Montana Permit Practice Test 3
A third full-length Montana practice test: 30 more questions with zero repeats from Tests 1 or 2 — including extra Montana-specific rules. Check the MVD site for the current question count and passing score.
Tap an answer. The explanation opens so you can learn it, then go on. Keyboard: A–D or 1–4 to answer, then Enter or Space.
Question 1 of 30
1. A Montana teen with a first-year restricted license is caught breaking a license restriction for the first time. What penalty does the state impose?
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Correct answer: C. Montana answers a first restricted-license violation with 20 to 60 hours of community service rather than a fine. The penalty costs time instead of money, which teens feel more directly. Hook: break the rules, work the hours.
2. What is the first official NHTSA TireWise step if you have a tire blowout while driving?
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Correct answer: A. Official NHTSA TireWise blowout guidance says Hold the steering wheel with both hands. Gradually release the accelerator. Once your vehicle has stabilized, continue to slow down and pull off the road where and when you judge it’s safe to do so. Any overreaction – including slamming on the brakes – can result in a loss of control over the vehicle.
3. Traffic ahead suddenly stacks up on a freeway. What is the safest speed choice?
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Correct answer: B. The posted limit is a maximum, not a target. In dense or slowing traffic you must drop to a speed that lets you stop in the space you can see. Basic speed law: do not drive faster than conditions allow.
4. After two drinks at a barbecue in Montana, you consider driving home. For a driver 21 or older, that becomes illegal starting at which BAC?
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Correct answer: A. Driving in Montana becomes a per-se DUI at a BAC of 0.08%. Drinks affect people differently, so you cannot reliably guess your number. When you have been drinking, the smart decision is simply to skip driving.
5. Can prescription or over-the-counter medicine make driving illegal, according to NHTSA?
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Correct answer: A. Official NHTSA drug-impaired-driving guidance says it’s illegal everywhere in America to drive under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, opioids, methamphetamines, or any potentially impairing drug–prescribed or over the counter.
6. A large truck ahead starts to turn right but swings left first. What should you do?
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Correct answer: B. Long vehicles off-track: the rear wheels take a tighter path, so drivers swing wide. The tempting gap on the right is a crush zone. If you cannot see the mirrors, the driver cannot see you. Wait behind the trailer.
7. Besides nighttime, when should you turn on your headlights?
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Correct answer: D. Turn on your headlights whenever conditions cut visibility, including rain, fog, snow, dusk, or dawn, because lights help other drivers spot you as much as they help you see. Handy habit: wipers on or gray sky means lights on.
8. Where does modern guidance tell you to place your hands on the steering wheel?
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Correct answer: D. Hold the wheel near the 9 and 3 o'clock positions, level on each side. This grip gives balanced control and keeps your arms out of the path of a deploying airbag. Think low and wide, clear of the bag.
9. A classmate insists everyone must wait until 18 to start driving in Montana. The real minimum age for a learner's permit is which of these?
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Correct answer: D. Your classmate is wrong: Montana grants learner's permits at 14½. Starting earlier gives you months of supervised practice while risk is lowest. When rules feel fuzzy, confirm them in the official state driver handbook.
10. What do open-container laws prohibit, according to NHTSA?
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Correct answer: A. Official NHTSA open-container guidance says Open container laws prohibit the possession of any open alcoholic beverage container and the consumption of any alcoholic beverage by motor vehicle drivers or passengers. Those laws typically exempt passengers in buses, taxis, and the living quarters of mobile homes.
11. In Montana, an under-21 driver can face a license suspension for alcohol at a much lower level than an adult DUI. That zero-tolerance level is which of these?
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Correct answer: D. Reaching 0.02% can cost a driver under 21 their license in Montana, even when they show no obvious impairment. The state treats underage drinking and driving as a license issue first, aiming to stop the habit early.
12. You are overtaking a slow truck in a legal passing zone on a two-lane Montana road. What does state law allow?
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Correct answer: B. Montana lets you go up to 10 mph over the limit on a two-lane road solely to overtake and return safely to your lane. Shorter time alongside means less exposure to oncoming traffic. Hook: ten over, only while passing.
13. You stop at a red light planning to turn right, and a white sign beside the signal reads NO TURN ON RED. What does the sign change?
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Correct answer: A. Many places allow a right turn on red after a complete stop, but a NO TURN ON RED sign removes that option. It appears where crosswalks or sight lines make red-light turns risky. When posted, red simply means wait.
14. Which shape is used only for yield signs, so you can recognize the sign even when you cannot read its face?
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Correct answer: D. Only yield signs use the downward-pointing triangle, just as only stop signs use the octagon. Unique shapes let drivers react from the outline alone in fog or darkness. Picture the point aiming down, telling you to back off and give way.
15. While planning a road trip across Montana, you look up the fastest speed any of its highways allow. What is that statewide maximum?
