Protect yourself in collisions — South Dakota Permit Test

Protect yourself in collisions on the South Dakota permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

The most important thing you can do to lessen injuries in a crash is to use the lap and shoulder belts.

Without a belt your body keeps moving at full speed into the wheel, the glass, or the road.

The most important thing you can do is to use the lap and shoulder belts.

South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.59

If hit from the rear, press yourself against the back of the seat, put your head against the head restraint, and be ready to brake so you are not pushed into another vehicle.

A head held forward snaps back hard when the car is struck from behind, hurting the neck.

Press yourself against the back of the seat and put your head against the head restraint.

South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.59

If you are about to be hit from the front, try to turn the vehicle so you take a glancing blow rather than being struck head on.

A straight head-on hit puts the whole force of both cars into you; turning can make it a glancing blow or a miss.

This means that if a collision is going to happen, try to turn the vehicle.

South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.59

On the test

What is the most important thing you can do to lessen injuries in a crash you cannot avoid?

Use the lap and shoulder belts. Without a belt your body keeps moving at full speed into the wheel, the glass, or the road. South Dakota Driver License Manual, p.59: “The most important thing you can do is to use the lap and shoulder belts.”

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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  • 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.