All of the following practices are dangerous to do while driving. Which of these is also illegal?
- Listening to music through headphones that cover both ears. ✓
- Adjusting your outside mirrors.
- Transporting an unrestrained animal inside the vehicle.
Answer: A. Listening to music through headphones that cover both ears.
Wearing a headset or earplugs in both ears while driving is the practice that is illegal.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's section on health and driving explains that you need your hearing to catch horns, sirens, motorcycles, and screeching tires that warn you of hazards. In the same section it states plainly that wearing a headset or earplugs in both ears behind the wheel is against the law. Music through headphones covering both ears blocks exactly those warning sounds, which is why the state treats it as a legal violation and not just a bad habit.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Adjusting your outside mirrors. — Adjusting your outside mirrors can distract you, but the passages nowhere say it is against the law.
- C. Transporting an unrestrained animal inside the vehicle. — An unrestrained animal in the car can be a dangerous distraction, yet the passages do not make carrying one illegal.
Remember it
Both ears covered is the line: the handbook bans a headset or earplugs in both ears, so keep one ear open to the road.