The Answers to the Virginia Defensive Driving Test
As you can see in a previous post, I was recently arrested and threatened with jail time for driving 80mph on an interstate highway with a posted speed limit of 70. It only cost me almost $250 in legal fees to have the charges dropped––and that was only because I have (had) a clean driving record.
I was also ordered to take an eight-hour defensive driving course. The Virginia DMV has a webpage with a list of accredited courses. These range in price from $30-90. At least half of them are the same course under different names: AAAADefensive Driving Test is $90 dollars. If you are patient and actually shop through all the links, you will find something with a name like AADefensive Driving Course is only $30. All of these links go to the same course but charge different prices.
For insurance purposes, I usually take one of these courses every time I get a moving violation. I’ve done it three times already. Now I just leave the computer on while the course is running and do my laundry. However, in Virginia you are required to take a proctored test to complete an online course. The reason for this is obvious––they get to add a $9 proctoring free on top of everything else.
The Defensive Driving Course I took is based out of state and runs courses for both California and Virginia. You take their course and then go to a UPS store to complete your test. This is quite a racket: No overhead and thousands of people are forced to pay you up to $90 just for hosting a website.
Today, I took the test. It turned out that most UPS stores in Virginia do not proctor defensive driving tests. If you call them they will have no idea what you are talking about. I finally found a participating location conveniently located 45 minutes away on the opposite side the Appalachian Mountains! When I arrived, they asked me to come around behind the counter and use the same computer they use to track packages to take a driving test.
“Can I have a chair?” I asked.
“No.” replied the UPS employee.
While I stood there bent over a computer meant for someone much shorter than me, trying to take a test, people kept walking up to me and asking how much it would cost to mail this fruitcake to their grandson. The real UPS employee was lurking in the back of the store so I had to keep explaining, “I don’t work here, I’m taking a test.” Half the time, the customers would continue to make conversation:
“Oh, is it a test to work for UPS?”
Absolute worst testing conditions I have ever heard of. When it was over I was charged $10 for using the computer (this was a separate charge from the $9 proctoring fee), plus 50 cents for printing out the screen saying I had passed.
On top of everything else in the three-month nightmare that resulted from attempting to drive on a Virginia interstate, this test turned out to be incredibly infuriating and unfair. For instance, the test asked you where to put your hands on the steering wheel: 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock is the wrong answer!!
So in retaliation I have written down all of the questions to share them with you on the Internet. I will now lay out a brief explanation of why I am doing this. Otherwise, you can just skip down to the answers.
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Why I am Doing This
I am a licensed public high school teacher and I have had to attend government-sponsored seminars on how to write multiple-choice questions. I will let you in on a secret: multiple-choice questions are the worst possible way to assess a student’s knowledge. There is only one advantage to multiple-choice questions: They can be graded by a machine. This has opened the door to all sorts of government tests that neither assess nor encourage learning.
The driver’s test I passed had almost nothing to do with being a safer driver. It was simply a punishment demanded by the court to deter me from speeding and a way to extract another $50 on top of court fees. They could have put me in a pillory for eight hours and it would have had the same effect.
For working class families this really isn’t a joke. The $50 fees to take this test is someone’s grocery budget. The eight hours it takes to do this course meant some kid had a soccer game their dad couldn’t come to. I don’t think anyone in Virginia should have to waste their time taking this course or (heaven forbid) taking this test over because they were confused by the obnoxious questions. I am posting the answers here because I have been wronged and I do not have the power to bring about more systemic changes––at least not alone.
I should also add that this is not illegal. Kaplan and the Princeton Review design their courses by taking the SAT and then memorizing all of the questions. Every year they pay “students” to take the test and collect data that they use to run their billion dollar industry. In China and Korea, students memorize GRE questions and post them online with the answers. This is how Chinese students who do not speak English are able to get perfect verbal scores! I encourage other people in my situation to memorize and post answers as well. If this really had anything to do with promoting traffic safety, the court should be thrilled that I am dedicating a blog to Virginia’s traffic rules.
