Study guides: Class 5 knowledge test

Short answers to common questions, each citing the law and the official handbook sections.

Highway Safety Code

• All-way stop: who goes first?
  At a Quebec all-way stop, everyone stops, then yields to vehicles that got there first and to pedestrians. The Highway Safety Code rule, explained.
• Cell phone while driving in Québec: how many demerit points?
  Holding a phone while driving in Québec: 5 demerit points and a fine, even when stopped at a red light. Repeat offences mean an on-the-spot suspension.
• Crosswalks: when must a driver stop in Quebec?
  In Quebec, drivers must stop as soon as a pedestrian steps into a crosswalk or shows they want to cross. Turns, lights, fines and demerit points.
• Emergency vehicles: how do you yield in Quebec?
  Lights or siren on: slow down, keep as far right as possible and stop if necessary. Never follow an emergency vehicle. 4 demerit points if you don’t yield.
• High beams or low beams: when must you dim your headlights?
  In Quebec, switch to low beams within 150 m of a vehicle you are meeting or following, and on well-lit roads. Daytime running lights, rain and fog.
• How many demerit points can you get on a learner’s licence in Québec?
  With a learner’s or probationary licence in Québec, 4 demerit points get the licence revoked for at least 3 months. Offences, durations and what comes next.
• Learner’s licence in Quebec: what are the steps?
  Driving course, learner’s licence, knowledge test after 10 months, road test after 12 months, then a 24-month probationary licence: the Class 5 path.
• Passing a cyclist in Quebec: how much distance do you need?
  When passing a cyclist in Quebec, leave 1 m where the limit is 50 km/h or less and 1.5 m where it is higher. If there isn’t room, stay behind.
• Retaking the SAAQ knowledge test: how long do you wait?
  After failing the SAAQ knowledge test you must wait at least 28 days. You only retake the sections you failed, and a fee applies to each retake.
• Roundabout rules in Quebec: who yields, and when to signal?
  Who has the right of way in a Quebec roundabout, which way to go around, and when to signal: the Highway Safety Code rules and the SAAQ’s advice.
• SAAQ Class 5 knowledge test: how many questions?
  The SAAQ does not publish how many questions the knowledge test has. What is official: 3 sections, multiple choice, 30 to 60 minutes, 75% in each section.
• School bus with flashing red lights in Québec: what do you do?
  School bus with flashing red lights or stop arm out in Québec: stop more than 5 metres away, in both directions unless a median separates you. 9 demerit points.
• Seat belts and child car seats: what does Quebec law say?
  Seat belts for everyone, a car seat or booster until 145 cm and age 9, the driver’s duty for passengers under 16, plus demerit points and fines.
• The safety corridor rule in Québec: what do you have to do?
  Emergency vehicle, tow truck or yellow-arrow vehicle stopped by the road in Québec: slow down, then change lanes if it is safe. 4 demerit points.
• What are the probationary licence rules in Québec?
  Québec probationary licence: valid 2 years, revoked at 4 points, zero alcohol, can’t supervise a learner, night-time passenger limits for drivers 19 and under.
• What are the speed limits in Québec?
  Québec speed limits with no sign: autoroute 60 to 100 km/h, paved road 90, gravel 70, town or village 50. Demerit points and excessive speeding explained.
• What to do after a car accident in Quebec
  Stay at the scene, help the injured, call the police if anyone is hurt, exchange information: the Highway Safety Code’s duties and what to do on the spot.
• Where is parking prohibited in Quebec? The distances to know
  3 m from a fire hydrant, 5 m from an intersection or crosswalk, within 30 cm of the curb: the parking distances in Quebec’s Highway Safety Code.
• Winter tires in Québec: what are the mandatory dates?
  In Québec, winter tires are mandatory from December 1 to March 15 on vehicles registered in Québec. Studded tires, exemptions and practical tips.
• Zero alcohol for new drivers in Québec: who does it apply to?
  Learners, probationary drivers and licence holders aged 21 or under may have no alcohol at all when driving in Québec. 90-day suspension and 4 demerit points.

Road signs and signals

• Flashing green light in Quebec: what does it mean?
  In Quebec, a flashing green traffic light means a protected left turn: oncoming traffic is stopped. What to do, plus the green light on a firefighter’s car.
• Flashing yellow and red lights: what do they mean?
  Flashing red: full stop, as at a stop sign. Flashing yellow: slow down and yield to anyone already in the intersection. Quebec’s rules, explained.
• Quebec road signs: what do the shapes and colours mean?
  Octagon, triangle, diamond, pentagon: how to read a Quebec road sign from its shape and colour, and the four families of signs.
• Right turn on red: allowed in Quebec, banned in Montreal?
  Turning right on a red light is allowed in most of Quebec but banned in Montreal and the other cities on the island. Where it applies and how to do it.
• What is the school zone speed limit in Quebec?
  During the school period, the limit in a Quebec school zone can be no higher than 50 km/h, and a sign may set it lower. Hours, days, months and fines.
• Work zone rules in Quebec: flaggers, orange signs and doubled fines
  In a Quebec work zone, the flagger overrides traffic lights, orange speed limits are mandatory, and speeding fines are doubled. What each rule means.
• Yellow road lines in Quebec: when is passing allowed?
  Solid, double, broken or combined yellow lines: which ones you may cross to pass in Quebec, and the exceptions the Highway Safety Code allows.

Driving techniques

• Blind spots: how do you check them, and when?
  A quick look over your shoulder before changing lanes, turning or leaving a parking spot: the SAAQ method, the order of checks, and trucks’ blind spots.
• How far behind the vehicle ahead? Stopping distance and the seconds rule
  The seconds rule, stopping distance, icy roads: what the SAAQ manuals recommend and what the Code requires (2 demerit points for following too closely).
• Winter driving: what to do in a skid, and how to brake with ABS
  What to do in a skid, how to brake with or without ABS, where black ice forms, and Quebec’s rule that the whole vehicle must be cleared of snow.