Florida CDL practice test: 411 free practice questions (Based on the official driver handbook). The official format is not yet verified; check the official site before your test. Parking & Stopping Rules: 13 questions. Updated
Where you may park, distances from hydrants and crossings, hill parking and disabled permits.
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The trailer hand valve should never be used for parking. The handbook explains that the trailer hand valve works the trailer brakes and is meant only for testing them. It warns against using it while driving because the trailer can skid, and it says never to use it for parking, since all the air might leak out and release the brakes on trailers that don't have spring brakes. Instead, you set the parking brakes, and if the trailer has no spring brakes, you use wheel chocks so it can't roll.
3. What is the best way to stop if your brakes fail while you are driving downhill?
Steer onto an escape ramp. ✓
Let the vehicle slow down on its own.
Let rumble strips slow your vehicle.
Answer: A. Steer onto an escape ramp.
The best way is to steer onto an escape ramp. The handbook calls an escape ramp your best hope when brakes fail on a downgrade and says to use it when one is available. It explains that ramps are built to stop runaway vehicles, often with soft gravel, an uphill grade, or both. It also says waiting makes the vehicle faster and harder to stop, so you should act as soon as you know the brakes do not work. If no ramp exists, the handbook directs you to pick the least hazardous route, such as an open field or a side road that flattens out or turns uphill.
4. If you need to travel down a hill, you should switch into a lower gear:
After you start moving downhill.
As you go downhill and pick up speed.
Before you start moving downhill. ✓
Near the bottom of the hill.
Answer: C. Before you start moving downhill.
You should shift into a lower gear before you start moving downhill. The handbook says to slow down and shift into a gear you can control without hard braking, and it states plainly to downshift before starting down the hill. It also warns that once your speed has built up, you may not get the transmission into a lower gear. Choosing the lower gear first lets the engine help control your speed and keeps the brakes from overheating and losing their power. The gear should usually be lower than the one you would need to climb that same hill.
6. Once stopped as a part of the stop/start maneuver, you should:
Use the four-way flashers. ✓
Not use the four-way flashers because it is just a test, not an emergency.
Leave the vehicle in first gear.
Park in front of a fire hydrant.
Answer: A. Use the four-way flashers.
After you have come to a full stop in the stop/start maneuver, use the four-way flashers. After the vehicle is fully stopped, parallel to the curb or shoulder and clear of traffic flow, the handbook's sequence calls for turning on the four-way emergency flashers. It then says to shift to neutral or park and take your feet off the brake and clutch pedals. The same passage also says the stopped vehicle should not block driveways, fire hydrants, intersections, or signs. Nothing in the procedure says the flashers are only for a real emergency, so they belong in this maneuver too.
7. When parked on the side of the road, you should:
Use only the rear flashing lights.
Use one set of turn signals.
Use your high beam headlights.
Use your four-way flashers. ✓
Answer: D. Use your four-way flashers.
When parked on the side of the road, you should use your four-way flashers. The handbook instructs you to switch on the four-way emergency flashers after pulling off the road and stopping. It says this matters especially at night, because taillights alone are not a dependable warning. Drivers have hit parked vehicles from behind because they assumed the vehicle was moving normally. Another passage adds that four-way flashers help approaching drivers notice your vehicle sooner. Together, these passages point to the four-way flashers as the right warning light for a vehicle parked at the roadside.
8. To make it as safe as possible to leave a stop, you should park:
So that you must back up to leave your parking space.
So that you can pull forward to leave your parking space. ✓
On the side of a roadway, not in a parking lot.
By backing into a parking space.
Answer: B. So that you can pull forward to leave your parking space.
You should park so that you can pull forward to leave your parking space. The handbook says backing is always dangerous because you cannot see everything behind the vehicle, so you should avoid it when you can. It tells you to park in a way that lets you pull forward when you leave. Another section repeats the same idea: park where you will not have to back to get away. That is why the safe choice is to set up your stop so the vehicle can move forward out of the space.
10. During a basic vehicle control skills test, you may be asked to:
Alley dock.
Parallel park to your right.
Parallel park to your left.
All of the above. ✓
Answer: D. All of the above.
You may be asked to do all of these: alley dock, parallel park to your right, and parallel park to your left. The handbook lists these as possible basic control skills. It says you may be asked to parallel park in a space on your right, and it says you may be asked to sight-side back into an alley. Its parallel-park figures also cover a driver-side park and a conventional park, so parking to your left is included too. Since every choice is one of the listed maneuvers, the answer that includes them all is correct.