Colorado Driver Handbook Notes

Getting a Driver License

• To operate a motor vehicle, motor-driven cycle, or moped on Colorado's public streets and highways, individuals must be 16 or older and possess a valid driver's license.

• New Colorado residents must obtain a Colorado driver's license within 30 days of establishing residency, unless they are active duty U.S. military personnel, dependents of active duty military personnel, or residing in Colorado primarily for education.

• Address or name changes must be reported to the Division of Motor Vehicles within 30 days.

• Identification requirements for U.S. citizens and permanent residents can be found at DMV.Colorado.gov/documents.

• The driving knowledge test covers driving knowledge and safety, including road signs, driving under the influence, driving rules, safety rules, and legal items. Practice quizzes are available online and through the myColorado app.

• Written tests are not given within 30 minutes of an office’s scheduled closing time.

• After passing the written test, you are eligible for an instruction permit,instruction permit allows limited driving privileges for people learning to drive.

• When driving with an instruction permit, you must have a person who is 21 years or older who has a valid Colorado license in the front passenger seat.

• The driving skills test assesses practical driving skills and abilities. Drive tests are primarily being given by Certified Commercial Driving schools, visit the DMV website DMV.Colorado.gov/drivereducation for more info.

• When taking the drive test at a certified commercial driving school, the school may provide a vehicle, or the applicant may be required to provide a vehicle with current insurance and registration. The examiner will check the vehicle for safety features.

• Only the driver and the examiner are allowed in the vehicle during the test. Interpreters/Translators, family, friends, or pets are not allowed. Weapons and electronic devices are also prohibited.

• If the drive test is failed, the applicant must wait until the next business day before retaking the test.

• The drive test assesses skill and knowledge of legal and safe driving practices.

• The drive test will be administered using guidelines from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA).

• Skills include:

  • Perceptual: Judging gaps or identifying hazards.

  • Motor: Manipulating controls to maneuver the vehicle, such as rotating the steering wheel when turning

  • Attentional: Focusing and shifting attention, such as monitoring traffic while merging.

• Maneuvers include:

  • Left and right turns

  • Stopping at intersections

  • Through intersections

  • Lane changes in traffic

  • General driving behavior

  • Merging into and leaving traffic

• Specific maneuvers have grading factors that are associated with the performance requirements including:

  • Lane selection: Enter/exit traffic from the proper lane, approach intersections in the proper lane, end the maneuver in the proper lane.

  • Lane management: Remain entirely within the turning lane, keep both hands on the wheel. Use approved method of steering control (hand-over-hand or push-pull-slide). Choose the correct portion of the lane for making your turn (when turning right, always turn from the right-most portion of your lane or when turning left, always turn from the left-most portion of your lane). After completing the turn, ensure the vehicle is centered in the appropriate lane. Start/finish the turn in the proper lane, do not drive over lane markings or over curbs.

  • Turn Signals: Turn signal is turned on continuously 100 feet before turning or changing lanes in urban areas and 200 feet before turning or changing lanes on 4-lane highways. Turn signal is cancelled within 3 seconds of turning or changing lanes.

  • Speed control: Smooth deceleration does not hold up traffic, adjust speed to react to traffic or conditions, maintain steady speed during lane change, approach intersection at a speed that allows the turn to be made without stopping or braking during the turn.

  • Stopping: Come to a complete stop, no forward motion of the vehicle. Do not encroach over the stop line and, crosswalk; keep the vehicle’s wheels pointed straight ahead while stopped, do not turn the wheels until beginning to make the turn and maintain an adequate distance between vehicles (If you can see the rear wheels of the vehicle in front of you, you are at an adequate distance).

  • Acceleration: Accelerates smoothly without jerking, doesn’t lug the engine, coast, impede traffic, clash gears or stall the vehicle.

  • Searching: Observes the traffic environment, looks over shoulder before changing lanes, uses mirrors, scans for traffic when approaching an intersection, looks left, right, left before entering intersections, looks behind after each turn. During the test, use of safety-critical technologies such as back-up cameras, and blind spot and lane departure warnings are allowed but do not take the place of physical searching skills.

