Colorado DMV Permit Practice Test 3
Right-of-way is where confident drivers lose marks, because most of what people believe about it is habit rather than rule. This set concentrates on intersections: four-way stops, uncontrolled crossings, left turns across oncoming traffic, roundabouts, and the moments when a pedestrian, a cyclist, or an emergency vehicle changes who has to yield. Several questions are written so that the polite answer and the legal answer are different, which is intentional, since the exam grades the legal answer. If you find yourself choosing based on what feels courteous, stop and ask what the rule actually assigns, because Colorado assigns right-of-way by rule and expects drivers to follow it even when another driver waves them through. Pair this set with the intersections section of the handbook before your appointment.
What is in this set
- Questions
- 25
- same length as the real exam
- Difficulty
- 6 easy · 15 medium · 4 hard
- Topics
- Right-of-way 7 · Safe driving 4 · Speed limits 3 · Alcohol and drugs 3 · Emergencies 2 · Licence rules 2 · Vehicle equipment 2 · Road signs 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 · Right-of-way · easy
You are reversing out of a perpendicular parking space in a busy supermarket car park and a car drives past behind you along the aisle. Who is required to yield?
- A The moving car, because you signalled your intention to reverse
- B Neither, because private car parks are not governed by right-of-way rules
- C You, because a reversing vehicle must yield to traffic using the travel lane
- D Whoever moves first establishes the right of way
Show the answer and why
C is correct. A driver moving in reverse is responsible for the safety of the manoeuvre and must yield to traffic using the aisle as a travel lane.
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Question 2 · 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 3 · Safe driving · medium
Another driver cuts you off, gestures angrily, and then begins following you closely. What is the safest response?
- A Slow slightly and gesture back, so they know you are not intimidated
- B Do not respond, avoid eye contact, and head for a public place or police station if they keep following
- C Brake firmly to discourage the tailgating
- D Pull over immediately and settle it verbally
Show the answer and why
B is correct. Nothing you can do by way of reply improves this situation, and several available replies make it worse.
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Question 4 · Safe driving · hard
You are waiting to turn left and see a motorcycle approaching in the opposite lane, apparently some distance off. What is the safest judgement?
- A Sound the horn and then complete the turn
- B Turn promptly so the rider has plenty of time to brake
- C Treat the gap exactly as you would for a car and turn now
- D Wait — a motorcycle is narrower than it appears and its closing speed is harder to judge than a car's
Show the answer and why
D is correct. Motorcycles defeat distance perception in two separate ways at once.
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Question 5 · Safe driving · medium
Late at night you realise you cannot remember the past several kilometres and your eyes keep closing. What is the only effective countermeasure?
- A Keep the interior light on and take a different route
- B Turn the radio up and open the window
- C Stop somewhere safe and sleep — nothing else reverses fatigue at that stage
- D Drink an energy drink and push on to the next stop
Show the answer and why
C is correct. Fatigue is not a mood that can be distracted away; it is a state of the nervous system.
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Question 6 · 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 7 · 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 8 · 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 9 · Vehicle equipment · medium
Your vehicle is fitted with anti-lock brakes and something steps into your path. What is the correct way to use them in an emergency stop?
- A Brake halfway and release repeatedly to keep the wheels turning
- B Use the parking brake instead, which stops faster on dry roads
- C Pump the pedal rapidly, since that is how you avoid a skid
- D Press hard and hold steady pressure while steering — do not pump
Show the answer and why
D is correct. Anti-lock brakes exist to do something no human foot can manage: modulate each wheel dozens of times a second, holding each tyre just short of the point...
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Question 10 · Safe driving · medium
On an urban street, a coach tells you to keep your eyes moving and to look well down the road rather than at the car directly ahead. What is the practical reason for scanning far ahead?
- A It buys you decision time, so hazards and changing conditions are seen early enough to respond smoothly instead of braking late
- B It is required so that you never need to check your mirrors
- C It improves fuel economy by encouraging steady low speeds
- D It lets you drive faster, because you can see traffic lights change earlier
Show the answer and why
A is correct. Looking far ahead converts driving from reaction into anticipation.
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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 · 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 13 · Emergencies · medium
Smoke begins seeping from the edges of your bonnet while you are driving. What is the safest sequence of actions?
- A Open the bonnet at once to find the source, then call emergency services
- B Pour water over the bonnet from whatever container is in the car
- C Pull off the road, shut off the engine, get everyone clear and call emergency services — never open a smoking bonnet
- D Keep driving to the nearest service station, since the airflow will put it out
Show the answer and why
C is correct. The sequence matters more than the speed of it.
