Safe driving and emergencies
You are carrying lumber that sticks out 5 feet past your rear bumper. What must you display during the day?
- A 12-inch red or fluorescent orange square flag. Correct answer
- Two red lights on the end of the load.
- Nothing, as long as the load is tied down securely.
Why
Cargo that reaches more than 4 feet behind the rear bumper has to be marked, and five feet is past that line. By day the marker is a square flag, 12 inches, in red or fluorescent orange. Two red lights are the night-time requirement for the same load, so they answer a different hour. Securing the load is required as well, since driving with an unsecured load that is a safety hazard is illegal, but it does not replace the flag. Sideways the limits are tighter: nothing may stick out past the fenders on the left, and no more than 6 inches past them on the right.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is A 12-inch red or fluorescent orange square flag.
The rule behind this one
Safe driving and emergencies in California goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on safe driving and emergencies
- Your friends want to ride in the open bed of your pickup truck for a short trip. When is that allowed?
- How does the handbook tell you to check your blind spots?
- At night, a vehicle showing only one headlight is coming toward you. What should you do?
- Your car has four-wheel antilock brakes (ABS) and goes into a locked wheel skid. What should you do with the brake pedal?