can riders improve hazard awareness for the Virginia test?

I'd take the dmv virginia motorcycle practice test more than once and read the parts of the motorcycle manual on scanning and road surface hazards, and when you're out riding, try saying the hazards out loud as you spot them. Anytime you miss a question, go study that topic before you take the test again, and after enough rounds of that the scanning just sticks with you.