  • General driving behavior: Steering, braking, acceleration, searching, lane usage, and obeying all traffic laws, signs and signals.

Minor Drivers

• Requirements to obtain and restrictions on an instruction permit vary by age.

• If you are under 18, your application must be accompanied by an Affidavit of Liability (DR2460) signed and verified by your parent, stepparent, grandparent with power of attorney, legal guardian, spouse older than 18, or any other responsible adult willing to accept legal liability.

• The affidavit must be signed in front of the driver license office employee or a notary public. Whoever signs the affidavit agrees to take legal responsibility for your actions as a driver. If the signer decides to no longer accept responsibility for your driving, that person may withdraw their signature and your permit/license will be canceled.

• Minors in foster care are exempt from this requirement, provided certain conditions are met, additional information can be found at DMV.Colorado.gov/foster-children-driver-licenses.

• Colorado law requires minors to have an instruction permit for 12 months before applying for a driver license and to submit a completed and signed driving log showing 50 hours of driving experience (10 of which must have been at night).

• If younger than 16 and 6 months, you must also complete 6 hours of behind-the-wheel training with an approved driver education instructor. If there is not an approved driving school offering at least 20 hours of behind-the-wheel training per week within 30 miles of your residence, 12 additional hours of driving with your parent/guardian/ alternate permit supervisor may be substituted for the 6 hours of behind the wheel training with a driver education instructor. If you live more than 30 miles from the nearest commercial driving school you must bring a printed map of the route from your home to the driving school when you go to the driver license office.

• For the first six months after your license is issued, you cannot have any passengers under 21, unless a parent or another licensed adult driver is in the vehicle. After 6 months, you may have one passenger younger than 21. Siblings and passengers with medical emergencies are exceptions. After 1 year, you may carry as many passengers as there are seat belts in the vehicle.

• For your first year as a licensed driver, driving between midnight and 5 a.m. is not allowed unless you are accompanied by an instructor, parent or legal guardian. Exceptions include driving to and from school or work (with a signed statement from school or work), medical emergencies and emancipated minors.

How You Can Lose Your License

• Meet or exceed the minimum point accumulation for suspension.

• Are convicted of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

• Refuse to be tested for alcohol or drug content.

• Are convicted of failing to report a crash or leaving the scene of a crash without stopping, exchanging information and rendering aid.

• Fail to report a crash to the Division of Motor Vehicles according to the Financial Responsibility Law.

• Give false information on your driver license application.

• Fail to settle a judgment against you as a result of a crash while operating a vehicle.

• Lend your license to someone else or misuse it.

• Fail to appear for a re-examination requested by the Division of Motor Vehicles.

• Are convicted of vehicular homicide as a result of a motor vehicle crash.

• Fail to pay ordered child support.

• Fail to provide valid evidence of insurance when requested by a law enforcement officer. Drivers are required to have proof of insurance while operating a vehicle.

• Are convicted of purchasing or possessing alcohol while you are younger than 21.

Seat Belt Law

• Colorado law requires a fastened seat belt to be worn in all motor vehicles with a factory-equipped seat belt system while in operation on public roadways by:

  • The driver

  • Front seat passengers

  • Children under 16

• The only exceptions are:

  • Emergency personnel

  • Passenger buses and school buses

  • Farm equipment

  • The driver of delivery vans while on the job

  • Anyone carrying a written medical statement from a physician stating they are not physically or psychologically required to wear seat belts

• The Colorado child passenger protection law requires children to be properly fastened into an appropriate child restraint system.

  • Children less than 1 year old and weighing less than 20 pounds: properly secured in a rear-facing child restraint system in a rear seat of the vehicle.

  • Children ages 1 to 4 and weighing 20 to 40 pounds: properly secured in a rear-facing or forward-facing child restraint system.

  • Children up to 8 years old: properly secured in a child restraint system, such as a booster seat, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

  • Children between 8 and 15 years old: properly restrained in a seat belt or child restraint system according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

• Passengers in motor vehicles driven by anyone younger than 18 must be properly restrained or wear seat belts.