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The Answers
The test consists of 50 multiple-choice questions, each with four answers. To pass, you need a score of 80% or 40 correct answers. Each test features randomly selected questions, but I estimate the bank to be only about 200 questions. At least some of the questions posted here will appear on your test which, combined with common sense, should be enough for you to pass the first time.
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Part I: Meaningless number questions.
This is the most irritating part of the test because these are arbitrary standards. Common sense is no help so you just have to memorize the numbers. Here is a tip: If you have to choose a number, the answer almost always begins with either a 2 or a 5. You’ll see what I mean.
1. How think does your tire tread have to be?
Answer: 1/16th (This is the shortest number you can choose).
2. For someone over the age of 21, what level BAC is considered impaired.
Answer: .08%.
3. What is the required minimal liability coverage for injury or single death?
Answer: $25,000.
4. What is the required minimal liability coverage for property damage?
Answer: $20,000.
Commentary: The minimum liability coverage for multiple deaths is $50,000. I’m not sure if this is in the question bank or not. Why the hell would anyone memorize this? It doesn’t make you a safer driver and it is impossible to buy an insurance policy that doesn’t provide the minimum coverage for your state. Why would anyone who isn’t an insurance agent need to know this?
5. What is the required (corrected) vision to drive in Virginia?
Answer: 20/40.
6. What is the maximum stopping distance if you are moving 20mph?
Answer: 25 feet.
7. How far do you have to be able to see in all directions to make a U-Turn?
Answer: 500 feet.
8. What is the speed in a residential area?
Answer: 25 mph
Commentary: In a normal state, it would be 30mph.
9. At what distance should you turn off your high beams when following another car?
Answer: 200 feet.
10. At what distance should you turn off your high beams when approaching another car?
Answer: 500 feet.
11. You should execute your turn signal ______ before executing a turn in city traffic and ______ in high way traffic.
Answer 50/100.
Commentary: Choices C and D frame the problem in terms of seconds, not feet. This is the wrong answer because the bastards who make the test say so. But in reality this is a perfectly reasonably way to plan your turn.
12. How many mirrors do you need and how far should you be able to see through them?
Answer: 2/200 ft.
Commentary: Notice how all the other visibility questions require you to see much farther than 200 ft. This shows how the laws themselves are random and arbitrary.
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Part II Trick questions.
Just look at these horrible, deceptive questions. What kind of sick person would think this is a reasonable way to assess whether you’re a safe driver?
13. When passing you can increase your speed by how much?
Answer: 0.
Commentary: This is a straight up trick question. It’s a cheap shot and it’s annoying.
14. When approaching an accident you should give aid to the injured ______
a. Always.
b. Only to the extent you feel competent to do so.
c. Only if you are a certified EMT.
d. Never.
Answer: B. “Only to the extent you feel competent to do so.”
Commentary: The course emphasizes over and over that you have a duty to help people in an accident. This answer essentially nullifies any sort of good Samaritan laws in the state of Virginia. If you have taken this defensive driving course, you have a pretty good excuse to watch someone bleed to death in a traffic accident.
15. If you feel extreme fatigue before beginning a drive, what should you do?
a. Don’t drive.
b. Take a short nap.
c. Eat a big meal.
d. Drive anyway.
Answer: A. Don’t drive.
Commentary: I missed this question. If you are taking a nap then obviously you aren’t driving! This question demonstrates the idiotic “Simon Says” logic of the test. It is not a test of your common sense or instincts as a driver—it is only a test of your ability to memorize the course material and recite it verbatim.
16. Where you put your hands on the steering wheel?
a. 10 and 2.
b. 9 and 6.
c. 2 and 12.
d. Wherever you feel like it.
Answer: D!
