Driver's License Test Prep
California Practice Parking

What does a red painted curb tell a driver?

  1. A.
    You may load and unload passengers and freight briefly.
  2. B.
    You may stop briefly to pick up or drop off passengers.
  3. C.
    No stopping, standing, or parking, except a bus at a marked bus zone. Correct
The Why

The answer is "No stopping, standing, or parking, except a bus at a marked bus zone."

Red curbs prohibit stopping, standing, or parking, with a narrow exception for buses at red zones marked for buses only. Answer A carries the loading allowance from the yellow-curb entry over to red, since the loading rule and the red rule print one after the other in the manual's short colored-curb list.

Why the others miss

The traps in the wrong answers

A. You may load and unload passengers and freight briefly.

Loading passengers and freight is the yellow-curb rule, not the red-curb rule. This answer remembers that some colored curb permits loading and assigns the allowance to red, since the loading rule and the red rule print one after the other in the manual's short colored-curb list.

B. You may stop briefly to pick up or drop off passengers.

Brief passenger pick-up and drop-off is the white-curb rule; red curbs prohibit ordinary stopping. This answer borrows the white-curb allowance for a quick passenger stop and applies it to red, treating any short pause as universally permitted regardless of curb color.

The Rule

This question tests your knowledge of Parking in California. Source: California Driver Manual, "Parking at Colored Curbs," p.28..

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