• The number of passengers in vehicles driven by persons younger than 18 must not exceed the number of seat belts.

Driving Under the Influence

• Driving while impaired by alcohol, other drugs, or drug combinations is one of the greatest factors in roadway crashes and fatalities.

• Alcohol is a depressant drug that reduces brain function, which impairs thinking, reasoning, and muscle coordination. Depressants may slow reflexes and reaction times while reducing your ability to make the decisions necessary to safely operate a motor vehicle.

• It is unlawful for someone to either possess an open container of alcohol or possess an open container of marijuana while in the passenger area of a motor vehicle that is on a public road.

• A driver may be convicted of either DWAI (Driving While Ability is Impaired) or DUI (Driving Under the Influence) depending on the level of the driver’s mental or physical impairment.

  • DWAI means the driver is impaired to the slightest degree.

  • DUI means the driver is substantially incapable of safe driving.

• Impaired driving convictions are not proven only by the driver’s Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC), but by the impaired driving behavior and a totality of circumstance. This is usually documented by the driver’s operation of the vehicle and/or observed impairment during the law enforcement officer’s contact with the driver and the driver’s performance on Standardized Field Sobriety Tests.

• A driver may also be convicted of DUI per se if the driver’s BAC is greater than $0.08\%$. Licenses may be revoked if the driver refuses a toxicological test, set forth in Colorado Statute, or based on a BAC over $.08$ or over $.02$ if the driver is under 21, or over $.04$ for a CDL driver.

• A person’s BAC depends on several factors:

  • The amount of alcohol consumed

  • Body weight

  • The period of time in which the alcohol was consumed

  • The amount of time since the last drink was consumed

  • The person’s sex

• Standard servings of beer, wine or liquor contain about the same amount of alcohol.

• Standard drink is defined as 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, all of which contain the same amount of alcohol.

• On average, a person’s BAC will drop by $0.015\%$ per hour.

• Any driver younger than 21, convicted of DUI or DWAI, is subject to revocation of their driver license for the first conviction if they fail to complete a court-ordered evaluation or program. A second or third conviction is a mandatory revocation of their license.

• Anyone younger than 21 is convicted of buying or possessing alcohol is subject to revocation of their driving privilege even if driving is not a factor.

• Driving while impaired by drugs, including illicit drugs, marijuana, prescription medications and over the counter medications, is illegal and subject to the same penalties as driving while impaired by alcohol.

• The fact that marijuana or other drugs were used for medicinal purposes is not a defense for DUI or DWAI.

• Prescription drugs, such as tranquilizers, pain killers and over-the-counter medications for allergies and colds can impair safe driving skills. Drivers must check medication labels for warnings about the medication’s effects before driving. If the label is missing or unclear, check with your doctor or pharmacist about any possible side effects.

• The National Safety Council advises that the active ingredients in marijuana cause changes in cognitive effects (knowing, thinking, judging, evaluating and planning) and psychomotor effects (coordination, reaction time, motor skills, and tracking). It is unsafe to operate a vehicle while impaired by marijuana due to the increased risk of death or injury to the operator and the public.

• The degree of marijuana impairment depends upon the dose consumed, time since consumption, and differences between individuals. The degree and duration of marijuana impairment depends upon the method of consumption.

• There is a permissible inference that a driver was DUI if the driver’s blood contained 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter (ng/ml) of blood. There is no THC permissible inference level for DWAI. Most marijuana impaired drivers are convicted based upon behavioral symptoms, as well as blood THC levels.

• Polydrug impairment is caused by using two or more drugs simultaneously, including using alcohol, marijuana, prescription medications, over-the-counter medications or any other drugs in any combination. Mixing drugs can increase the substance’s effects.

• Colorado’s data shows that polydrug impairment is more common than impairment by any single drug other than alcohol, and also more dangerous.

• Law enforcement officers are trained to identify, document and testify to the impairment of driving skills, regardless of cause, including medical issues, alcohol, marijuana, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, illegal drugs or any combination of these. Drivers are routinely convicted of Colorado’s impaired driving laws regardless of the drug or drugs causing the impairment and regardless of the level of any drug that may be found in the blood or saliva.

