Class D Noncommercial Driver License Manual 2025-2027: study guide

Key rules by chapter

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

1. Your Operator's License

• The Class D test is offered in English, Arabic, Spanish, Somali, Russian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Swahili, Nepali, Serbo-Croatian, French, Pashto, Dari and Chinese.
• Leaving the testing area before the test is completed, or bringing prohibited items like phones, results in a failed score.
• Arrive no later than one hour before noon (if the office closes for lunch) and one hour before closing, or you may not be allowed to test.

2. Signs, Signals, and Road Markings

• The rectangular DO NOT PASS sign is on the right side of the road; the yellow pennant is on the left.
• The roadway gains a lane, so new traffic won't have to merge.
• The orange triangle with red reflective border is mounted on vehicles or equipment moving at 25 mph or less.

3. Rules of the Road

• Turn signals must be given continuously during the last 100 feet before the turn.
• Stop completely just before crossing the sidewalk area; if there's no sidewalk, stop before entering the roadway.
• Don't make a U-turn near a hill crest or curve where you can't see 500 feet or more.

4. Driving Skills and Emergency Situations

• Throwing or depositing litter on a public highway is subject to a $500 fine.
• Crashes with combined damage of $4,000 or more, or injury or death, must be reported immediately to local police, or to the Highway Patrol or sheriff outside cities.
• The fine is $150 for a first violation and $300 for a second within three years, and a license suspension is possible.

5. Drinking, Drugs, and Driving

• An outside temperature in the mid-60s can make the inside rise above 110°F; it can rise almost 20 degrees in the first 10 minutes.
• Nearly half of North Dakota traffic deaths involve drivers who had been drinking before the crash.
• If you drink even a little, your chances of a crash are seven times greater than if completely sober.

6. Pedestrian Traffic and Recreational Vehicles

• Causing serious injury adds 90 days in jail; causing a death adds one year.
• No one may drink in or on a vehicle, and any open containers must be placed in the trunk.
• Refusing a test or a DUI conviction requires proof of financial responsibility (SR-22).

7. Parent/Guardian Driver Coaching Tips (incl. Point System)

• When the record shows 12 or more points, the driver is notified of intended suspension and may request a hearing.
• 12 points means a 7-day suspension; 13 and above adds 7 days for each point over 11.
• At 13 or more points, the suspension is 7 days for each point over 11; 14 points is 3 x 7 = 21 days.

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 North Dakota, which are where most people lose points.