Turns, lanes, passing and parking
You are driving slowly on a two-lane road where it is not safe for anyone to pass, and five cars are now following you. What does the handbook require?
- Pull into a turnout area or lane and let them pass. Correct answer
- Turn on your emergency flashers so the drivers behind know you are going slowly.
- Speed up to the posted limit so that you do not block the flow of traffic.
Why
This is one of the handbook's few hard requirements about being the slow vehicle, and it takes three conditions at once: you are driving slowly, you are on a two-lane road where passing is unsafe, and five or more vehicles are following you. When all three are true you must use a turnout area or lane and let them by. Speeding up is not the instruction given: the handbook does tell you not to block normal and reasonable traffic flow, but what it asks a slow driver to do is move over, by keeping right or, on a two-lane road, by using the turnout. Emergency flashers are for warning about a hazard ahead or your own vehicle trouble, and driving slowly is not on that list.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is Pull into a turnout area or lane and let them pass.
The rule behind this one
Turns, lanes, passing and parking in California goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on turns, lanes, passing and parking
- How close to a fire hydrant may you legally park?
- When does the handbook tell you to use hand-and-arm signals instead of your signal lights?
- You are about to cross an intersection and plan to turn into a driveway just beyond it. When should you turn on your signal?
- Traffic lanes are often referred to by number. On a road with several lanes in your direction, which one is the Number 1 Lane?