What should you do when you encounter a pothole while riding?

When you encounter a pothole while riding, the safest and most appropriate action is to slow down and maneuver around it if it is safe to do so. Potholes can cause significant damage to your motorcycle and pose a serious risk to your safety. By slowing down, you gain better control of your motorcycle and increase your response time to the situation.

Maneuvering around the pothole helps you avoid potential loss of traction, which could lead to a loss of control. It's also important to ensure that swerving around the pothole does not put you in the path of oncoming traffic or other obstacles. By taking this cautious approach, you enhance your safety as a rider and reduce the risk of an accident.

The other options do not prioritize safety; speeding up can lead to damaging impacts or loss of control, ignoring the pothole might put you at risk of hitting it unexpectedly, and riding straight through it can result in a dangerous situation, possibly causing you to lose control or sustain damage to your bike.