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Question 14 · Vehicle equipment · medium
A driver places a young child on their lap in the front passenger seat for a short trip and fastens only their own belt. What is wrong with this?
- A A lap-held passenger is unrestrained — crash forces tear them from the adult's arms and a front airbag adds serious injury risk
- B It is acceptable for trips entirely within city limits
- C It is acceptable provided the airbag has been deactivated
- D Nothing, provided the driver is belted and drives carefully
Show the answer and why
A is correct. The physics are unforgiving and they operate at city speeds.
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Question 15 · Road signs · easy
What single visual feature distinguishes construction and maintenance signs from every other category of road sign?
- A They always state a reduced numeric speed limit
- B They are purely advisory and may be ignored when no workers are visible
- C Their fluorescent orange background, used nowhere else
- D They are the only diamond-shaped signs in the system
Show the answer and why
C is correct. Orange is reserved exclusively for temporary traffic control, so the colour alone tells a driver two things before a single word is read: the road ahead...
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Question 16 · Right-of-way · medium
You are travelling in the right lane of a busy urban freeway and traffic is merging from a busy on-ramp directly ahead. What is the most helpful and safe response?
- A Brake steadily so merging traffic can enter wherever it likes
- B Speed up to pass the merge area before any merging vehicle can reach your position
- C Hold your speed and lane exactly, because merging traffic must always yield to you
- D Adjust your speed to open a clear gap for a merging vehicle, or move left if it is safe and practical
Show the answer and why
D is correct. Legally, merging traffic is expected to fit into the flow, but the flow that makes room merges better than the flow that does not, and predictability is...
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Question 17 · Speed limits · hard
You are driving an unlit rural road at night on low beam. What does the term 'overdriving your headlights' mean?
- A Fitting bulbs brighter than the vehicle's rating permits
- B Driving with high beams lit while another vehicle approaches
- C Driving with the lamps mis-aimed above the horizon line
- D Travelling at a speed where your stopping distance exceeds the distance lit ahead of you
Show the answer and why
D is correct. Low beam reaches roughly sixty to a hundred metres ahead, and at night that pool of light is the whole of the information a driver has.
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Question 18 · Right-of-way · medium
A patrol car sits on the shoulder ahead with its lights flashing and an officer standing beside the vehicle they have pulled over. What does the law require of you?
- A Nothing special — passing in the nearest lane at the posted limit is fine
- B Stop behind the patrol car until the officer waves you through
- C Move a lane away from the stopped vehicle if that is safe, or drop well below the limit where a lane change is not possible
- D Sound the horn so everyone knows you are passing
Show the answer and why
C is correct. Move-over rules exist because of a specific pattern: people working beside a stopped vehicle are struck and killed by passing traffic every year.
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Question 19 · Alcohol and drugs · hard
A driver records a breath result well below the per se limit, yet the officer notes weaving, slurred speech and poor divided attention. What is the likely outcome?
- A No case, because the reading came in under the legal limit
- B Only a warning, since the number is what matters
- C Automatic dismissal once any medical condition is mentioned
- D A charge remains available, because impairment can be proven from observed driving and sobriety testing even below that reading
Show the answer and why
D is correct. Most jurisdictions provide two distinct routes to proving impairment, and the number is only one of them.
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Question 20 · Road signs · easy
A white rectangular sign bearing black lettering is posted at the roadside. What is this sign doing?
- A Warning of a hazard ahead that calls for caution
- B Showing destinations, distances and directions
- C Marking a temporary detour around construction
- D Regulating traffic — it states a legal requirement such as a speed limit
Show the answer and why
D is correct. Colour carries the category before a single word is read, and black on white means regulation.
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Question 21 · 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 22 · 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...
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Question 23 · Right-of-way · easy
You approach an intersection where the traffic light is green, but a police officer standing in the middle of the junction is signalling you to stop. What must you do?
- A Follow the green light, because signals always take precedence over gestures
- B Obey the officer's direction; a traffic officer's instructions override signals and signs
- C Stop, then proceed on the green regardless of further gestures
- D Sound your horn and wait for the officer to wave you through
Show the answer and why
B is correct. When a traffic officer is directing traffic, the officer's instructions replace the signals and signs for everyone at that junction.
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Question 24 · 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 25 · 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.