District of Columbia DC DMV Permit Practice Test 36
- Questions25
- Correct to pass20
- Passing score80%
- Minimum age16 years
-
1. Why should cruise control be switched off on wet, snowy or icy roads?
Show answer
Answer B: It may keep feeding power to a wheel that has started to slip, and cancelling it costs you time
Cruise control holds a set speed regardless of grip, so it can add power just as a tire loses traction, and the extra step of cancelling it delays your response.
-
2. A driver passes this sign on an open road. Over what stretch does the figure it sets stay in force?
Show answer
Answer A: From the sign onward, in every lane, until another sign sets a different figure
The figure governs the road from the sign onward and binds every lane, and it stays in force until a later sign sets a different one.
-
3. A wide solid white line separates the through lanes from an exit lane. What does it tell drivers?
Show answer
Answer B: The choice of lane should already have been made
A channelizing line marks where the paths separate and crossing it is discouraged or prohibited, so the lane change has to happen upstream.
-
4. You are driving along a street lined with parked cars. What should you watch for?
Show answer
Answer B: Doors opening, vehicles pulling out and pedestrians stepping from between cars
Parked cars hide people and can move without warning. Keep as much space from them as you safely can and cover the brake.
-
5. A bike lane on your right is marked with a dashed line for the last stretch before the corner. What does that dashed section allow you to do?
Show answer
Answer D: Merge into the bike lane after checking, and turn right from there
The dashed section is where drivers are meant to merge into the bike lane before turning, which puts cyclists behind the vehicle instead of beside it.
-
6. A vehicle coming toward you has drifted into your lane. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer D: Slow down, sound the horn, flash your lights and steer to the right if possible
Moving right gives the other driver space to recover and keeps you out of the lane they are most likely to return to. Braking reduces the force of any impact.
-
7. The green arrow protecting your turn changes to a steady yellow arrow. What is it telling you?
Show answer
Answer A: The protected turn is ending and you should prepare to stop
A steady yellow arrow warns that the arrow movement is being terminated and that a red indication will follow.
-
8. Traffic safety experts describe three kinds of driver distraction. Which set is correct?
Show answer
Answer A: Visual, manual and cognitive
Distraction takes the eyes off the road, the hands off the controls or the mind off driving, and many activities do more than one of those at once.
-
9. You are parking on a one-way street where parking is allowed on both sides. What must still be true?
Show answer
Answer D: The vehicle must face the direction the traffic flows
Either curb may be used on a one-way street where signs allow it, but the vehicle must always be headed in the direction traffic moves.
-
10. Which of these does NOT affect how fast alcohol reaches the bloodstream?
Show answer
Answer A: How confident the drinker feels
Food, the strength of the drinks and the speed of drinking all change how fast alcohol is absorbed, but a drinker's confidence changes nothing at all.
-
11. You are turning left at an intersection just beyond the crest of a hill. What is the added risk?
Show answer
Answer B: Oncoming vehicles appear with very little warning and close quickly
A crest hides approaching traffic until it is close, so the gap you thought was empty can fill in the time the turn takes.
-
12. You are circulating in the inner lane of a two-lane roundabout, your exit is next, and a vehicle is beside you in the outer lane. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer C: Keep circulating around the island and take that same exit on your next time around
You may not cut across a vehicle in the outer lane; if you cannot exit safely, continue around the circle and try again.
-
13. A rectangular red sign with the white words WRONG WAY means that
Show answer
Answer C: the driver is already traveling against the legal flow and must not continue
The wrong way sign uses a white legend and border on red and addresses a driver who has entered a ramp or one-way roadway in the wrong direction, who should stop and turn around safely.
-
14. You are passing a crash on the other side of a divided highway. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer D: Keep your eyes on your own lane and the traffic around you
Staring at a crash scene, often called rubbernecking, causes sudden slowing and secondary collisions. Your attention belongs on the traffic in front of you.
-
15. How does braking distance change if you double your speed?
Show answer
Answer D: It grows much more than twice as long
Braking distance increases with the square of speed, so doubling speed roughly quadruples the distance needed to stop.
-
16. A regulatory sign posted at the start of a road reads LENGTH LIMIT 30 FEET. What does it control?
Show answer
Answer B: The overall length of vehicle allowed on that road
Some states post a length limit where tight curves or narrow structures lie ahead; it bars vehicles or combinations longer than the figure shown from using that road.
-
17. You are driving on a two-lane road approaching the crest of a hill. Where should you position your vehicle?
Show answer
Answer D: Toward the right side of your lane, in case an oncoming vehicle is over the center line
You cannot see what is beyond a crest, and oncoming drivers sometimes drift across the center. Keeping right and slowing gives you a margin.
-
18. You are in the middle lane of a one-way street with three lanes when a police car approaches from behind with lights and siren. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer C: Pull to the nearest curb and stop clear of the lanes
On a one-way street you clear to whichever curb is closest, so the emergency vehicle gets a clear path down the open lanes.
-
19. You are backing out of a home driveway onto a street with a sidewalk. Who must you yield to?
Show answer
Answer D: All traffic on the street and everyone on the sidewalk
A driver entering the roadway from private property yields to everyone already using the sidewalk and the street.
-
20. Loose gravel has been swept into the middle of your lane on a downhill bend. Which controls are affected most?
Show answer
Answer D: Steering and braking, since the loose stones roll under the tires
Gravel rolls between rubber and pavement, so the tires can neither turn the vehicle nor slow it as they would on a clean surface.
-
21. You are turning right off a street into a parking lot driveway that crosses a bike lane and a sidewalk. Who has the right of way?
Show answer
Answer D: Pedestrians on the sidewalk and riders in the bike lane
Turning into a driveway means crossing the paths of people who were already traveling straight, so you give way to both the bike lane and the sidewalk.
-
22. How does a lap and shoulder belt protect you in a crash?
Show answer
Answer B: It holds you to the seat and spreads the force over the strong bones
The belt keeps you with the vehicle as it slows and puts the load on the hips and the chest rather than on soft tissue.
-
23. Another driver takes a right of way that was legally yours. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer A: Give way to the other driver and avoid the crash, whatever the law says
Right of way is something you give, not something you take, and being in the right is no protection in a collision.
-
24. You are driving at night through heavy falling snow. Which headlight setting works better and why?
Show answer
Answer C: Low beams, because high beams bounce off the falling flakes back at you
Falling snow reflects light the way fog does, so high beams build a white wall of glare while low beams still give a usable view.
-
25. You reach a red light with a sign reading NO TURN ON RED. What may you do?
Show answer
Answer D: Wait for the green; no turn is allowed while the light is red
That sign removes the usual permission to turn on red at the intersection, so you must wait for a green indication.