Driver's License Test Prep
Texas Practice Crash Procedures

Your crash happened on a main lane, caused only vehicle damage, and both cars can still be driven safely. What does the manual require you to do?

  1. A.
    Leave both vehicles exactly as they came to rest until officers arrive.
  2. B.
    Wait in the travel lane with your hazards on until police direct you.
  3. C.
    Continue to the nearest gas station and phone the police from there.
  4. D.
    Move it to a crash investigation site, frontage road, cross street, or other suitable location. Correct
The Why

The answer is "Move it to a crash investigation site, frontage road, cross street, or other suitable location."

On a main lane, ramp, shoulder, median, or adjacent area, if both vehicles can be driven safely, the manual tells you to move them to a designated crash investigation site, the frontage road, the nearest suitable cross street, or another suitable location. Choice A reflects the older "never move a crash scene" habit that parents and driver's ed taught for years before Texas rewrote the statute so drivable damage-only crashes clear the traveled lanes.

Why the others miss

The traps in the wrong answers

A. Leave both vehicles exactly as they came to rest until officers arrive.

The manual overrides that guidance when both vehicles can be driven: leaving cars in a live traffic lane creates a second-collision hazard the current rule is built to prevent. This answer applies the older 'don't touch anything until the officer arrives' habit families and driver's ed passed down before Texas rewrote the statute to require drivable vehicles to clear the roadway.

B. Wait in the travel lane with your hazards on until police direct you.

The manual tells you to move the vehicle to a designated site, frontage road, cross street, or other suitable location: not to sit in the travel lane waiting. This answer confuses the notify-law-enforcement duty that applies when vehicles cannot be moved with a duty to hold position on every crash and wait for police.

C. Continue to the nearest gas station and phone the police from there.

The rule asks you to move off the traveled lanes to a nearby suitable location, not to leave the scene entirely and drive to a gas station. This answer runs on the pre-cellphone habit of driving off to find a payphone to call in a crash, missing that the current rule keeps you at the scene once you have moved off the traveled lanes.

The Rule

This question tests your knowledge of Crash Procedures in Texas. Source: Texas Driver Manual, "Crash Resulting in Damage to a Vehicle," p.59..

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