South Dakota DPS Motorcycle Practice Test 27
- Questions25
- Correct to pass20
- Passing score80%
- Minimum age14 years
-
1. While you wait for the ambulance at a crash, what is the most useful help you can give?
Show answer
Answer C: Keep the person still and warm, and press down firmly on any heavy bleeding
Keeping an injured person still and warm and controlling bleeding are among the few things a bystander can safely do.
-
2. Which color scheme is standard for the drums and barricades that channel traffic through a work zone?
Show answer
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.
-
3. Which items belong to the Controls step of the T-CLOCS inspection?
Show answer
Answer D: Handlebars, levers, cables, hoses and the throttle
The Controls step covers everything the rider operates by hand or foot, plus the cables and hoses that carry those inputs to the machine.
-
4. Red pavement markings are used on a roadway to show that
Show answer
Answer A: it must not be entered from that direction
Red markings identify a roadway that is not to be entered or used, and they also mark the pavement of truck escape ramps.
-
5. An overhead lane-use control signal shows a steady red X above your lane. What does it mean?
Show answer
Answer B: You may not use that lane and must move out of it
A steady red X means the lane below it is closed to you, while a steady yellow X is the warning to prepare to vacate the lane and a downward green arrow means the lane is open.
-
6. In T-CLOCS, what does the letter O stand for?
Show answer
Answer B: Oil and other fluid levels
The O step covers engine oil, along with coolant, hydraulic brake fluid and any final drive fluid, plus a look underneath for leaks.
-
7. Traffic is entering the freeway from a ramp ahead of you and you are in the right lane. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer C: Move to another lane if it is safe, or adjust your speed to make room
Merging drivers may have little room to adjust. Helping them in by changing lanes or easing your speed prevents conflicts even though they must legally yield to you.
-
8. A bag strapped to the back of your motorcycle works loose and starts to shift as you ride. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer C: Slow smoothly, pull off the road, and secure the load before riding on
A load that moves changes the balance of the motorcycle and can foul a wheel or the chain, so stop as soon as you safely can and fasten it properly.
-
9. You are driving on a two-lane road approaching the crest of a hill. Where should you position your vehicle?
Show answer
Answer D: Toward the right side of your lane, in case an oncoming vehicle is over the center line
You cannot see what is beyond a crest, and oncoming drivers sometimes drift across the center. Keeping right and slowing gives you a margin.
-
10. What do the grooves in a tire tread do on a flooded road surface?
Show answer
Answer B: They give the water a way to escape so the tread can touch the road
Tread grooves pump water out from under the tire so rubber can meet pavement. A worn tread moves less water, so hydroplaning starts sooner.
-
11. What is the South Dakota Department of Public Safety's application fee for an original or renewal driver license?
Show answer
Answer B: Thirty-eight dollars
State law sets the original or renewal driver license fee at thirty-eight dollars, higher than the twenty-dollar fee for a duplicate or address change.
-
12. How should the mirrors be set before setting off?
Show answer
Answer B: So that each mirror shows the lane behind and part of the lane beside
Mirrors aimed too far inward show mostly the rider, wasting the view that is meant to cover the traffic behind and to the side.
-
13. Your left-turn lane shows a flashing yellow arrow. What does that indication allow?
Show answer
Answer B: A left turn after yielding to oncoming traffic and to pedestrians
A flashing yellow arrow marks a permissive left turn: the movement is allowed, but oncoming vehicles and pedestrians keep the right-of-way.
-
14. You are driving slower than the general flow on a multilane highway. Which lane should you use?
Show answer
Answer D: The right lane, keeping the left lanes free for faster traffic and passing
Slower traffic must keep right so that faster vehicles and overtaking traffic can use the left lanes without weaving between lanes.
-
15. When should speed be adjusted for a curve?
Show answer
Answer B: Before entering the curve
Slowing before the curve lets the rider hold a steady or slightly increasing throttle through it, which settles the suspension and keeps traction predictable.
-
16. What is a driver being warned about here?
Show answer
Answer B: The pavement ahead carries vehicles traveling in the opposite direction
Beyond this point vehicles come the other way on the same pavement, which commonly happens where a one-way section or a separated stretch comes to an end.
-
17. An arrow panel at a work zone displays a flashing arrow pointing to the left. What does it require?
Show answer
Answer C: Move out of the closed lane into the lane on the left
A flashing or sequential arrow on an arrow panel directs traffic out of a closed lane and into the lane the arrow points to.
-
18. A sign on a divided highway reads Keep Right Except to Pass. What does it require of you?
Show answer
Answer A: Use the left lane only to overtake, then return to a lane on the right
The left lane on such a highway is reserved for overtaking, so a driver who has finished a pass must move back to the right.
-
19. Why is this restriction used so often on a divided road just before a crest or a bend?
Show answer
Answer A: Because a vehicle turning across the median there stays hidden from approaching drivers until it is too late
The maneuver needs a long gap and good visibility, and where sight distance is short an approaching driver has no time to react to a vehicle turning across the road.
-
20. Why do experienced riders squeeze the clutch lever while starting the engine, even with the neutral light showing?
Show answer
Answer A: In case a gear is engaged, so the motorcycle cannot lurch forward
A neutral light can be wrong, and a disengaged clutch means the machine stays still even if the transmission is actually in gear.
-
21. What does the Lights and Electrics step of T-CLOCS include?
Show answer
Answer A: The battery, the headlight, the brake light and the wiring
This step covers the battery and its terminals, the headlight, tail and brake lights, the turn signals, the switches, the mirrors and the wiring.
-
22. The crossing gates begin to lower while your vehicle is still on the railroad tracks. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer B: Keep going forward and push through the gate if it should block your way
Gates are made to break away, and driving forward off the tracks is far safer than staying between them or backing up.
-
23. What change in the road does this sign announce?
Show answer
Answer B: The two directions of travel are about to be separated, and the driver must keep to the right of the separation
Ahead the roadway splits into separate one-way roadways on either side of a median, so the driver stays to the right of the divider and no longer meets oncoming vehicles.
-
24. An overhead sign shows that the right lane is EXIT ONLY. What does that mean if you intend to stay on the highway?
Show answer
Answer B: You have to move out of that lane before the exit
An exit only lane leaves the highway completely, so a driver continuing on the highway has to change lanes before it does.
-
25. Your light turns green while a pedestrian who started on the walk signal is still crossing in front of you. What must you do?
Show answer
Answer D: Let them finish crossing the road before you move off on your green light
A pedestrian who entered the crosswalk lawfully keeps the right of way until they reach the other side, whatever the signal now shows.