• Express Consent Law: when a person operate a motor vehicle within the state, they agree to take a chemical test of their blood, breath, saliva or urine to determine the presence of alcohol and/or drug content in your blood. If a law enforcement officer suspects that a person is driving while impaired or under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, the law enforcement officer can require you to take a chemical test of your blood, breath, saliva or urine. If a person refuses to take the test or does not comply with the testing procedure, their driver license will be revoked for one year and they will be required to install an interlock device on any motor vehicle they drive for two years. If other suspensions or revocations come about from this same incident, they will be added onto the end of the revocation (consecutively).

• Colorado law does not allow a person to plea bargain out of an alcohol or drug related driving offense.

Before You Drive

• Being a safe driver depends on being able to see clearly, not being overly tired, not driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, being generally healthy, and being mentally and emotionally fit to drive.

• Environmental sights and sounds to be aware of while driving such as weather, time of the day, lighting conditions, honking, sirens, screeching tires, people shouting, etc. Using all of your available senses to assist you with alertness and awareness of one’s surroundings can help warn you of danger.

• Good vision is a must for safe driving. You drive based on what you see. If you cannot see clearly without corrective lenses. It is important to have your eyes checked every year or two by an eye specialist. If you have a corrective lens restriction on your license, you need to wear glasses or contact lenses while driving.

• While your hearing levels can be helpful to alert you to your surroundings, it must be noted the ability to hear (or not) does not guarantee you will hear environmental sounds. If you suspect that your hearing levels have declined, it is recommended you have your hearing tested by an audiologist.

• You may not operate a motor vehicle while wearing earphones. The definition of earphones include any device or headset which covers all or a portion of both ears. Earphones do not include hearing aids, cochlear implants, assistive listening devices, speakers or other listening devices that are built into protective headgear or a device that only covers all or a portion of one ear and that is connected to a wireless device.

• When you are tired, you cannot drive as safely as when you are rested. Your reactions and decision making skills are greatly reduced. Break long driving periods into two-hour segments. If you become drowsy, pull off the road and rest.

• Many health problems, such as a bad cold, infection or a virus, can affect your driving. Even little problems such as a stiff neck, cough, or sore leg can affect your driving. Some conditions, such as epilepsy, diabetes and heart conditions can pose risks that make it unsafe to drive a vehicle. Check with your doctor if you think your health condition could affect your driving.

• Emotions can greatly affect safe driving. You may not drive well if you are overly worried, excited, afraid or angry. Do not give in to road rage.

• Distractions are the leading cause of driver error. A distraction is anything that takes away your attention, even momentarily, from the task of driving.

• Before beginning a trip, adjust your seat, mirrors, radio, temperature and secure any loose objects in the car. Be sure everyone in the vehicle, particularly children, are wearing age-appropriate restraint devices. Do not allow yourself to become distracted by your cell phone, conversations with passengers, children or rubbernecking (staring at something of interest). Safely pull over to address distracting or urgent situations.

• Motorists are responsible to ensure the vehicles they drive are safe to operate. A vehicle in poor operating condition is unsafe, costs more to drive and can cause an emergency situation, such as a breakdown or wreck. It can also result in a citation from law enforcement. Follow your vehicle owner’s manual for routine maintenance.

  • Braking system

  • Lights

  • Windshield and wipers

  • Tires

  • Steering system

  • Suspension system

  • Exhaust system

  • Engine

  • Horn

  • Mirrors

  • Loose objects

  • Head rests

Basic Driving

• Check the vehicle owner’s manual for how to start the vehicle. No matter your make and model, your right foot should be on the brake before starting the vehicle. Check indicator lights and gauges to be sure your vehicle does not need maintenance.

• Look for a safe path and check for traffic or pedestrians to the sides and behind. Signal, and if safe, press the accelerator gently with the ball of your foot on the pedal and the heel of your foot on the floor.

• Check your mirrors for traffic to the rear of your vehicle. Move your foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal. With steady pressure, press until your vehicle comes to a stop.