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Correct answer: A. Montana's top speed limit is 80 mph, found only on its fastest designated highways. Expect lower posted limits on most stretches, and remember signs control: the maximum applies only where a sign actually posts it.
16. An officer stops an adult driver in Montana and a breath test is given. At what BAC reading can that driver be charged with driving under the influence, even if their driving looked steady?
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Correct answer: C. A BAC of 0.08% or more is enough by itself for a DUI charge in Montana. The law uses a fixed number because alcohol impairs everyone, and drivers are poor judges of their own impairment behind the wheel.
17. A Montana signal shows a steady red arrow. What must you do?
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Correct answer: A. Montana says a steady red arrow means STOP. Stop and remain stopped except for allowed turns on red, which the manual tells you to review with the circular-red rules. It is not a free pass through the intersection.
18. The light is steady green as you reach an intersection. Which statement is true?
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Correct answer: B. A green light means you may proceed, but only after yielding to pedestrians and vehicles still clearing the intersection. Green grants permission, not protection, so look left, right, and left again before you enter.
19. Unless a sign posts another limit, the usual residential or city default in Montana is:
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Correct answer: A. Montana's typical unposted residential / city default is 25 mph. School zones and work zones drop lower. If houses line the street and no sign argues, start at 25 mph and watch the next plaque.
20. While you wait to turn, the green arrow changes to a steady yellow arrow. What is the signal telling you?
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Correct answer: D. A steady yellow arrow warns that the protected turning phase is about to end. Stop if you can do so safely; drivers already at the point of no return may finish the turn cautiously. Yellow arrow means wrap up, not speed up.
21. A school bus ahead stops with its red lights flashing on a two-lane road with no median. Which vehicles must stop?
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Correct answer: D. On a road without a dividing median, traffic in both directions must stop for a school bus with flashing red lights and remain stopped until the lights turn off. Children may cross from either side, so every lane freezes.
22. Children are playing near the curb on an unposted neighborhood street in Montana. Unless a sign says otherwise, the fastest you may legally drive here is which speed?
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Correct answer: A. The default residential limit in Montana is 25 mph unless otherwise posted. With children nearby, you should often go slower still, because stopping distance grows quickly with speed and kids can dart into the street without warning.
23. You merge onto an interstate in Montana posted at the state's maximum speed limit. The fastest you may legally drive there is which speed?
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Correct answer: C. Montana caps highway speed at 80 mph, its statewide maximum. Even on wide-open pavement, the posted number is the ceiling, and rain, fog, or traffic can make a much lower speed the only safe and legal choice.
24. Drivers under 21 in Montana are held to a stricter alcohol standard than adults. What is the BAC threshold for these younger drivers?
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Correct answer: B. Adults have a higher per-se number, but the under-21 standard in Montana is 0.02%. Alcohol is already off-limits for minors, so the driving rule matches: for young drivers, the practical limit is zero drinks.
25. You are driving on a road with few traffic lights when you see a yellow diamond sign showing a traffic signal symbol. Why is this sign posted, and how should you respond?
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Correct answer: B. Signal-ahead warnings are posted where a traffic light may surprise drivers, such as after a long stretch without one or where a hill blocks the view. Ease off the gas early so a sudden red light cannot catch you.
26. Headed downhill at a curb, which way does the official CA handbook (nationally taught hill technique) turn the front wheels?
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Correct answer: A. Official California Driver Handbook parking technique — taught the same way nationwide — says Headed downhill: Turn your front wheels into the curb or right toward the side of the road. Remember to set the parking brake and leave the vehicle in park, or in gear for manual transmission.
27. How does the official NHTSA NDR code book label leaving a crash without aiding?
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Correct answer: A. Official 23 CFR 1327 Appendix A lists B01 Hit and run—failure to stop and render aid after accident. Related codes cover fatal, injury, and property-damage hit-and-run. State penalties vary; this leftover uses that official national label.
28. A white sign shows a black number 25 inside a red circle. In the US, what does that usually indicate?
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Correct answer: C. A red circle around a number is the international speed-limit format, used in some US areas to show kilometers per hour. Do not treat it as 25 mph unless a miles-per-hour plaque says so. Check the unit before you match the number.
29. You reach a stop sign at an intersection that has a painted stop line. Where must you bring your vehicle to a complete stop?
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Correct answer: A. At a stop sign you must stop completely before the stop line; with no line, stop before the crosswalk or the intersection edge. Stopping short protects people in the crosswalk. If you need a better view, creep forward only after the full stop.
30. You are turning left at an intersection on a green light while an oncoming car heads straight toward the intersection. What is the rule?
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Correct answer: C. A driver turning left must yield to oncoming vehicles going straight or turning right, crossing only when there is a safe gap. Straight traffic keeps its speed and path, so the turning driver waits. Left turn equals lower priority.
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