The driving test — Missouri Permit Test

You may take the driving test only after passing the written, vision, and road sign tests.

The other three come first because they are cheaper to fail. Nobody goes out on the road untested on paper.

After you pass the written, vision, and road sign tests, you may then take the driving test.

You cannot take the driving test if the vehicle is not properly equipped or the examiner believes giving the test would be dangerous.

The examiner is getting into your car. They get to say whether it is safe to sit in.

You cannot take the test if the vehicle is not properly equipped, or the examiner believes that giving the test will be dangerous.

The test vehicle must have two sets of brakes, a parking brake and a foot brake, both in good working order.

One brake failing at the wrong moment is why the second one has to work too.

Two sets of brakes (parking and a foot brake) in good working order.

No one else may ride in the vehicle during the driving test.

An extra passenger is one more thing to attend to. The examiner wants the drive, not the audience.

You will drive, and the examiner will sit beside you. No one else may ride in the vehicle during the test.

During the driving test you must park parallel to the curb in a space 25 feet long and seven feet wide.

Twenty-five feet is not much more than the car. That is the point: the space is sized to test the maneuver.

Park parallel to the curb, in a space 25 feet long and seven feet wide.

When parking during the driving test you are tested on parking no more than 18 inches from the curb.

Any further out and the car is in the traffic lane. Eighteen inches is where parked stops meaning parked.

Parking no more than 18” from the curb.

Parallel parking during the driving test must be completed within two minutes.

A parking space you cannot get into quickly is a lane you are blocking. The clock is part of the skill.

Ability to park the vehicle within two minutes.

The driving test requires at least two right and two left turns.

Turning both ways asks different things of your mirrors and your lane choice. One of each would not show it.

Make at least two right and two left turns.

You fail the Missouri driving test if you lose more than 30 points.

The examiner subtracts as you go. Thirty is the margin between a rough drive and an unsafe one.

If you lose more than 30 points, you will fail the test.

You fail the driving test outright if you are at fault in a crash with another vehicle, whatever your points total.

This is not a deduction. The test ends there, because the thing it was measuring has already been answered.

You will also fail the test if you: • Are in a crash with another vehicle and it is your fault;

You also fail the driving test outright if you hit a pedestrian, drive so dangerously you might have caused a crash, violate a traffic law, or refuse to drive as the examiner asks.

Four more ways the test ends early, and none of them is about polish. Each one is something that would have been a crash on an ordinary day.

Refuse to drive as the examiner asks.

You may take only one driving test per day.

A second attempt an hour later would test your nerve, not your driving. The state makes you come back.

You may take only one driving test per day.

If you fail the driving test three times, no further tests are allowed without written authorization from the Department.

Three failures says practice is what is missing, not another attempt. The Department steps in at that point.

If you fail the driving test three times, no further tests will be allowed without written authorization from the Department.

The form you are given when you pass the driving test is not valid for driving; you must obtain a license at a license office first.

Passing and being licensed are two different days again, at the end of the process just as at the start.

The test result form itself is not valid for driving.

When may a Missouri applicant take the driving test?

After passing the written, vision, and road sign tests. The other three come first because they are cheaper to fail. Nobody goes out on the road untested on paper. Missouri Driver Guide, p.19: “After you pass the written, vision, and road sign tests, you may then take the driving test.”