Iowa DOT Permit Practice Test 23
- Questions25
- Correct to pass20
- Passing score80%
- Minimum age14 years
-
1. You must slow suddenly on a highway and a vehicle is following close behind you. What helps prevent a rear-end collision?
Show answer
Answer D: Tapping the brake pedal early so your brake lights flash a warning
Early brake light flashes give the driver behind more time to react, and slowing gradually instead of suddenly reduces the chance of being struck.
-
2. You are driving through a neighborhood where several children are riding bicycles. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer C: Slow down and expect sudden, unpredictable moves
Young riders lack the judgment and the mirror habits of adults and may swerve or cross without looking, so lower speed is your only reliable margin.
-
3. How long does the Iowa DOT suspend a special minor's restricted license when the holder breaks its restrictions or is at fault in a crash?
Show answer
Answer D: Three months
Iowa Code section 321.194 requires the department to suspend a special minor's restricted license for three months on satisfactory evidence of a restriction violation, an at-fault crash, or one qualifying conviction.
-
4. What is the first thing to do once your disabled vehicle is stopped on the shoulder?
Show answer
Answer A: Switch on the hazard warning lights so other drivers can see the vehicle
Hazard lights are the fastest way to make a stopped vehicle visible, and everything else can follow once traffic has been warned.
-
5. You come upon a person riding a horse on the roadway ahead of you. What is the correct way to pass?
Show answer
Answer A: Slow down, give plenty of room and do not use the horn
Horses startle easily, and a frightened horse can throw its rider into your path. Pass slowly and wide, and avoid any sudden noise.
-
6. Which speeding violations does Iowa leave out when counting six offenses in two years toward habitual offender status?
Show answer
Answer A: Speeding violations of less than fifteen miles per hour over the legal limit
Iowa Code section 321.555 excludes speeding violations of less than fifteen miles per hour over the legal speed limit, along with parking, equipment and safety belt matters, from the six-offense count.
-
7. You are entering a marked work zone. What should you expect?
Show answer
Answer B: A reduced posted speed, narrowed or shifted lanes, and traffic that may stop suddenly
Work zones change the geometry of the road and can bring traffic to a halt without warning, so the posted work zone speed and increased following distance both apply.
-
8. Why is repeatedly changing lanes to work through heavy traffic a poor idea?
Show answer
Answer A: It raises the crash risk and saves almost no time
Each lane change adds a conflict with another vehicle, and in congestion the lanes move at similar average speeds, so the gain is negligible.
-
9. A driver on a hands free call looks straight at a red light and drives through it. What best explains this?
Show answer
Answer B: The eyes saw it but the brain did not process it
Attention, not eyesight, decides what a driver actually sees, and a loaded mind can leave a driver looking straight at a hazard without registering it.
-
10. What is lane splitting?
Show answer
Answer B: A motorcycle riding between two lanes of traffic moving the same way
Lane splitting means riding along the line between two lanes of traffic going in the same direction rather than staying within a lane.
-
11. Driving at night you notice that the raised markers along the line beside you are throwing back red light. What does that tell you?
Show answer
Answer C: You are facing traffic and must get off that roadway
Red retroreflection is shown only toward traffic that should not be there, so a red return means the vehicle is heading the wrong way.
-
12. Traffic is backed up beyond a railroad crossing. When may you start across the tracks?
Show answer
Answer B: Only when there is room for your whole vehicle on the far side
Never enter a crossing you cannot clear; a vehicle stopped on the tracks in a queue has nowhere to go if the signals start.
-
13. You realize you have turned the wrong way onto a one-way street. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer A: Pull to the right, stop, and back into the street you came from when clear
Get out of the traffic stream first: pull right and stop, then back out into the street you came from once you can see it is safe.
-
14. You stop behind another vehicle at a traffic light. How much space should you leave?
Show answer
Answer D: Enough to see where its rear tires touch the pavement
Seeing the rear tires on the road leaves room to steer around the vehicle if it stalls, and gives a cushion if you are struck from behind.
-
15. Why does the situation ahead of this sign deserve extra care from a motorcyclist?
Show answer
Answer C: Because a narrow machine is easy to overlook in a mirror or a blind spot
A motorcycle fills very little of a mirror and disappears easily into a blind spot, so the rider should adjust speed and lane position to stay visible where the streams come together.
-
16. You are crossing a divided highway with a wide median. How should you treat the two roadways?
Show answer
Answer D: As two intersections, waiting in the median only when your vehicle fits
Each roadway of a divided highway is a separate intersection, and you should wait in the median only if it is long enough to hold your vehicle clear of both roadways.
-
17. Where is a strong crosswind most likely to hit you suddenly?
Show answer
Answer D: Coming out of a tunnel or a cut onto an open bridge
Gusts arrive the moment you leave shelter, which is why bridge approaches and the ends of cuts and tunnels catch drivers out.
-
18. You need to reverse direction on a busy street. Which choice is usually safest?
Show answer
Answer D: Driving around the block and using the intersections instead
Going around the block uses normal turns at controlled intersections instead of stopping across live traffic lanes.
-
19. A bicyclist in the bike lane ahead of you signals and starts to move left toward the turn lane. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer A: Slow down and let the rider move across
A bicyclist who needs to leave the bike lane to turn left is changing lanes like any driver, and following traffic should make room.
-
20. Why can an oncoming vehicle that looks comfortably far away leave you far less room than you expect?
Show answer
Answer D: You and that vehicle close the gap at the sum of both your speeds
Two vehicles approaching at 55 mph each close the distance between them at about 110 mph, so the gap disappears in half the time you would expect.
-
21. A sign on a long downgrade points to a runaway vehicle ramp. What is that ramp for?
Show answer
Answer C: Trucks that have lost braking ability on the grade
A runaway ramp is an escape lane of loose material that stops a heavy vehicle whose brakes have overheated or failed, so it must always be left clear.
-
22. A sign with a black legend on a fluorescent pink background is used for
Show answer
Answer A: traffic incident management
Fluorescent pink is set aside for signing that manages traffic around a crash, a spill or another unplanned incident, so it stands apart from routine work zone orange.
-
23. You are on an entrance ramp merging onto a freeway. Who has to give way?
Show answer
Answer B: You must yield and fit into a gap in the traffic already on the freeway
Traffic entering a highway must yield to traffic already on it. Use the acceleration lane to match speed and merge into a gap.
-
24. A driver is following you far too closely and you have a turn coming up. How should you slow down for it?
Show answer
Answer B: Signal early and slow gradually well before the turn
Early signals and gentle braking give a tailgater the time and distance they have failed to leave for themselves.
-
25. How is the yield sign shaped and colored?
Show answer
Answer C: A downward-pointing triangle with a wide red border and a red legend on white
The yield sign is a downward-pointing equilateral triangle with a wide red border and the legend in red on a white background, an outline used for no other message.