Colorado DMV Permit Practice Test 12
Set twelve is the closest thing on this site to a dress rehearsal. Twenty-five questions, the same topic proportions as the official Driving Knowledge Test, mixed difficulties, and no signposting about which rule any question is testing. The one honest difference is that you get an explanation after each answer, which the real exam does not give you, so use the score as a readiness signal rather than as a prediction. Twenty correct out of twenty-five is eighty percent, which is the passing line in Colorado, but if you are sitting at exactly twenty you are one bad question away from failing on the day; aim for twenty-three before you book. If you score below twenty, go back to whichever topic cost you the most points and take the focused set for that topic before trying this one again.
What is in this set
- Questions
- 25
- same length as the real exam
- Difficulty
- 5 easy · 19 medium · 1 hard
- Topics
- Road signs 5 · Safe driving 4 · Right-of-way 4 · Alcohol and drugs 3 · Speed limits 3 · Emergencies 2 · Vehicle equipment 2 · Licence rules 2
Take this set as a quiz
One question at a time, immediate feedback, and a review page that sends you to the rule you missed. Your answers are saved in this browser only, so you can close the tab and come back.
Study mode — all 25 questions, answers shown
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Question 1 · Alcohol and drugs · medium
Your passenger, an adult of legal drinking age, opens a bottle of beer in the front seat of your car while you are driving on a public road. What does the law say?
- A Only the driver is restricted; passengers may drink lawfully
- B Passengers may drink provided the bottle is resealed afterwards
- C Open containers of alcohol are prohibited in the passenger area of a vehicle on a public road, regardless of whose hand holds them
- D The rule applies only to the driver of a commercial vehicle
Show the answer and why
C is correct. Open-container law targets the vehicle, not the individual: alcohol in the passenger area of a car on a public road must be in its original unopened sea...
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Question 2 · Alcohol and drugs · medium
Which statement best describes how alcohol affects driving well before a driver approaches the legal blood alcohol limit?
- A It lifts confidence without touching measurable driving performance
- B Effectively harmless, since impairment only begins once the limit is close
- C Judgement, vision and divided attention degrade with the earliest drinks, long before the legal threshold
- D Only coordination suffers early; judgement holds much longer
Show the answer and why
C is correct. The legal limit is a prosecutorial threshold rather than a physiological one, and nothing switches on when a driver reaches it.
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Question 3 · Road signs · medium
The signal on your approach to a junction is showing a flashing yellow light. What behaviour does this display call for?
- A Stop fully, then proceed when clear, as with a flashing red
- B Proceed with caution; the flashing yellow does not require a stop
- C Stop and wait for a steady green before entering the junction
- D Increase speed to clear the junction before the display changes
Show the answer and why
B is correct. A flashing yellow means the junction is live but not stopping you: proceed, while yielding to pedestrians and to any conflicting traffic the flashing mo...
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Question 4 · Speed limits · medium
Beyond curves and hills, which additional locations require a driver to reduce speed even where no lower limit is posted?
- A School zones during posted hours only
- B Intersections and railroad crossings
- C Bridges and overpasses with narrow shoulders only
- D None — only curves and hills carry a duty to slow
Show the answer and why
B is correct. The rules list specific situations where slowing is required rather than optional, and intersections and grade crossings appear alongside curves, crests...
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Question 5 · Road signs · easy
Facing a yield sign, when is a driver actually required to come to a complete stop?
- A Only where the road being entered is a through highway
- B Always, before entering the roadway ahead
- C Only when other traffic or pedestrians are present; otherwise reduce speed and proceed
- D Stop first, then proceed without checking a second time
Show the answer and why
C is correct. A yield sign transfers right of way rather than imposing a stop, and the distinction has consequences: a driver who treats it as a stop sign creates a h...
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Question 6 · Alcohol and drugs · medium
A guest at your gathering has clearly had too much to drink and reaches for their car keys. What is the most responsible action?
- A Take the keys, arrange a ride or a bed, and keep them out of the driver's seat
- B Let them go provided they promise to keep to quiet streets
- C Nothing — the moment they walk out the door it becomes their problem
- D Follow behind in your own car to make sure they arrive
Show the answer and why
A is correct. The chance to prevent this closes quietly and long before the engine starts.
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Question 7 · Emergencies · medium
A deer steps into your headlight beam on a dark two-lane road. What gives you the best chance of avoiding a serious crash?
- A Flash the headlights repeatedly to freeze it where it stands
- B Brake firmly in a straight line and sound the horn; do not swerve into opposing lanes or off the road
- C Swerve hard toward whichever side the animal came from
- D Accelerate to clear the animal before it reaches your lane
Show the answer and why
B is correct. Swerving is the reflex and it is the wrong answer, because every alternative the road offers beside you is worse than the animal: opposing traffic, a tr...