• The steering wheel is always turned in the direction you want the vehicle to move, whether moving forward or in reverse. You have better vehicle control when you place both hands on the outside of the steering wheel, on opposite sides, at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions or the 4 and 8 o’clock positions. Your grip on the steering wheel should be firm but gentle. Use your fingers instead of the palms of your hands and keep your thumbs up along the face of the steering wheel. Never grip the inside of the steering wheel when turning it.

• Safely backing up your vehicle:

  • Check behind your vehicle before you get in. Children and small objects cannot be seen from the driver’s seat.

  • Place your foot on the brake and shift to reverse.

  • Grasp the steering wheel at the 12 o’clock position with your left hand. Place your right arm on the back of the passenger seat and look directly over your shoulder through the rear window.

  • Use your mirrors for backing up but keep in mind these mirrors do not show the area immediately behind your vehicle. If you have a rear view camera, use it in addition to checking over your shoulder and using your mirrors.

  • Accelerate gently, smoothly and slowly. Steer slightly in the direction the rear of the vehicle should move. If backing up while turning, make quick checks to the front and sides. Continue looking to the rear until coming to a complete stop.

Traffic Controls

• Traffic controls include traffic signals, traffic signs, and pavement markings. Traffic control also can be provided by law enforcement, highway personnel, or school crossing guards. You must obey directions from these persons.

Traffic Signals

• Traffic signals are lights that tell you when or where to stop and go. Traffic lights are usually at intersections and are (from top to bottom) red, yellow, and green. There are intersections and other locations where there are single green, yellow or red lights. If the traffic signal is not operating or is malfunctioning, treat the intersection as a four way stop.

  • Steady red light: Stop until a green light appears. After stopping and yielding to pedestrians and other traffic, and if not prohibited by a traffic sign, you may turn right while the light is red. Also, you may turn left on a red light if you are turning from a one- way street onto another one-way street, unless prohibited by a sign.

  • Steady yellow light: A red light is about to appear. Stop unless you are already in the intersection.

  • Steady green light: After yielding to any vehicle or pedestrian within the intersection or adjacent crosswalk, you may proceed straight through or turn right or left unless a sign prohibits such turns.

  • Red Arrow: A lighted red arrow means you must stop and may not turn in the direction shown.

  • Green arrow: A lighted green arrow, by itself or along with a red, green or yellow light means you may turn in the direction shown by the arrow. If the green arrow goes off, but the circular green is on, you may still turn after yielding to through vehicles and pedestrians, unless prohibited by a sign or red arrow.

  • Yellow arrow: A lighted red arrow is about to appear. Stop if you are not already in the intersection.

  • Flashing yellow arrow: A flashing yellow arrow means the driver turning left should proceed with caution and must yield to oncoming traffic and pedestrians. Never rush through a flashing yellow arrow, take the time to check for a clear path through the intersection. The signal will then switch to solid yellow, telling the driver the light is about to turn red and to not enter the intersection if they can stop safely. Finally the signal will turn red, which means the driver must stop.

  • Flashing red light: A flashing red light means the same as a STOP sign. Stop; then go only after yielding to pedestrians and other traffic.

  • Flashing yellow light: A flashing yellow light is a warning of a hazard. Slow down and proceed with caution.

  • HAWK signals: HAWK signals are traffic signals that allow pedestrians to cross the road safely. HAWK signals operate in a yellow red flashing sequence to alert motorists that pedestrians need to cross the road.

Traffic Signs

• Traffic signs tell you about traffic rules, hazards, and your current location. They can also give directions and help you to locate services. The shapes and colors of these signs indicate the type of information they provide.

• Regulatory signs: These signs tell you of laws and regulations that apply at a location. They are black or red on a white background. Failure to obey these signs is a traffic violation.

  • Speed limit signs

  • Stop signs

  • Yield signs

  • Do Not Enter/Wrong Way signs

  • One Way signs

  • Lane control signs

  • Prohibited signs

• Warning signs: These signs are yellow or fluorescent green with black symbols, school zone, curves, slippery surfaces, merging traffic, or pedestrian-dense areas.

