South Dakota DPS Permit Practice Test 52
- Questions25
- Correct to pass20
- Passing score80%
- Minimum age14 years
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1. You are turning left across tracks that run along the center of the street. What should you do before crossing them?
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Answer B: Look along the tracks in both directions and cross only when clear
Rail vehicles running in the street can arrive from either direction and cannot stop quickly, so look along the tracks before you turn across them.
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2. 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.
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3. What most often starts a rear wheel skid?
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Answer A: Too much speed, braking or acceleration for the grip available
A skid begins when what you ask of the tires exceeds what the surface can give, which is usually a matter of speed and of how abruptly you use the controls.
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4. The light turns yellow when your front wheels are already past the stop line inside the intersection. What should you do?
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Answer B: Keep going and clear the intersection without speeding up
Once you are legally in the intersection the safest and correct action is to continue through and clear it, without accelerating.
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5. Your vehicle is burning at the roadside. How far away should everyone keep?
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Answer D: At least a hundred feet away from the vehicle and upwind, out of the drifting smoke
Burning vehicles give off toxic smoke and parts such as tires and struts can burst, so keep a long distance and stay upwind.
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6. A large truck is passing you on a two-lane road. What is the safest thing to do?
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Answer C: Keep right in your lane and ease off the gas a little
Staying in your own lane and easing off shortens the pass without forcing you onto a soft shoulder or into the truck's path.
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7. You must leave your vehicle beside a narrow rural road at night. What should you do?
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Answer B: Get it right off the pavement and switch on the hazard lights
A vehicle left on an unlit rural road is very hard to see, so move it completely clear of the traveled surface and mark it with the hazard lights.
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8. Someone has stepped into a marked crosswalk in the middle of a block ahead of you. What should you do?
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Answer A: Slow down, stop before the markings and let the person cross the street
A marked mid-block crosswalk carries the same duty as one at a corner: give way to the person crossing, stopping if that is what letting them cross safely takes.
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9. Apart from other vehicles, who else must a driver let go first at this sign?
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Answer A: Pedestrians and cyclists already in or entering the crossing
The duty to give way covers every road user who has the right of way at that point, including people walking or cycling across the driver's path.
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10. What is the usual result of driving well above the flow of traffic on a typical trip?
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Answer B: Very little time saved, with much greater risk
Signals, traffic and short distances swallow the theoretical gain, while crash risk and crash severity both climb sharply with speed.
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11. What license or permit does South Dakota require to operate a moped on a public roadway?
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Answer C: A valid motor vehicle driver license or permit, the same general requirement used for a motorcycle
State law requires moped operators to hold a valid motor vehicle driver license or permit, just as it does for motorcycle and certain all-terrain vehicle operators.
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12. Someone stops drinking heavily at two in the morning and drives to work at eight. What is true?
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Answer A: They may still be impaired and over the limit
The body removes alcohol at a slow, fixed rate, so a heavy night can leave a driver impaired well into the next morning no matter how they feel.
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13. How many points in any 12 consecutive months make a South Dakota driver subject to suspension?
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Answer C: 15 points
South Dakota uses a threshold of 15 points in any 12 consecutive months, or 22 points in any 24 consecutive months.
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14. You turn the wheel but the front of the vehicle keeps sliding straight ahead on a slippery road. What should you do?
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Answer C: Ease off the accelerator and reduce the steering angle until the front tires grip again
A front-wheel skid means the tires are asking for more grip than the surface can give. Less speed and less steering angle let them regain traction.
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15. On a street with parking along the curb, the shared lane marking is painted well out from the curb face. What does that placement tell a bicyclist?
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Answer C: To ride clear of the doors of parked cars
The marking is set at least eleven feet from the curb where parking is allowed so that riders are guided outside the reach of an opening door.
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16. A driver extends the left arm out the window and points it downward toward the road surface. What is being signaled?
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Answer A: Slowing down or stopping
The left arm extended downward is the standard hand signal for slowing or stopping.
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17. Does this sign settle who has the right-of-way at the intersection ahead?
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Answer D: No, it only gives notice of the intersection; the control there decides priority
A warning prepares the driver for what is coming but grants no priority, so whatever stop control, yield control, signal or right-of-way rule applies at the intersection is what decides.
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18. A driver leaves the vehicle at the curb where this sign is posted and walks away for two minutes. Is that allowed?
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Answer B: No, leaving the vehicle unattended there is prohibited whatever the length of the absence
Walking away leaves the vehicle parked, and the prohibition holds regardless of how long the driver is gone or whether the engine is left running.
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19. A driver on a hands free call looks straight at a red light and drives through it. What best explains this?
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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.
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20. Which of these is an early warning that you are too tired to keep driving?
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Answer C: Not remembering the last few miles you drove
Memory gaps, repeated yawning, heavy eyelids and drifting are the body signaling that sleep is winning, and they mean stop rather than push on.
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21. What does this sign require of the driver?
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Answer D: Reducing speed and being ready to stop at the intersection ahead
The advance notice asks the driver to slow and be ready to stop, while whether a stop is actually needed depends on the indication displayed on arrival.
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22. What is a microsleep?
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Answer D: A few seconds of sleep, sometimes with the eyes open
A microsleep is an involuntary lapse of a few seconds during which the driver is asleep and the vehicle travels blind, often without the driver knowing.
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23. A freeway sign reads BUSES ONLY ON SHOULDER 6 AM TO 9 AM. Who may drive on the shoulder then?
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Answer A: Only the vehicles named on the sign, during the hours shown
Shoulder running is granted by the sign to the class of vehicle and the hours the sign names, and it does not turn the shoulder into a general travel lane.
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24. In a work zone, the flagger's instructions conflict with the pavement markings still visible on the road. Which do you follow?
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Answer B: The flagger, because a person directing traffic outranks the markings
An authorized flagger controlling a temporary traffic control zone overrides signs, signals and markings, and drivers must obey the flagger's signals.
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25. A driver sees this sign on a quiet road with no other traffic in either direction. What is the correct response?
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Answer C: Slow down, look and listen for a train, and be ready to stop
The sign gives advance notice of a highway-rail grade crossing, so the driver reduces speed, checks both directions along the tracks and keeps enough room to stop short of the rails.