General Driving Knowledge — New York
New York permit practice test: 488 free practice questions (128 official sample questions · Official driver handbook). Official test format: Class D: 20 Q, pass 14 incl. >=2 of 4 sign Qs. General Driving Knowledge: 41 questions.
Questions that do not fit a single topic: lane use, turning, signalling and other rules of the road.
This topic page is still being reviewed against the official handbook. Until review is finished it is hidden from search engines.
| Topic / Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Topic | General Driving Knowledge |
| License test | New York Car learner's permit test (Class D) |
| Topic questions | 41 (8% of 488 total) |
| Review status | This topic page is still being reviewed against the official handbook. Until review is finished it is hidden from search engines. |
Official handbook
dmv.ny.gov ✓ Verified from official source
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Questions (41)
1. Which of the following is always true about road rage?
- There is nothing a driver can do to prevent road rage
- You must hold your position in your travel lane
- Only violent people experience road rage
- You should remain polite to aggressive drivers ✓
Answer: D. You should remain polite to aggressive drivers
You should stay polite with aggressive drivers: remain calm, skip the eye contact, and don't answer their gestures or shouting. The manual's advice for handling an aggressive driver is to stay calm and relaxed, avoid eye contact because the other driver may read it as a challenge, move away safely, and ignore gestures and shouts rather than returning them. Holding your temper and not firing back is what staying polite means here. The manual also notes that road rage can grow out of aggressive driving, so the point of this behavior is to keep the confrontation from escalating.
2. One of the rules of defensive driving is:
- Look straight ahead as you drive
- Stay alert and keep your eyes moving ✓
- Expect that other drivers will make up for your errors
- Be confident that you can avoid danger at the last minute
Answer: B. Stay alert and keep your eyes moving
One rule of defensive driving is to stay alert and keep your eyes moving. The handbook's defensive driving chapter says traffic conditions change continuously, so you should always scan the road ahead and not fix your attention only on the road or the vehicle in front. It tells you to keep your eyes moving, watch what happens at the sides of the road, and check your mirrors every few seconds. That matches staying alert with moving eyes. The same passage also warns against assuming other drivers will act correctly, which is the opposite of expecting others to cover for your mistakes.
3. You may not cross a single broken white (or yellow) line:
- When to do so would interfere with traffic ✓
- When turning left into a driveway
- When the car in front is disabled
- When passing to the right on a one-way street
Answer: A. When to do so would interfere with traffic
You may not cross a single broken white or yellow line when doing so would interfere with traffic. The handbook says a single broken line means you can pass other vehicles or change lanes only if you can do it safely and without interfering with traffic. So the line itself does not forbid crossing it. The limit is whether crossing would get in the way of other traffic. That makes interfering with traffic the condition under which you may not cross.
4. When you want to make a right turn, your car must be:
- Near the center of the street
- Close to the left side of the street
- Close to the right side of the street ✓
- Past the center of the intersection when you begin to turn
Answer: C. Close to the right side of the street
5. Aggressive driving can become road rage. What should you do when confronted by an aggressive driver?
- Speed up to pass the driver as quickly as possible
- Be prepared to yield the right of way ✓
- Drink alcohol to calm yourself down
- Make eye contact with the driver
Answer: B. Be prepared to yield the right of way
When an aggressive driver confronts you, be prepared to yield the right of way rather than insisting on it. The manual tells you that having the right of way is not a complete right. If another driver is behaving aggressively, do not answer with the same behavior; be ready to give up the right of way to other highway users. Waiting a few seconds for that driver is far better than risking a crash. The manual also says to stay calm and avoid eye contact, since an aggressive driver may read eye contact as a challenge. The point is to keep the situation from growing into something worse.
6. In general, you should pass vehicles going in the same direction you are going:
- On the right
- On the left ✓
- Only if the other driver signals it is safe
- Whenever you have the opportunity to do so
Answer: B. On the left
7. You are making a left turn away from a two-way street into a one-way street. When you have completed the turn your car should be:
- In the right lane of the street
- In the center of the street
- In the left lane of the street ✓
- In the lane with the least traffic
Answer: C. In the left lane of the street
After a left turn from a two-way street into a one-way street, your car should be in the left lane of the street you entered. The manual describes this exact turn: approach it from the right half of the roadway, closest to the center, begin the turn before you reach the center of the intersection, and finish in the left lane of the one-way road you are entering. The manual also calls these lane positions legal requirements rather than friendly advice, so the lane you land in is fixed by the rule and not left to your judgment about where the road looks roomiest.
8. Which of the following statements applies to all driving emergency situations?
- Always slow down gradually
- Your first reaction is the best reaction
- Think before you act ✓
- Apply your brakes immediately
Answer: C. Think before you act
In every driving emergency, you should think before you act. The manual's section on driving emergencies says the most important rule is not to panic, and that in most emergencies you get a second or two to think before acting. Panic makes fear take over, and you handle the situation better when you keep calm and give yourself that moment to decide. The tire blowout example shows the same idea: you hold the wheel and ease off the gas rather than reacting instantly with the brakes. That is why thinking before acting fits all emergencies.
9. You want to back out of your driveway. You see children playing nearby. Before you start to move your car you should:
- Race your motor to warn the children that you are moving
- Sound your horn so the children will hear you
- Walk to the back of the car to be sure the way is clear ✓
- Tell the children to stay away from the driveway
Answer: C. Walk to the back of the car to be sure the way is clear
Before backing out of your driveway with children nearby, you should get out and walk to the back of the car to be sure the way is clear. The handbook says that when you back into or out of a driveway, you should get out of the vehicle and check behind it. It also warns that when children are near, you should not rely only on your mirrors or look through the back window alone. Walking behind the car lets you see what the mirrors may miss, especially small children who are hard to spot from the driver's seat.
10. On long trips you can prevent drowsiness by:
- Turning on your car radio
- Slowing down so you can react better
- Stopping at regular intervals for a rest ✓
- Moving your eyes from side to side as you drive
Answer: C. Stopping at regular intervals for a rest
Stopping at regular intervals for a rest is how you prevent drowsiness on long trips. The manual's advice for long trips is to plan ahead: get enough sleep, bring a companion to share the driving, and schedule regular stops, using a rough guide of every 100 miles or two hours. The expressway chapter repeats the same idea, telling drivers on long trips to plan frequent rest stops. Breaking the trip up with rest stops is the step the handbook actually names for handling drowsiness, so that is the answer here.
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Last checked: 2026-10-17 · Verified from official source
Updated: · 128 official sample questions · Official driver handbook