Commentary: Unbelievable! Apparently the people who designed this test found some study suggesting that if your hands are at 10 and 2, an airbag can break your arms. But there was no evidence that putting your hands elsewhere would be more effective, so “wherever you feel like” is the right answer. Why can’t that be the answer to every question? Seriously––this question makes me think that these people have absolutely no business designing a defensive driving course.
17. What is divided attention?
a. Your attention is focused on different things.
b. Your attention is not focused on driving at all.
c. Sometimes A and Sometimes B.
Answer: C.
Commentary: It seems to me that if none of your attention is dedicated to driving, it is no longer “divided.” At this point, you are no longer thinking about safety or driving and only about the twisted logic of the bastard who designed this test.
18. Stress begins as a ______ reaction to stimuli.
a. physiological
b. psychological
c. emotional
d. mental.
Answer: physiological.
Commentary: This question is annoying and, if you have every studied psychology, actually misleading. Psychology is the study of human behavior including physiological reactions to stimuli. So if A is correct then, ipso facto, B is correct too.
19. If you are in a long line of cars, you should
a. pass all of the cars.
b. pass only one at a time.
c. pass only two at a time.
d. never pass.
Commentary: I think the answer is “a” but I’m not totally sure. I cut and pasted the entire course into a Word document and there is nothing in it about passing in a long line of cars. Maybe it’s one of the videos that I didn’t watch? It wouldn’t surprise me if some of these questions have absolutely no basis in the course material.
20. What is the number one factor of impaired driving?
Answer: influence of drugs and alcohol.
Commentary: This one seems fairly open to interpretation because the course offers no statistics to prove this claim and the question gives no definition of “impaired.” A lot of people don’t drink and drive but text and drive.
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Part III Random trivia
21. Turn-outs are . . .
Answer: Short lanes for slow moving vehicles in rural areas.
22. How far ahead should you look in city driving?
Answer: One city block
23. Who can drive in a high occupancy vehicle lane?
a. Vehicles with more than one person.
b. Vehicles that use alternative fuels (sometimes).
c. A and B are correct
d. No one.
Answer: C.
24. What does it mean when there is a double yellow line and one line is solid and the other is broken?
Answer: You can pass on the side with broken line.
25. If you park on a curb facing uphill, which way should you turn your front wheels?
Answer: Left
Commentary: This question assumes you are parked on the right side of the road. This way if your car starts to roll down the hill, it will roll into the curb and not out into the street. The question demands a serious ability to visualize.
26. How you should you drive in a parking lot?
Answer: Follow the marked paths.
27. Up to what age is your child required to be in a child seat
Answer: 7.
Commentary: I could not believe this law so I went and looked it up. In the state of Virginia, children have to be in a car seat until their 8th birthday! There is a $50 fine for violating this law. Honestly, what is wrong with this state?! When I was in the second grade, I would have been utterly mortified to be put in a car seat. Also, this law specifies that the height of the child is irrelevant. There are plenty of 71/2 year olds who are larger than small adult women.
28. What information is posted on the railroad plaque?
Answer: The number of tracks.
29. When traveling downhill, travelers moving ______ should yield the right of way.
Answer: Downhill.
30. What does a red curb mean?
Answer: Do not stop, stand, or park near the curb
31. Why do you have to take a sobriety test?
Answer: Implied consent.
Commentary: This law arguably goes against the fourth amendment and should be investigated. Why does consent have to be implied? I got a drivers license in this state. They could have asked me to sign a consent form in exchange for a license. For that matter, they could have told me about all of the utterly bizarre traffic laws here.
32. Which one of these lanes is a real thing? (I’m paraphrasing).
Answer: Weaving lanes. (Mixing lanes, mingling lanes, etc. are false answers).
33. Where should your headrest be?
Answer: The middle of the back of the head.
Commentary: Seriously, what an inane piece of trivia. What if your headrest can’t be adjusted to the middle of the back of your head? Are you supposed to get a new car? These sorts of questions call the entire course into question and make the entire endeavor seem useless.