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Question 8 · Safe driving · medium
You are overtaking a motorcycle travelling in the centre of its lane on a two-lane road. How should the pass be executed?
- A Pass on the shoulder to shorten the time alongside the rider
- B Sound your horn continuously during the pass to alert the rider
- C Use a full lane's width for the pass, exactly as you would when passing a car
- D Squeeze past within the same lane, because motorcycles are narrow enough to share it
Show the answer and why
C is correct. A motorcycle occupies a full lane and is entitled to all of it, and the pass should give the rider the same full-lane clearance you would give a car.
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Question 9 · Vehicle equipment · medium
You park a manual-gearbox car facing uphill against a raised kerb on a street slope. Which way should the front wheels be turned, and why?
- A Straight ahead, so the car rolls straight if it moves
- B Turned away from the kerb, so that if the parking brake fails the car rolls off the road rather than into traffic
- C Turned toward the kerb, so a rolling car is caught by the tyre resting against it
- D Any position, provided the handbrake is pulled hard
Show the answer and why
B is correct. Uphill with a kerb, the front wheels turn away from it — toward the traffic lane.
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Question 10 · Right-of-way · medium
At a residential intersection with no painted crosswalks and no signals, a person steps off the curb to cross the street where the two sidewalks would meet if extended. What does the law say about this crossing?
- A An unmarked crossing at an intersection is still a legal crossing, and you must yield to the pedestrian in it
- B Pedestrians have priority only where a crosswalk is painted
- C You must yield only if the pedestrian is older than 65
- D The pedestrian is jaywalking and must yield to you
Show the answer and why
A is correct. Every intersection where two sidewalks meet contains a legal crossing whether or not anyone has painted it: the extension of the sidewalk lines across t...
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Question 11 · Speed limits · medium
A driver doubles their speed from 30 mph to 60 mph on the same dry stretch of road. What happens to the distance required to stop?
- A It grows far more than double, because braking distance rises with the square of speed
- B It falls slightly, because speed helps the tyres bite
- C It roughly doubles
- D It stays much the same, since the brakes do the work
Show the answer and why
A is correct. Reaction distance scales linearly with speed, so doubling speed doubles the ground covered before the driver has even touched the pedal.
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Question 12 · Road signs · easy
The large rectangular signs along a highway showing route numbers, exit names and mile distances all share one background colour. What is it, and what does it signal?
- A White, marking regulatory route assignments
- B Blue, marking services available at the exit
- C Yellow, marking navigational hazards ahead
- D Green, marking guidance information: routes, directions and distances
Show the answer and why
D is correct. Green is the colour of the guidance family: route confirmations, destination distances, exit names and junction advance signs.
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Question 13 · Speed limits · medium
Crash research repeatedly links highway collisions to speed differences between vehicles rather than to absolute speed. What practical choice follows from that?
- A Match the fastest vehicle so nobody needs to overtake you
- B Ignore the flow entirely and rely on the posted figures alone
- C Avoid large differences from the prevailing flow, while staying legal and keeping enough distance to stop within what you can see
- D Always travel well below surrounding traffic whatever the flow
Show the answer and why
C is correct. Wide speed differentials manufacture conflicts: somebody overtaking you generates lane changes and closing events, somebody approaching a slow car from...
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Question 14 · Vehicle equipment · medium
After loading a camper and gear, the rear of your vehicle sits low and the headlights visibly point up toward the sky. Why does this matter beyond mere inconvenience?
- A Raised beams improve your own seeing distance at no cost to anyone
- B Only the high-beam circuit is affected by vehicle attitude
- C It does not; headlight aim is fixed at the factory and cannot change with load
- D Rear-sag aims the beams upward, dazzling oncoming drivers while leaving the near road poorly lit, and the aim should be corrected for the trip
Show the answer and why
D is correct. Headlight aim assumes a level vehicle.
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Question 15 · Road signs · medium
On a rural two-lane road you come up behind a tractor displaying a fluorescent orange-red triangular emblem on its rear. What does this emblem indicate?
- A The vehicle normally travels at low speed, and you should prepare to pass only when it is safe and legal
- B The vehicle has right of way through the next intersection
- C The vehicle is a police escort travelling under emergency conditions
- D The vehicle is stopped and abandoned, and may be passed on the shoulder
Show the answer and why
A is correct. The fluorescent orange-red triangle is the slow-moving vehicle emblem, fitted to equipment designed to travel under a threshold far below normal road sp...
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Question 16 · Safe driving · medium
You have just passed a large truck on the highway and want to move back into the right lane. When is it safe to do so?
