Alcohol and drugs
You are carrying a bottle of wine that has already been opened. Where may it legally ride in your car?
- In the trunk, or in a place where passengers do not sit. Correct answer
- In the glove box, as long as it is closed.
- Anywhere in the car, as long as nobody drinks from it while driving.
Why
California's open-container law is strict. What the handbook requires is that any alcohol or cannabis you carry be sealed and unopened, and once a container is open it must go in the trunk or in a place where passengers do not sit. The glove box is specifically called out as illegal, even closed. And it is not only about the driver: nobody may drink alcohol, or smoke or eat a cannabis product, while driving or riding as a passenger, and the same container rules apply to cannabis. Passengers in a bus, taxi, camper or motorhome are exempt. Drivers under 21 face a tighter rule: no alcohol rides with them unless someone 21 or older is along, or unless they are working for an off-site liquor sales licensee, and a sealed container has to be full as well; an open one still belongs in the trunk.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, DL 600 ENGLISH (REV. 6/2025). The correct answer is In the trunk, or in a place where passengers do not sit..