Animals on the road — Colorado Permit Test

Animals on the road on the Colorado permit test — 4 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

Stay alert for animals in or near the roadway, particularly in rural and mountainous regions and between dusk and dawn, when approximately 90% of crashes with deer and elk occur.

Nine in ten of these crashes happen in the dark, when headlights reach only so far and an animal is the color of the roadside.

Always stay alert for animals in or near the roadway, particularly in rural and mountainous regions and between dusk and dawn when approximately 90% of crashes with deer and elk occur

Colorado Driver Handbook, p.26

On entering a designated animal crossing, the first precaution should be to slow down and look for animals.

The crossing is marked because animals use that stretch every day. Slowing down is what makes the looking worth anything.

Upon entering a designated animal crossing, the first precaution should be to slow down and look for animals

Colorado Driver Handbook, p.26

Drastic evasive action to avoid a large game animal may result in losing control of the vehicle and a more serious crash than hitting the animal, so the safest alternative for passengers may be hitting the animal.

Swerving at speed puts you into the oncoming lane or off the road. The handbook says plainly that hitting the animal is often the lesser outcome.

Regretfully, the safest alternative for passengers may be hitting the animal

Colorado Driver Handbook, p.26

Concentrate on retaining control of the vehicle before, during and after a collision with an animal.

What happens after the impact decides whether it stays a one-vehicle incident. A car out of control finds something else to hit.

Concentrate on retaining control of the vehicle before, during, and after the collision with the animal

Colorado Driver Handbook, p.26

On the test

When do about 90% of crashes with deer and elk happen?

Between dusk and dawn. Nine in ten of these crashes happen in the dark, when headlights reach only so far and an animal is the color of the roadside. Colorado Driver Handbook, p.26: “Always stay alert for animals in or near the roadway, particularly in rural and mountainous regions and between dusk and dawn when approximately 90% of crashes with deer and elk occur”

How this works

Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.

You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.

Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.

What it costs

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Where these come from

Every rule here is checked against Colorado Driver Handbook, published by the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-16.