Montana MVD Permit Practice Test 14

  • Questions33
  • Correct to pass27
  • Passing score82%
  • Minimum age14 years 6 months

Minimum age: 14 years 6 months while enrolled in an approved traffic education course; 15 years once that course is completed; 16 years without traffic education

33 questions. Pick an answer to see if it is right and why; you need 27 correct answers to pass.

  1. 1. How often should the spare tire be checked?

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    Answer C: Regularly, because a spare loses pressure while it sits unused

    Spares lose air slowly over months, and a flat spare is useless at the moment you need it.

  2. 2. You are driving through a long curve on a road with two lanes in your direction. What is correct?

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    Answer A: Stay within your own lane all the way through, adjusting speed before you enter

    Wandering out of your lane in a curve puts you into the path of a vehicle you cannot see, and the slowing belongs before the curve rather than in it.

  3. 3. Something rolls off the seat onto the floor while you are driving. What should you do?

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    Answer C: Leave it where it is and pick it up after you stop somewhere safe

    Reaching for an object pulls your eyes and your body away from the controls at exactly the wrong moment, and nothing on the floor is worth that risk.

  4. 4. How can you tell that a child safety seat is installed tightly enough?

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    Answer C: It moves less than an inch side to side or front to back at the belt path

    A correctly installed seat is nearly immovable where the belt or lower anchors pass through it. Excess movement lets the child's body travel farther in a crash.

  5. 5. You brake hard in a vehicle with antilock brakes and feel the pedal pulsing under your foot. What should you do?

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    Answer A: Keep firm, steady pressure on the pedal and steer where you need to go

    The pulsing is the system releasing and reapplying the brakes so the wheels keep rolling, which is what lets you steer while braking. Pumping the pedal defeats it.

  6. 6. How should you follow a school bus in traffic?

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    Answer A: Far enough back to see its lights and stop in time

    A school bus stops often and with little warning, so a longer following distance gives you time to see the lights come on and stop clear of it.

  7. 7. Your headlights suddenly go out while you are driving at night. What should you do?

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    Answer A: Try the dimmer switch and the headlight switch, turn on the hazard lights and pull off the road

    Switching between high and low beams or cycling the light switch sometimes restores the lights. If not, use the hazard and parking lights to get off the road safely.

  8. 8. You reach the end of the acceleration lane and there is still no gap in the traffic. What should you do?

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    Answer B: Slow down and merge behind the traffic rather than forcing your way in

    Merging behind the traffic costs you only a little speed, while forcing into a space that is not there puts you alongside a vehicle with nowhere to go.

  9. 9. A driver who wants to reverse direction arrives at this sign. What is allowed?

    A white square showing a U shaped arrow inside a red circle with a red diagonal line through it
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    Answer C: Going on and reversing direction only where the maneuver is permitted

    The restriction removes that maneuver at that spot entirely, so the driver has to continue and turn the vehicle around at a place where it is not prohibited.

  10. 10. You are turning right onto a one-way street. Which lane of that street should you enter?

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    Answer C: The lane closest to the right curb

    Even though every lane on a one-way street runs your way, a right turn must end in the lane nearest the right curb; you may change lanes afterwards when it is safe.

  11. 11. A yellow diamond reading DIP warns a driver about

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    Answer A: a short, sharp depression in the road surface

    A dip is an abrupt low point that can jolt a vehicle or scrape its underside, so speed should be reduced before reaching it.

  12. 12. Where should a rear-facing infant seat never be placed?

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    Answer C: In a front seat with an active passenger air bag

    A deploying front air bag strikes the back of a rear-facing seat with enormous force. Rear-facing seats belong in the back seat.

  13. 13. Where does the restriction that starts at this sign come to an end?

    A yellow sign shaped like a horizontal triangle pointing right, with black lettering
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    Answer D: Where the centerline markings show that overtaking is allowed again

    The sign marks the start of the restricted section, and the centerline markings along the road show how far it runs and where overtaking becomes lawful again.

  14. 14. Which color scheme is standard for the drums and barricades that channel traffic through a work zone?

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    Answer C: Alternating orange and white retroreflective stripes

    Drums and barricades carry alternating orange and white retroreflective stripes, and the traffic cones used in the same zones are predominantly orange.

  15. 15. A pedestrian is waiting to cross ahead of you and you have slowed down. What helps most?

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    Answer D: Making eye contact, so that you both know you have seen each other

    Eye contact confirms that you have seen each other; waving someone across can send them into the path of another vehicle.

  16. 16. When is a driver at the highest risk of falling asleep at the wheel?

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    Answer B: Late at night, early morning and mid afternoon

    The body clock produces its deepest dips in alertness in the small hours and again in the middle of the afternoon, and crash records follow those dips.

