Sharing the road
Ahead of you, a rider on horseback is moving cattle along a rural road. What does the handbook tell you to do?
- Slow down or stop, and follow any directions from the person in charge of the animals. Correct answer
- Tap the horn so the animals move off the road and let you through.
- Pass quickly, since animals are not allowed to share the road with motor vehicles.
Why
Riders on horseback and horse-drawn vehicles have a legal place on the road next to cars. If livestock or other animals are by the road, reduce speed or stop, and continue once it is safe. Whoever is handling the animals may give you directions, and you follow them. Using the horn to clear a path is the kind of thing the law prohibits, since scaring horses or livestock on purpose is illegal. Passing quickly fails twice: it ignores the instruction to slow down, and the animals have every right to be there. A road sign with an animal on it is your early warning to watch for them on or near the road.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is Slow down or stop, and follow any directions from the person in charge of the animals.
The rule behind this one
Sharing the road in California goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on sharing the road
- On a one-way street, a bicyclist is riding near the left curb. Is that allowed?
- When does the handbook allow a bicyclist to ride on the sidewalk?
- A bicyclist is riding in your travel lane and you cannot move into another lane to pass. How much space must you leave between your vehicle and the bicyclist?
- A school bus ahead of you on a two-lane road has stopped and its red lights are flashing. What must you do?