Speed limits
You are driving on packed snow. What does the handbook tell you to do with your speed?
- Cut it in half. Correct answer
- Take 5 to 10 mph off it.
- Bring it down to no more than 15 mph.
Why
Packed snow is the middle rung of the handbook's three-step ladder, and the instruction is proportional rather than fixed: reduce your speed by half, whatever you were doing. That is a much bigger cut than the 5 to 10 mph a merely wet road calls for, and a much smaller one than ice, where the ceiling is 5 mph. Fifteen mph is a real number in the handbook, but it is a posted-style limit for blind intersections and alleys, not a weather adjustment. Two things go with the snow rule: leave more space between you and the vehicle ahead, and if you drive in snowy areas, carry the right number and type of snow chains for your tires, because chains are what give the tires traction.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is Cut it in half.
The rule behind this one
California speed limits and the basic speed law goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on speed limits
- Traffic is light and the weather is clear, but you are driving well under the speed limit and cars are stacking up behind you. What does the handbook say about that?
- You are on a California highway and there are no speed limit signs in sight. What is the maximum speed limit?
- Can a school zone have a speed limit lower than 25 mph?
- Near a railroad crossing where you cannot see far down the tracks, the limit is normally 15 mph. When may you drive faster than 15 mph there?