Official Florida Driver License Handbook (Class E): study guide

Key rules by chapter

A few of the rules from each chapter that come up in our practice questions:

1. Driver Licenses & ID Cards

• If under 18, you must hold a learner's license for 12 months or until your 18th birthday, whichever comes first.
• A parent, guardian or responsible adult 21+ must certify at least 50 hours of driving experience, 10 of them at night.
• You must have no moving traffic violation convictions for 12 months; one is allowed if adjudication was withheld.

2. Driving Schools & Test Providers

• 20/40 or better vision in each eye, with or without corrective lenses, meets state requirements without referral.
• The minimum acceptable field of vision for an applicant or licensed driver is 130 degrees.
• The Class E Knowledge Exam consists of 50 multiple-choice questions on Florida traffic laws, safe driving practices and identifying traffic controls.

3. Your Driving Privilege

• The fine for exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 mph is $1,000 for the first offense and $2,500 for the second.
• Obtaining or using a permit that doesn't belong to you is a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a $500 fine or up to 6 months in jail; the vehicle can be towed and the permit confiscated.
• Passing a stopped school bus carries a minimum $265 fine, or a minimum $465 if you pass on the side where children enter and exit.

4. Before You Drive—You the Driver

• A DUI conviction must remain on your driving record for 75 years.
• A person's judgment is the first thing affected after drinking an alcoholic beverage.
• Florida law prohibits handheld use of a wireless communications device in a designated school crossing, school zone or work zone; texting while driving is illegal everywhere.

5. Before You Drive—Your Vehicle

• Low beam headlights must show objects 150 feet ahead; high beams 450 feet.
• Tires should have a minimum tread of at least 3/32 of an inch, with no worn spots showing the ply.
• The horn must be heard from a distance of 200 feet.

6. Traffic Controls

• This sign is posted in active school and work zones, where fines are doubled if you are cited for speeding.
• When entering a right turn lane you may meet bicyclists going straight; you must yield to them.
• Fluorescent yellow-green is the high-emphasis warning color for school, pedestrian and bicycling activity.

7. Driving Safety

• Red reflectors facing you on lane lines mean you are facing traffic the wrong way and could have a head-on collision.
• At a two-way stop, the turning vehicle yields to the vehicle going straight.
• At an open intersection you must yield if you enter a paved road from an unpaved road, among other cases.

8. Special Driving Situations

• Florida law says to turn on parking lights at night when parking on a roadway or shoulder outside of cities and towns.
• Do not use high beams within 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle.
• Do not use high beams within 300 feet of the vehicle ahead of you.

9. Handling Emergencies

• Drivers with ABS must press hard on the brake pedal, hold it and steer; removing steady pressure or pumping disengages the ABS.
• Drivers with conventional brakes should pump the brakes in an emergency where traction is lost.
• With rear-wheel ABS the front wheels can still lock; let up on the brake just enough to let them roll and regain control.

10. Sharing the Road

• When the lead vehicle enters an intersection, the remaining vehicles in the procession may follow through regardless of traffic control devices; other road users must yield.
• All drivers must yield to public transit buses traveling in the same direction that have signaled and are reentering traffic from a designated pullout bay.
• You may not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk to let a pedestrian cross; assume a pedestrian may be crossing even if you can't see one.

How to study the handbook

Read one chapter, then take a practice test. Every answer explanation names the handbook section it comes from, so when you get one wrong, go back to that section. Pay most attention to exact numbers and to the rules specific to Florida, which are where most people lose points.

Third-party passes may be randomly re-tested at no fee (s.