FullPass

CA · STUDY GUIDE

DUI & Traffic Penalties

DUI limits and penalties, implied consent, the point system, and suspensions — frequently emphasized permit-test material. All 31 questions below cite the CA Driver's Manual section they come from.

Rules of the RoadRoad Signs, Signals & MarkingsInstruction Permits & Provisional Licensing

1 · VIOLATIONS

As an adult, your license may be suspended if your record shows:

  • ✓ 4 points in 12 months, 6 in 24, or 8 in 36
  • · 2 points in any year
  • · 10 points in 12 months
  • · Any single point

The point thresholds: 4 in 12 months, 6 in 24, 8 in 36. Convictions and collisions stay on your record for 36 months or longer.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 7 · Points on Your Driver's Record, p. 54

2 · VIOLATIONS

For a one-point violation, a judge may let you attend traffic violator school:

  • ✓ Once every 18 months, keeping the citation off your insurance record
  • · As often as you like
  • · Only for parking tickets
  • · Only if under 21

Traffic violator school keeps a one-point citation from being reported to your insurer (it stays on your record). Once per 18-month period.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 7 · Traffic Violator School, p. 54

3 · DISTRACTED DRIVING

An adult driver may use a cell phone only:

  • ✓ Hands-free — mounted, operated with a single swipe or tap
  • · Held below the window line
  • · At red lights
  • · For short calls

Hands-free mode only, mounted on the windshield, dashboard, or console without blocking your view, and operated with one swipe or tap. No reading or sending texts while driving.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 8 · Cell Phones and Texting, pp. 70-71

4 · DISTRACTED DRIVING

A driver under 18 may use a phone or wireless device while driving:

  • ✓ Only to call for emergency assistance — hands-free doesn't matter
  • · In hands-free mode
  • · For navigation only
  • · With a parent's permission

Minors may not use phones or electronic wireless devices at all while driving — even hands-free. The only exception is calling for emergency help.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 8 · Minors and Cell Phones, p. 71

5 · DUI LAWS

It is illegal for a driver UNDER 21 to drive with a BAC of:

  • ✓ 0.01% or higher
  • · 0.08% or higher
  • · 0.05% or higher
  • · 0.04% or higher

Zero tolerance: 0.01% for under-21 (and anyone on DUI probation). It's 0.08% for adults 21+ and 0.04% for commercial licenses and passengers-for-hire.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · BAC Limits, p. 73

6 · DUI LAWS

Refusing a blood or urine test when an officer suspects DUI means DMV will:

  • ✓ Suspend or revoke your driving privilege for one year
  • · Issue a warning
  • · Reduce the charge
  • · Nothing without a conviction

Driving means you've consented to testing. Refuse, and the DMV suspends or revokes your privilege for one year — separate from any court case.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · Alcohol and Drugs, p. 72

7 · DUI LAWS

An opened container of alcohol in your car must be carried:

  • ✓ In the trunk or somewhere passengers do not sit — never the glove box
  • · In the glove box
  • · Under a seat
  • · Held by a sober passenger

Containers must be full, sealed, and unopened — once open, trunk only (or where passengers don't sit). The glove box is explicitly illegal. Same rules apply to cannabis.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · Alcohol or Cannabis in a Vehicle, p. 72

8 · DUI LAWS

A DUI conviction stays on your driver's record for:

  • ✓ 10 years
  • · 3 years
  • · 5 years
  • · 1 year

Ten years — and a first conviction already means up to six months in jail, a suspended license, a DUI program, an SR-22, possibly an ignition interlock, and impound fees.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · DUI Convictions, p. 74

9 · DUI LAWS

An under-21 driver caught carrying unopened alcohol in the car (no adult 21+ present):

  • ✓ Can have the vehicle impounded for up to 30 days and their license suspended for a year
  • · Gets a $50 fine only
  • · Faces no penalty if it's sealed
  • · Just has the alcohol confiscated

Under 21, carrying alcohol is illegal unless a person 21+ is in the vehicle (or you work for an off-site liquor licensee): up to 30 days' impound, fines, and a one-year suspension.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · Drivers Under 21, p. 75

10 · VIOLATIONS

Signing a traffic ticket and then failing to appear in court:

  • ✓ Can suspend your driving privilege until you appear
  • · Cancels the ticket after a year
  • · Only adds a small fee
  • · Is legal if you pay later

