During a long trip, you keep yawning and cannot recall the last few miles. What should you do?
Correct answer: Leave traffic at a safe stopping place and rest.
These are warning signs of drowsiness. Stop in a safe place and rest instead of trying to force yourself to continue driving.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 40: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Driver Safety - Drowsy Driving ↗
You need to enter a complicated destination into your navigation system. What is the safest plan?
Correct answer: Enter it while safely parked before driving.
Programming or reading navigation can take attention away from traffic. Finish the task while safely parked, rather than combining it with driving.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 41: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Distracted Driving - Distractions ↗
An over-the-counter medicine warns that it may cause drowsiness. What should guide your decision about driving?
Correct answer: Check and follow its driving warnings before taking the wheel.
Prescription and over-the-counter medicines can affect driving. Read and follow the warnings before driving; a short test drive is not a safe way to find out whether you are impaired.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 42: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Medications; corroborated by NHTSA Drug-Impaired Driving - Many Substances Can Impair Driving ↗
After drinking alcohol, a driver says feeling more confident proves that driving ability has improved. Why is that reasoning unsafe?
Correct answer: Alcohol can increase confidence while weakening judgment and reactions.
Alcohol can create a misleading sense of confidence while impairing judgment, attention and reactions. Feeling confident is not evidence that a person can drive safely.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 42: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Alcohol ↗
A person has been drinking and proposes coffee and a cold shower before driving. What is wrong with this plan?
Correct answer: Neither method removes alcohol from the body faster.
Coffee, food and cold showers do not speed the body's removal of alcohol. Use a sober driver or another safe way home; this is not a formula for deciding when someone is fit to drive.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 42: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Alcohol ↗
Where should the lap portion of a properly worn lap-and-shoulder belt rest?
Correct answer: Low and snug across the hips.
The lap portion belongs low across the hips, not over the abdomen. Wear the shoulder portion correctly as well; hiding it behind the back defeats part of the restraint.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 45: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Adult Safety Points ↗
Your car has front airbags. How does that affect the need to use its seat belts?
Correct answer: The airbags supplement properly worn seat belts.
Airbags are supplemental protection, not substitutes for seat belts. Use the belt correctly even when the airbag system is working.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 43: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Protecting Yourself and Your Passengers - Seat Belts ↗
You are installing a child restraint that is suitable for the child's size. What should you use to check the installation?
Correct answer: The restraint instructions and the vehicle owner's manual.
A suitable child restraint must also be installed correctly. Follow both the restraint manufacturer's instructions and the vehicle owner's manual, rather than assuming one installation method fits every vehicle.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 44: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Child Safety (continued); NHTSA Car Seats and Booster Seats - Car Seat Overview ↗
You are choosing a place for a rear-facing infant restraint. Which proposed location is unsafe?
Correct answer: A front passenger seat with an active frontal airbag.
Do not put a rear-facing infant restraint in front of an active frontal airbag. Use an appropriate rear location and follow the vehicle and restraint instructions.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 45: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Child Safety Points ↗
A passenger suggests leaving a child alone in a parked car because its windows will be cracked open. What is the safe response?
Correct answer: Take the child with you; cracked windows do not prevent dangerous heating.
A parked vehicle can become dangerously hot even with windows slightly open. Do not leave a child unattended in the vehicle.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 46: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Weather Risk ↗
You are approaching children waiting near a school-bus stop, but no bus is visible yet. What should you anticipate?
Correct answer: A child may move unexpectedly into the roadway.
Children waiting for a school bus may run or dart into the street. Stay alert and be ready to avoid a collision even before the bus arrives; this question does not state the separate school-bus stopping law.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 47: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, School Buses ↗
A tractor driver ahead extends the left arm straight out. What should you consider before attempting to pass?
Correct answer: The driver may be signaling a left turn.
A tractor driver's left-turn signal can be mistaken for an invitation to pass. Do not make that assumption; anticipate the tractor's intended turn and wait until passing can be done safely.
Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, Revised May 2025 (printing 09/25), printed p. 51: Chapter 4 - Your Driving, Safe Driving Around Farm Equipment ↗