- A As soon as the truck's cab appears level with your rear bumper
- B Immediately, before the truck has a chance to speed up
- C When the truck driver flashes his headlights at you
- D When you can see both of the truck's headlights in your rear-view mirror
Show the answer and why
D is correct. A tractor-trailer has four blind zones, and the one beside the cab is big enough to swallow a passenger car whole.
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Question 17 · Emergencies · hard
The rear of your vehicle slides out to the right while you are braking through a wet curve. What is the correct correction?
- A Brake harder and steer sharply away from the slide
- B Accelerate hard to straighten the vehicle out
- C Shift into neutral and hold the wheel without steering
- D Ease off the brake and accelerator, then steer gently in the direction the rear is sliding
Show the answer and why
D is correct. A skid means the tyres have run out of grip, and grip cannot be recovered while you keep asking them for something else.
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Question 18 · Safe driving · medium
You are driving along a city street with a row of parked cars on your right. Which lane position gives you the most room to react?
- A As close to the parked cars as the lane allows
- B Weaving gently between both edges so you stay visible
- C Toward the left of your lane, away from the parked cars
- D In the exact centre of the lane under all conditions
Show the answer and why
C is correct. Position is a form of space management that costs nothing and buys time.
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Question 19 · Right-of-way · medium
You are waiting to turn left at a signalised intersection showing a solid green light, with no green arrow. Oncoming traffic is moving through steadily. What does the green light mean for your turn?
- A You may turn whenever a gap opens, and oncoming traffic must slow to let you complete it
- B You must yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians, and turn only when it can be done without interfering
- C You must wait for the light to turn red before starting the turn
- D The solid green gives turning traffic the same priority as a green arrow
Show the answer and why
B is correct. A solid green is a permission to enter the intersection, not a protected permission to turn.
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Question 20 · Right-of-way · medium
A school bus ahead on an undivided road activates its flashing red lights and extends its stop arm while loading children. What must drivers on the road do?
- A Only drivers travelling the same direction must stop if children are visible
- B Only traffic behind the bus must stop; oncoming drivers may pass slowly
- C Everyone must stop for at least five minutes, whatever the road layout
- D Traffic in both directions must stop until the lights stop flashing, unless the road is divided by a physical barrier separating the directions
Show the answer and why
D is correct. Flashing red school bus lights are an absolute stop instruction for traffic in both directions on an undivided road, because children are crossing the r...
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Question 21 · Safe driving · medium
Your phone buzzes with a message while you are driving in steady traffic. What is the safest response?
- A Take a quick look, since one glance is enough to read a short message
- B Leave it until you have pulled somewhere safe and stopped
- C Hold it low against the wheel where nobody can see it
- D Read it at the next red light
Show the answer and why
B is correct. The arithmetic settles it: at fifty miles per hour you travel roughly seventy-five feet every second, so a two-second look means guiding a car blind for...
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Question 22 · Road signs · easy
On a white regulatory sign, a black symbol appears inside a red circle with a red slash running through it. What does this graphical construction communicate?
- A The symbol marks the location of a traffic camera
- B The action shown is mandatory for all vehicles
- C The action shown is permitted only during daylight
- D The action shown by the symbol is prohibited
Show the answer and why
C is correct. The red circle with a diagonal slash is the universal grammar of prohibition: whatever the inner symbol depicts, that movement is forbidden here.
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Question 23 · Licence rules · medium
You lend your car to a friend who holds a valid licence. Your friend runs a red light and hits another vehicle. Whose insurance responds first?
- A Your friend's policy, because your friend was the one driving
- B Neither policy, since only the registered owner may be behind the wheel
- C Both policies split the loss equally, whatever the limits are
- D Your policy on the vehicle, because coverage generally follows the car rather than the driver
Show the answer and why
D is correct. Motor vehicle liability insurance attaches to the vehicle.
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Question 24 · Licence rules · easy
You move across town to a new apartment and your legal name changes after a court order. What is your obligation regarding the licence itself?
- A Notify the DMV and obtain a corrected licence so the record matches your current name and address
- B Write to your county clerk, who maintains driving records
- C Wait until renewal and report everything together
- D Nothing — the licence stays valid until its printed expiry date
Show the answer and why
A is correct. A driving licence is an identity document as much as a permission slip, and a record that no longer matches reality causes problems that compound quietly.
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Question 25 · Right-of-way · easy
You are stopped at a red light at an intersection where no sign prohibits turning right. Under what conditions may you turn right on red?
- A After coming to a complete stop and yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk and to traffic with the green
- B Only when a police officer signals you forward
- C Immediately, because right turns are always permitted on red unless a barrier blocks them
- D After slowing to a rolling pace and checking the mirrors
Show the answer and why
A is correct. A right turn on red is a conditional permission built on a complete stop: full stop behind the line or crosswalk, then yield to every pedestrian crossin...