Infant car carrier — South Dakota Permit Test

Infant car carrier on the South Dakota permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

In an infant car carrier the child rides facing backwards, and the carrier is attached to the vehicle seat by the lap belt.

A baby facing forward in a crash has its fragile neck snapped by the sudden stop.

The child rides facing backwards with its entire head and body cushioned by impact-absorbing materials.

South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.26

Use the infant car carrier from birth until the child can sit well alone, at about 9 months of age.

A baby moved out of the carrier too soon sits in a seat its body cannot yet handle in a crash.

Use the carrier from birth until the child can sit well alone, at about 9 months of age.

South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.27

Baby seats may be useful in the house but are not made to protect a baby in a vehicle and should not be used there.

A household baby seat flies loose in a crash with the baby still in it.

Baby seats may be useful in the house but are not made to protect a baby in the vehicle and should not be used there.

South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.27

An adult’s arms are not safe for a child in a vehicle, and you must never put a belt around yourself and a child on your lap.

The crash tears the child from your arms, or your own weight crushes the child against the belt.

Never put a belt around you and a child on your lap.

South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.27

Beginning with the very first ride, the drive home from the hospital, a baby should be carried in an approved safety restraint.

A crash on the first short drive home hurts a newborn as badly as on any other trip.

Beginning with the very first ride–the drive home from the hospital–the baby should be carried in an approved safety restraint.

South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.27

Insist that every passenger buckle up; unrestrained passengers often injure others who are belted in.

An unbelted rider is thrown around the car in a crash and slams into the belted people beside them.

Apart from the risk of themselves, unrestrained passengers often injure others who are belted in.

South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.27

On the test

Which way does a baby ride in an infant car carrier?

Facing backwards. A baby facing forward in a crash has its fragile neck snapped by the sudden stop. South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.26: “The child rides facing backwards with its entire head and body cushioned by impact-absorbing materials.”

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

  • One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
  • Free to start: a 10-question test and the first section of cards. No sign-up and no account.
  • Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
  • Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
  • Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.

All South Dakota permit topics

Where these come from

Every rule here is checked against South Dakota Driver License Manual, published by the South Dakota Department of Public Safety, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.