If you miss your exit on the freeway, you should not:
- Continue on the freeway and find an alternate route to your destination.
- Proceed to the next exit, leave the freeway, and return to your proper exit.
- Back up on the road or shoulder. ✓
Answer: C. Back up on the road or shoulder.
If you miss your freeway exit, you should not back up on the road or on the shoulder.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's exit guidance is built around preparing ahead of time: know your exit, watch for it as it comes up, signal well before it, and be at a safe speed when you leave the freeway. Nothing in that sequence leaves room for reversing once you have gone past your exit. Driving backward on a freeway or its shoulder puts you against the normal flow of traffic, and the handbook never lists backing up as a way to correct a missed exit. The supported move is to keep going and use a legal exit and route instead.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Continue on the freeway and find an alternate route to your destination. — Staying on the freeway and working out another way to your destination is a normal response to passing your exit, so it is not something to avoid.
- B. Proceed to the next exit, leave the freeway, and return to your proper exit. — Going on to the next exit, getting off there, and doubling back to the exit you wanted is a lawful way to fix the mistake, so it is not prohibited either.
Remember it
On a freeway your car only goes forward, so treat a missed exit as a short detour, not a reverse.
Official handbook: California Driver Handbook (DL 600), Section 6: Navigating the Roads, p. 23