Your signature is a promise to appear. An FTA (failure to appear) lets DMV suspend your privilege until you resolve it — and breaking the promise is its own offense.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 7 · Points on Your Driver's Record, p. 54

11 · VIOLATIONS

Using your vehicle to flee from law enforcement is:

  • ✓ A misdemeanor — up to a year in jail, and years in prison if someone is seriously hurt
  • · A parking-level infraction
  • · Legal if you're scared
  • · Only illegal on freeways

Evading is a misdemeanor (up to a year in county jail); causing serious injury during a pursuit brings up to seven years in state prison, and a death at least four to ten.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 7 · Evading Law Enforcement, p. 53

12 · VIOLATIONS

If an unlicensed person is caught driving your vehicle, the vehicle:

  • ✓ May be impounded for 30 days
  • · Is unaffected
  • · Gets a warning sticker
  • · Is sold at auction

Letting an unlicensed driver use your car risks a 30-day impound — with the fees on you.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 7 · Evading Law Enforcement, p. 53

13 · VIOLATIONS

Reckless driving or a speed contest that injures someone brings:

  • ✓ Possible imprisonment and fines
  • · Only a point on your record
  • · Traffic school
  • · A parking citation

Injuring another person through reckless driving or street racing is punishable by imprisonment, a fine, or both.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 7 · Speed Contests and Reckless Driving, p. 53

14 · VIOLATIONS

Traffic convictions and collisions stay on your California record for:

  • ✓ 36 months or longer, depending on the conviction type
  • · 12 months
  • · 6 months
  • · Until you pay the fine

36 months or more. Convictions from other states and juvenile court land on your record too.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 7 · Points on Your Driver's Record, p. 54

15 · DISTRACTED DRIVING

Common driving distractions listed by the handbook include:

  • ✓ Looking at phones or navigation, adjusting music, children, pets — even applying makeup or shaving
  • · Only phone calls
  • · Only texting
  • · Talking to passengers, which is banned

Distraction is anything pulling eyes, hands, or mind from driving: screens, controls, kids, pets, grooming. If it needs attention, pull over safely first.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 8 · Do Not Drive Distracted, p. 70

16 · DISTRACTED DRIVING

A legally mounted phone may be placed:

  • ✓ On the windshield, dashboard, or center console — without blocking your view of the road
  • · In your lap
  • · On the steering wheel
  • · Held against the wheel rim

Mount it where it doesn't block your view, operate it with a single swipe or tap, and let calls go to voicemail — or pull off the road safely to respond.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 8 · Cell Phones and Texting, p. 71

17 · DUI LAWS

For drivers 21 and older, the illegal BAC level is:

  • ✓ 0.08% or higher
  • · 0.10% or higher
  • · 0.05% or higher
  • · Any measurable amount

0.08% for adults — but you can still be arrested and convicted of DUI below that if you're impaired. Almost everyone feels alcohol's effects under the legal limit.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · BAC Limits, p. 73

18 · DUI LAWS

Driving a vehicle requiring a commercial license, your BAC limit is:

  • ✓ 0.04%
  • · 0.08%
  • · 0.01%
  • · 0.02%

0.04% for commercial-license vehicles and when driving passengers for hire — half the adult limit.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · BAC Limits, p. 73

19 · DUI LAWS

A driver of ANY age on DUI probation may not drive with a BAC of:

  • ✓ 0.01% or higher
  • · 0.04% or higher
  • · 0.08% or higher
  • · 0.05% or higher

DUI probation means effectively zero tolerance: 0.01% or higher is illegal at any age.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · BAC Limits, p. 73

20 · DUI LAWS

California DUI law applies to:

  • ✓ Alcohol AND any impairing drug — including prescriptions and over-the-counter medicine like cough syrup
  • · Alcohol only
  • · Illegal drugs only
  • · Only substances bought in bars

The law sees no difference between illegal drugs and impairing medications from a doctor or pharmacy — read labels and know the effects before driving.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · Alcohol and Drugs, p. 72

21 · DUI LAWS

How much alcohol can you drink and still drive safely?

