New York CDL — General Knowledge: Traffic Laws Practice Test

Question 1

When you apply for a job driving a commercial vehicle, what work history must you hand the employer?

Accepted Answer

Every driving job you have held over the past 10 years — The application has to list a full decade of driving jobs. That history lets the carrier see how you performed for previous employers before it puts you behind the wheel.

Answer

Only your most recent driving job

Answer

Any job at all you have held in the last three years

Answer

Nothing, because the employer pulls your record instead

Question 2

Wearing your seat belt while driving a commercial vehicle is:

Accepted Answer

Required, and important for keeping control in a crash — Seat belts are required and save lives. A belted driver is far more likely to stay in the seat and keep control during a crash or an emergency maneuver, so buckle up on every trip.

Answer

Optional for professional drivers

Answer

Only needed on the highway

Answer

Unnecessary if you drive slowly

Question 3

A New York commercial driver hauling metal coils that weigh 5,000 pounds or more, singly or bundled together, must hold:

Accepted Answer

A metal coil endorsement on the New York CDL — State law adds a coil endorsement for that cargo. Qualifying means a Class A, B or C license plus a written test drawn from the state's manual on securing coils.

Answer

A tank endorsement

Answer

A doubles and triples endorsement

Answer

No endorsement at all, only a permit

Question 4

Even when you are driving below the posted speed limit, you can still be driving too fast when:

Accepted Answer

Conditions such as rain, snow, or fog make the posted speed unsafe — Basic speed laws require a speed that is safe for conditions. In rain, snow, fog, heavy traffic, or on a steep grade, the posted limit may be too fast, and you must slow to a safe speed.

Answer

The road is dry and clear

Answer

You are the only vehicle on the road

Answer

Never — the posted limit is always safe

Question 5

Where must the shipping papers for a hazardous materials load be kept while you are driving?

Accepted Answer

In the door pouch, or in plain view within your reach — Responders have to find those papers fast if you are hurt and cannot speak. Keep them in the pouch on your door or out where you can reach them, and leave them on the seat whenever you step out of the cab.

Answer

Locked in the trailer with the freight

Answer

Mailed ahead to the receiver

Answer

Anywhere convenient in the sleeper berth

Question 6

Your trailer needs hazardous materials placards, but your license carries no hazmat endorsement. Driving it anyway is:

Accepted Answer

A crime, and you will be cited and kept from continuing the trip — A placarded load may only be hauled by a driver who holds that endorsement. Get caught without it and you will be ticketed and stopped from going any farther, which costs you time and money.

Answer

Allowed for short local trips

Answer

Allowed if your employer signs a waiver

Answer

Only a paperwork error, with no real penalty

Question 7

How many driver licenses may a commercial driver legally hold at one time?

Accepted Answer

Only one — Carrying an extra license is against the law, and a court can fine you or jail you for it. Every state feeds one shared computer system that checks records and catches drivers holding more than one.

Answer

One from each state where you regularly work

Answer

Two, as long as one of them is commercial

Answer

As many as your employer approves

Question 8

You are coming up on an authorized emergency vehicle stopped at the roadside with its lights going. Under move-over rules you should:

Accepted Answer

Slow down and shift into a lane away from it whenever that is safe — Move-over rules exist because roadside workers keep getting struck. Ease off the throttle and put an empty lane between you and the scene; where changing lanes would be unsafe, slow down and creep past with care.

Answer

Hold your speed and stay in the lane beside it

Answer

Stop completely in your lane until the emergency vehicle leaves

Answer

Sound your horn as you go by

Question 9

While you practice on a commercial learner permit, who has to be in the vehicle with you?

Accepted Answer

A CDL holder of the same or a higher class carrying the right endorsements — A permit only counts while a properly licensed driver rides along the entire time. Your permit also has to be backed by your regular New York license, and neither person's restrictions may rule out the practice vehicle.

Answer

Any licensed adult over the age of 21

Answer

Nobody, as long as you stay off interstate highways

Answer

Your employer's safety supervisor

Question 10

You are convicted of a moving violation while driving your own car on a day off. What does that mean for your job?

Accepted Answer

You must tell your employer within 30 days, whatever you were driving — The reporting duty follows the driver, not the truck. Every traffic conviction except a parking ticket has to reach your employer inside 30 days, and so does any suspension, revocation or disqualification.

Answer

Nothing, because it did not happen in a commercial vehicle

Answer

You report it to your employer at your next annual review

Answer

You report it to the state, but never to your employer

New York CDL — General Knowledge: Traffic Laws practice test

Study questions with answers

1. When you apply for a job driving a commercial vehicle, what work history must you hand the employer?

2. Wearing your seat belt while driving a commercial vehicle is:

3. A New York commercial driver hauling metal coils that weigh 5,000 pounds or more, singly or bundled together, must hold:

4. Even when you are driving below the posted speed limit, you can still be driving too fast when:

5. Where must the shipping papers for a hazardous materials load be kept while you are driving?

6. Your trailer needs hazardous materials placards, but your license carries no hazmat endorsement. Driving it anyway is:

7. How many driver licenses may a commercial driver legally hold at one time?

8. You are coming up on an authorized emergency vehicle stopped at the roadside with its lights going. Under move-over rules you should:

9. While you practice on a commercial learner permit, who has to be in the vehicle with you?

10. You are convicted of a moving violation while driving your own car on a day off. What does that mean for your job?

More CDL — General Knowledge topics

Practice Traffic Laws in another state