  • Advisory speed signs

  • Railroad crossings

  • Railroad emergency notification system (ENS) Signs

  • Work zone signs

• Guide signs: These signs have a green background and provide directional and mileage information to specific destinations.

• Service/recreation signs: These signs have blue or brown backgrounds. Signs with blue backgrounds provide directions to service facilities. Signs with brown backgrounds indicate recreational, historic or cultural areas.

• Route signs and markers

• Bicycle and pedestrian crossing signs

• Pass 3 ft min signs: Motorists, when passing or overtaking bicyclists, must allow for clearance of 3 feet to avoid sideswiping on all roadways even if a sign is not posted.

• Bicycle may use full lane signs: They remind drivers that bicyclists have a right to ride in the center of the lane if they feel their safety is compromised by hazards or poor visibility if they were to ride in the right side of the lane.

• Slow moving vehicle marker: A reflective orange triangle on the rear of a vehicle means it is designed to travel at speeds slower than 25 miles per hour.

• Disabled parking signs: These signs mark special parking areas for only those vehicles displaying a disabled parking permit. In order to park in a disabled parking space, the person who owns the disabled placard must be entering or exiting the vehicle. If you park illegally in a designated disabled parking spot without a placard or plate, you could be charged with a misdemeanor, and if convicted, subject to a 350-$5,000 fine, possible jail time, loss of driving privileges and/or your car being impounded. If you park in one of these spaces with someone else’s placard or plate, you will be subject to jail time, loss of driving privileges and towing as well as fines double those listed above.

Pavement Markings

• Lines and symbols on the roadway divide lanes, tell when you may pass other vehicles or change lanes, indicate which lanes to use for turns, define pedestrian walkways, and mark where you must stop for traffic signals or signs.

• Yellow lines: Separate traffic moving in opposite directions.

  • Broken yellow line: Passing is permitted

  • Solid yellow lines: No passing is permitted, unless to pass a bicyclist with a minimum of three feet of space when the oncoming travel lane is clear.

  • Double solid yellow lines: Neither side can pass, unless to pass a bicyclist with a minimum of three feet of space when the oncoming travel lane is clear.

  • Solid and broken yellow lines: You may not pass if the solid yellow line is on your side. If the broken yellow line is on your side, you may pass if it is safe to do so. You must return to your lane before the broken lines turn solid. You may cross a solid yellow line for a left turn into an alley, private road or driveway or to pass a bicyclist with a minimum of three feet of space when such movement can be made safely.

• White lines: Separate lanes of traffic moving in the same direction.

  • Broken white line: You may change lanes if it is safe.

  • Solid white line: Requires you to stay within the lane and also marks the shoulder of the roadway.

  • Green Paint: A lane or area on the roadway designated for bicyclists, and increases visibility of bicyclists.

  • Sharrows: Some streets have shared lane markings or “sharrows” painted on them letting road users know that the lane may be too narrow for drivers and bicyclists to travel side-by-side. Bicyclists may ride in the center of a lane with a sharrow or in any situation where they need to avoid obstacles or increase visibility for their safety.

  • Crosswalks: A crosswalk is a marked or unmarked part of a road where pedestrians have the right-of-way to cross. The driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of- way by slowing down or stopping, if need be, for pedestrians crossing the roadway within a crosswalk. Whenever you approach a vehicle from the rear that is stopped at a crosswalk, you must not pass and must stop behind the vehicle or behind the crosswalk in the adjacent lane if a multi-lane roadway.

  • Conflict Zones: Broken lines in a bike or bus lane that alert drivers and bicyclists that they will be crossing each other’s path.

Lane Controls

• As a general rule, you must drive your vehicle on the right half of the road. Use only one lane, do not straddle lanes. On roads without marked lanes, drive just to the right of the center of the road.

• Restricted lanes: One or more lanes may be restricted for special use. Restricted lanes are marked by signs or pavement markings stating that the lane is restricted for special use. There will be a white diamond painted on the road within the lane, and/or a sign posted at the side of the road which specifies its use. Some examples are transit or bicycle lanes.