  • ✓ There's no safe amount — even one drink affects your driving
  • · Two drinks in an hour
  • · One drink per 40 pounds
  • · Anything below 0.08%

Even one drink can affect your driving, and impairment starts well below legal limits. The BAC chart's only green zone is zero drinks.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · BAC Limits, p. 73

22 · DUI LAWS

Under the Administrative Per Se law, when you're arrested for DUI the officer may:

  • ✓ Take your license and issue a 30-day temporary one
  • · Only give a warning
  • · Keep your car permanently
  • · Suspend your registration

DMV suspends your privilege administratively: the officer can take the license and hand you a 30-day temporary. You have 10 days from arrest to request a DMV hearing.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · DUI Arrests, p. 74

23 · DUI LAWS

After a DUI conviction, getting your license back requires filing:

  • ✓ A California Insurance Proof Certificate (SR 22/SR 1P)
  • · A DMV apology letter
  • · A new vehicle title
  • · Nothing — just the fine

A DUI conviction means a one-year suspension, a DUI program, reissue fees, an SR-22 insurance filing — and possibly an ignition interlock device on your vehicle.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · DUI Convictions, p. 74

24 · DUI LAWS

Additional penalties for a DUI conviction can include:

  • ✓ Up to six months in jail, fines, vehicle impound, and civil lawsuits if you injured someone
  • · Only community service
  • · A maximum $100 fine
  • · License points but nothing else

Jail up to six months, fines, impound and storage fees — and causing serious injury or death while impaired opens you to civil lawsuits on top of it all.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · DUI Convictions, p. 74

25 · DUI LAWS

While you drive, your PASSENGER drinking alcohol or using cannabis is:

  • ✓ Illegal — no one may drink alcohol or smoke/eat cannabis products in the vehicle
  • · Legal for passengers over 21
  • · Legal in the back seat
  • · Legal with windows open

Nobody consumes in a moving vehicle — driver or passenger, alcohol or cannabis. (Bus, taxi, camper, and motorhome passengers are the exception.)

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · Alcohol or Cannabis in a Vehicle, p. 72

26 · DUI LAWS

A 16-year-old convicted of riding a BICYCLE under the influence:

  • ✓ Can have their driver's license suspended or delayed for one year
  • · Faces no driving consequences
  • · Only pays a bicycle fine
  • · Loses the bicycle

Ages 13–20 convicted of operating even a bicycle under the influence face a one-year suspension — or a one-year delay of eligibility if they don't yet have a license.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · Alcohol and Drugs, p. 72

27 · DUI LAWS

An under-21 driver whose preliminary alcohol screening shows 0.05% or higher:

  • ✓ May be required to take a breath or blood test — and can be arrested for DUI
  • · Is under the adult limit, so nothing happens
  • · Gets a warning only
  • · Loses the vehicle on the spot

At 0.05%+ the officer can require further testing and arrest for DUI; a conviction at 0.01%+ revokes an under-21 privilege for a year.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · Drivers Under 21, p. 75

28 · VIOLATIONS

"Safety Enhanced-Double Fine Zones" exist because those roads have:

  • ✓ Increased collision-related injuries and deaths — so fines are doubled there
  • · More police stations
  • · Higher speed limits
  • · Toll requirements

Certain roads carry doubled fines due to their injury history — as do construction and maintenance zones when workers are present.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 7 · Fines and Double Fine Zones, p. 49

29 · DUI LAWS

After a DUI arrest, law enforcement may impound your vehicle, which means:

  • ✓ You pay the storage fees
  • · Free storage for 30 days
  • · The state buys the vehicle
  • · Only rentals get impounded

Impound comes with storage fees out of your pocket — one more line on the long DUI bill.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · DUI Convictions, p. 74

30 · DUI LAWS

After a DUI conviction, the court or DMV may require your vehicle to have:

  • ✓ An ignition interlock device (IID) that tests your breath before starting
  • · A speed limiter
  • · A dashboard camera
  • · Nothing mechanical

An IID keeps the car from starting until a clean breath sample — one of the standard post-DUI requirements alongside the program, fees, and SR-22.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · DUI Convictions, p. 74

31 · DUI LAWS

Even after passing a roadside breath screening, an officer may still require:

  • ✓ A blood or urine test to detect drugs
  • · Nothing further
  • · A written exam
  • · A field interview only

The preliminary screening doesn't end it: blood or urine tests can be required to detect drugs, and refusing suspends your privilege.

📖 CA Manual · Sec. 9 · DUI Arrests, p. 74
📝 Quiz yourself on these⏱️ Take the timed exam

Sample content — verify against the current CA Driver's Manual before relying on it.