CA · STUDY GUIDE
Penalties, Alcohol & Drug Laws
OUI limits and penalties, implied consent, suspensions, and violations — the questions test-takers miss most. All 8 questions below cite the CA Driver's Manual section they come from.
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 · 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. 544 · 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. 535 · 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. 536 · 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. 537 · 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. 548 · 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. 49Sample content — verify against the current CA Driver's Manual before relying on it.