  • Bike lanes: Bike lanes are for the exclusive use of bicyclists and other authorized users. These users have the right-of- way in a bike lane and drivers are prohibited from driving, idling or parking in or otherwise obstructing a bike lane. A bike lane extends through an intersection regardless of whether paint connects the bike lane on either side.

  • Transit lanes: Transit lanes are where a portion of the street, designated by signs and markings, is reserved for the preferential or exclusive use of transit vehicles (for example bus or light rail), sometimes allowing limited use by other vehicles.

  • High occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes: These lanes are identified by a white diamond painted on the roadway. Signs will identify the types of vehicles and the number of occupants required per vehicle to use the lane.

  • Two-way left-turn lane: This lane is for the exclusive use of left turning vehicles and may be used by drivers making a left turn in either direction. It shall not be used for passing or travel by a driver except to make a left turn. You may stop in this lane until it is safe to complete the turn. When a street has a shared center turn lane, you may not turn left from any other lane and you may not drive in this lane.

  • Unmarked lane: When there are no signs or pavement markings to control the use of lanes, drive just to the right of the center of the road. Do not drive on the shoulder of the road. The same rules for passing and turning on marked roads apply with unmarked roads.

• Roundabout lane: A roundabout is a circular intersection where vehicles travel to the right around a raised center island while entering traffic yields the right-of-way to circulating traffic. Use turn signals when changing lanes and when exiting the roundabout.

• Reversible lanes: Some travel lanes are designed to carry traffic in one direction at certain times and in the opposite direction at other times. These lanes are separated by a barrier or marked by double-broken yellow lines. There may be signs posted by the side of the road or overhead. Sometimes special lights are used.

• Diverging Diamond Interchange (DDI): crosses traffic to the opposite side of the road across an interchange so vehicles have uninterrupted movements onto the freeway ramps. Left-turn movements, which are a typical challenge with standard four-way interchanges, are eliminated with a DDI, which allows for fewer conflicts with other vehicles.

Right-Of-Way

• Where drivers or pedestrians meet one another, and there are no signs or signals to regulate traffic, there are rules that say who must yield the right-of-way. These rules tell drivers who proceeds first and who must wait in different traffic situations.

• The law states who must yield the right-of-way, but it does not give anyone the right-of-way, even if your traffic signal is green. You must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians, bicyclists, and other drivers who are already in an intersection you are approaching.

• Pedestrians: When driving, you must always the right-of- way to pedestrians. Do not assume that pedestrians can hear or see you and/or your vehicle or any visual or audible crossing signals as some pedestrians may be deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind or blind. Most blind or deaf-blind people are easily recognized by the white cane they carry and/or by their guide dog.

• Bicycles: Bicycles on the road are considered vehicles and have many of the same rights and responsibilities as motor vehicles. Drivers must yield the right-of-way to bicyclists in a designated bike lane when merging with or crossing a bike lane to turn. Bicyclists riding on a sidewalk or crosswalk have the same rights and responsibilities as pedestrians.

• Four-way stop: You must yield the right-of-way to the vehicle that reached the intersection first. When more than one vehicle reaches the intersection at the same time, the vehicle on the left must yield the right-of-way and allow the vehicle on the right to go first. Regardless of who has the right-of-way, you are always responsible for avoiding a crash.

• Uncontrolled intersection: When more than one vehicle reaches an uncontrolled intersection at the same time, the vehicle on the left must yield the right-of-way to the vehicle on the right and allow the vehicle on the right to go first.

• Turning left: Before proceeding through a left turn, always be sure to look for and yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk and other smaller oncoming vehicles such as bicyclists and motorcyclists and take time to properly judge their speed and distance. You must yield to all oncoming traffic, unless you have a green arrow or arrived first at a four-way stop.

• Changing lanes and passing: You must yield the right-of- way to vehicles already occupying the lane you wish to enter or use for passing. Do not change lanes if another vehicle must slow down for you.

• Merging: You must yield to all vehicles on the roadway you are merging with. Do not merge if another vehicle must slow down for you.

• Reversing: You must yield the right-of-way to all vehicles close enough to be a hazard.

• Narrow mountain road: When vehicles meet on a steep, narrow road that is not wide enough for two vehicles