You are backing out toward an ordinary street. Another vehicle is approaching close enough that your movement would interfere. What should you do?
Correct answer: Wait until you can back with reasonable safety and no interference.
Arizona allows backing only when it can be done with reasonable safety and without interfering with other traffic. A reverse signal or a slow speed does not grant priority.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-891, subsection A. ↗
You drive past your intended exit on a controlled-access highway. The roadway behind you looks empty. May you reverse to the exit?
Correct answer: No; do not back on the highway or its ramps.
Backing is prohibited on the roadway, entrance or exit ramps, and access roads of a controlled-access highway. Continue to a lawful route rather than reversing to recover a missed exit.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-891, subsection B. ↗
You park beside the roadway and a bicyclist is approaching alongside your car. When may you open your door?
Correct answer: When it is reasonably safe and will not interfere with the cyclist.
Check for approaching traffic before opening a vehicle door. Arizona’s rule protects moving traffic, including a cyclist approaching alongside a parked car.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-905. ↗
After your passenger has finished getting out, may you leave the traffic-side door open while you chat?
Correct answer: No; close it rather than leave it exposed to moving traffic.
A door exposed to moving traffic may not stay open longer than needed to load or unload a passenger. Completing that task does not create an ongoing right to obstruct traffic.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-905. ↗
A large box on the front passenger seat blocks your view toward a side road. What must you do before driving?
Correct answer: Reposition the load so it does not obstruct the required view.
A vehicle may not be driven with a load that blocks the driver’s view ahead or to the sides or interferes with the controls. Reduce or rearrange the load before travel.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-893, subsection A. ↗
A passenger sits so that their leg interferes with the driver’s use of the controls. What is required?
Correct answer: The passenger must move to a position that does not interfere.
Passengers may not occupy a position that interferes with the driver’s view or control of the driving mechanism. The rule applies even if the passenger does not intend to cause a problem.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-893, subsection B. ↗
You strap down a load but leave its tarp loose. Is the load ready for road travel?
Correct answer: No; secure both the load and its covering.
Both cargo and its covering must be secured so they cannot become loose, detached or hazardous. A well-tied load does not make a flapping or detachable tarp acceptable.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-1098, subsection B. ↗
In clear daylight, a load extends exactly four feet beyond the vehicle’s rear bed or body. What rear warning is required?
Correct answer: A red flag or cloth at least 18 inches square at the extreme end.
The rear-projecting-load rule begins at four feet. In daylight conditions that do not require the specified lighting, place the required red flag or cloth at the extreme rear of the load, fully visible from behind.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-935, subsection A–B. ↗
At night, a load extends more than four feet beyond the rear bed or body. Is a red cloth alone sufficient?
Correct answer: No; use the required red lighting and reflectors at the load’s end.
The projecting load needs two red lights or lanterns and reflectors, one on each side at its extreme rear, visible at least 500 feet to the sides and rear. These are additional to the vehicle’s required rear light.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-935, subsection A. ↗
On a downhill highway, a driver shifts into neutral to coast. Is that permitted?
Correct answer: No; coasting downhill with the gears in neutral is prohibited.
Arizona prohibits a motor-vehicle driver from coasting down a grade with the gears in neutral. Keeping the engine running does not change the rule.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-895, subsection A. ↗
On a narrow mountain highway, how should you position and control your vehicle?
Correct answer: Keep it under control and reasonably near the right-hand edge.
Arizona requires control and a position as near the right-hand edge as reasonably possible on mountain highways, canyons and narrow passages. This is not an instruction to drive off the roadway or crowd an unsafe edge.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-894. ↗
Your towing speed causes the trailer to sway sideways out of its traffic line. Does remaining below the posted limit make that speed acceptable?
Correct answer: No; a speed that causes that trailer sway is prohibited.
The towing rule specifically prohibits a speed that makes the trailer sway laterally from the line of traffic. A posted maximum does not make an unstable towing speed safe or lawful.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-896. ↗
An unprotected fire hose lies across your route for use at a fire. May you drive over it simply because you can fit through?
Correct answer: No; wait unless the fire official in command directs you across.
Do not drive over the unprotected hose. The exception is a direction from the fire department official in command, not your own estimate that the hose can withstand the car.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-897. ↗
Nails spill from your vehicle onto a roadway. What is your responsibility?
Correct answer: Immediately remove them or arrange for their removal.
A person who drops hazardous material must remove it or cause it to be removed immediately. Arrange safe assistance where needed; this duty is not advice to walk into moving traffic.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-898, subsection B. ↗
A person removes a wrecked vehicle from a highway. What must happen to the broken glass that fell from that vehicle?
Correct answer: It must also be removed from the highway.
Removing a wrecked or damaged vehicle includes removing glass or other injurious material that it dropped on the highway. Moving the vehicle alone does not finish that responsibility.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-898, subsection C. ↗
Outside a business or residential district, your working car can safely stop off the main traveled part of a highway. May you instead stop in the travel lane for a routine break?
Correct answer: No; use the practicable off-road stopping place.
Where stopping off the paved or main traveled part is practicable, Arizona’s general rule requires it. Keep passage unobstructed and the vehicle visible; a vehicle disabled where stopping cannot be avoided has a separate exception.
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 28-871, subsection A and B(1). ↗
