Your exam
35 questions. 28 correct to pass — you may miss 7.
Alcohol
| Situation | Suspension |
|---|---|
| Arrested at .08 or more | at least 6 months |
| Refusing to submit to testing | 12 months |
Refusing costs you twice what failing does. It feels like the cautious option and is the opposite.
Only time removes alcohol from the body. Coffee, a cold shower and fresh air change how awake you feel, not how impaired you are — which produces a driver alert enough to attempt the drive and impaired enough to crash.
Turn signals — required by law, not by courtesy
Illinois requires a signal before:
- turning any corner, even if no one is coming
- turning into any driveway, parking lot or parking space
- changing lanes
- after passing another vehicle
- pulling to or away from any curb
The "after passing" and "into a parking space" cases are the ones drivers omit, because both feel too small to announce.
Stopping
Leaving a parking lot, driveway or alley: you must stop before entering the street — whether or not a stop sign is there. The obligation comes from the manoeuvre, not from a sign.
At an intersection, stop behind the white line or crosswalk. If there is neither, stop before entering the intersection.
A rolling stop is an automatic failure on the driving examination.
Hill parking
| Facing | With a curb | Without a curb |
|---|---|---|
| Downhill | wheels toward the curb | wheels toward the edge |
| Uphill | wheels away from the curb | wheels toward the edge |
With no curb the answer is the same either way, because there is nothing to catch the tyre — you want the car to roll off the road, not into it.
Park within 12 inches of the curb or edge, parallel to the road. Set the parking brake and put the gear selector in Park; that last step is the one most often skipped on the exam.
Turning
- Right on red is allowed after a complete stop and after yielding to vehicles and pedestrians, unless a sign forbids it. The complete stop is the part that gets skipped.
- Turning onto a one-way street: turn into the first lane you come to, then signal again and move across when it is safe. A turn and a lane change are two manoeuvres.
- Two-way onto two-way: stay in your own lane and turn into the lane you will be driving in. Do not cut the corner.
- Backing during a turn-about: stop before entering the sidewalk, street or highway, and yield to pedestrians and all vehicles. When backing to the right, do not back over the centre line.
Speed
Reduce below the posted limit in unfavourable weather and when approaching and crossing an intersection. The posted number describes an open road in good conditions.
Driving too slowly can be as dangerous as speeding. The manual's own example is 30 mph posted and a driver doing 15 — crash risk tracks the difference between your speed and the traffic around you, in both directions.
Slow vehicles use the right-hand lane except when passing or turning left.
Two things that are simply not allowed
- Passing on the shoulder. The shoulder is the escape space for a breakdown and the route an emergency vehicle uses, not a lane.
- Opening your door into moving traffic unless it can be done safely and without interfering. Reaching across with your far hand — the Dutch Reach — turns your body toward the road and shows you the cyclist your mirror does not.
What is not on this page
Illinois speed-limit figures by road type, minimum insurance amounts and exact parking distances come from Rules of the Road, which is a separate publication from the examination guide this page is built on. Check those in the current manual rather than assuming they match a neighbouring state — they often do not.