FullCA · STUDY GUIDE
DUI & Traffic Penalties
DUI limits and penalties, implied consent, the point system, and suspensions — frequently emphasized permit-test material. This guide has 31 questions, each citing the CA manual section it comes from — the first 18 are free to read below.
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. 542 · 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. 543 · 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. 70-714 · 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. 715 · 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. 736 · 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. 727 · 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. 728 · 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. 749 · 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. 7510 · 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. 5411 · 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. 5312 · 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. 5313 · 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. 5314 · 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. 5415 · 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. 7016 · 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. 7117 · 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. 7318 · 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. 73Tip: use your ← and → arrow keys
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