  17. 17. The word SCHOOL is painted in large letters across the roadway. What is it doing?

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    Answer D: Backing up the signs marking a school zone

    Word markings on the pavement reinforce a message that is already signed, and a driver looking at the road ahead cannot miss them.

  18. 18. A sign warns that the right lane ends ahead, and traffic is still flowing freely. What should you do if you are in that lane?

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    Answer C: Signal, adjust your speed and move left in good time before the lane ends

    When traffic is moving freely there is room to merge early and smoothly, which avoids the last-second lane change at the closure point.

  19. 19. Traffic is backed up just past the exit you want to use at a single-lane roundabout. What should you do?

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    Answer D: Wait at the yield line until you can pass through and exit

    You must not enter a roundabout unless you can clear it, because stopping inside blocks every other entry.

  20. 20. Why are eating, drinking and personal grooming risky behind the wheel?

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    Answer B: They occupy hands, eyes and attention that driving requires

    Each of these tasks takes a hand off the controls and attention off the road, and a spill or a dropped item can pull the driver's eyes away entirely.

  21. 21. You want to turn right at a steady red light and no sign prohibits the turn. What is required?

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    Answer B: Come to a complete stop, then yield to traffic and pedestrians before turning

    A right turn on a steady red is permitted only after a complete stop and only after yielding to cross traffic and to pedestrians, and a posted sign can prohibit it entirely.

  22. 22. Visibility drops suddenly and you decide to leave the highway. What is the safest way to do it?

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    Answer A: Take the next exit or a wide pull off, well clear of the traffic lanes

    Get right off the traveled way, and off the shoulder too if you can, because vehicles in poor visibility often drift onto the shoulder.

  23. 23. The added lane warning sign tells a driver that

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    Answer A: an extra lane begins ahead, so entering traffic does not have to merge into an existing lane

    Where a lane is added, traffic entering the roadway gets a lane of its own, so merging is not required, although drivers should still watch the vehicles beside them.

  24. 24. What does the Montana department do to the suspension period when a driver is convicted of driving during it?

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    Answer A: It extends the suspension or revocation by one more year

    On conviction for driving while suspended or revoked, Montana extends the period of suspension or revocation by an additional year.

  25. 25. A wheel comes off your car while you are driving. What should you do?

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    Answer A: Hold the wheel firmly, ease off the gas and steer gently to the shoulder

    A firm grip and a gradual slowing keep the vehicle straight, while hard or sudden braking makes a damaged corner pull the car out of line.

  26. 26. There is a stop sign but no stop line and no crosswalk. Where must you stop?

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    Answer A: Before entering the intersection, where you can see cross traffic

    With no line or crosswalk, stop before you enter the intersection at the point where you can see traffic on the cross street.

  27. 27. Freeway traffic ahead of you has come to a stop. Besides braking early, how can you warn the drivers behind you?

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    Answer B: By switching on the hazard lights for a few seconds

    A short burst of hazard lights is a recognized way to tell following traffic that the queue ahead has stopped, and it carries much further back than brake lights. Some states restrict hazard lights on a moving vehicle, so use them only for the moment you are slowing.

  28. 28. You have turned onto a ramp at night and your headlights pick out large white arrows painted on the pavement pointing straight back at you. What do they mean?

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    Answer C: You are traveling against the flow and must turn back

    Wrong-way arrows are laid so that a driver going the correct way never sees them head on, so an arrow pointing at you means you are on the ramp backwards.

  29. 29. As a driver keeps drinking, in what order are driving abilities usually lost?

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    Answer C: Judgment, then vision, reaction time and coordination

    Alcohol reaches the parts of the brain that handle judgment first, and only later does it visibly affect sight, reactions and muscle control.

  30. 30. May you stop in the striped triangle that separates an exit ramp from the freeway lanes?

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    Answer A: No, it is not a lane and stopping there is dangerous

    The striped gore area is not a travel lane or a shoulder, and a vehicle stopped there sits directly in the path of drivers correcting a late exit.

  31. 31. How many conviction points within three years make a driver a habitual traffic offender in Montana?

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    Answer D: 30 or more points

    Montana defines a habitual traffic offender as a person who accumulates 30 or more conviction points within a three-year period.

  32. 32. What is the benefit of looking far down the road rather than just ahead of the hood?

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    Answer A: You steer with smaller corrections and you see trouble in plenty of time

    A distant view steadies your steering and gives you time to plan, because you meet hazards after you have already seen them.

  33. 33. What is the purpose of carrying a first aid kit in your vehicle?

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    Answer D: It lets you treat cuts and bleeding while the help is on its way

    A kit is for simple first aid such as controlling bleeding until trained help arrives, not a substitute for calling for that help.