Freeway driving — Utah Permit Test

A driver on a Utah freeway should maintain at least two seconds of following distance, and more under adverse conditions.

At seventy miles an hour two seconds is over two hundred feet, which is roughly what it takes to stop.

You should always maintain at least two seconds following distance behind the vehicle ahead of you. Under adverse conditions, the time needs to be increased.

Making a U-turn on a Utah freeway is illegal.

Every other car is arriving at speed in one direction. Turning across them is the worst thing you can do on a freeway.

Do not make U-turns on the freeway—it is illegal.

The area of a Utah freeway outside the solid white line is the emergency lane, and passing or stopping to pick up passengers there is illegal.

It is the only place a broken-down car can wait. Driving in it takes away the one refuge on the whole road.

Do not drive in the emergency lane—the area of the freeway on the outside of the solid white line is for emergency use only. Passing another vehicle or stopping to pick up passengers in this lane is illegal.

A Utah driver should generally drive at a speed similar to the cars around them, but may never legally drive faster than the posted speed limit.

Matching traffic keeps you out of everybody’s way. The posted limit is still the ceiling, however fast the rest are going.

You should generally drive at a speed similar to that of other cars around you. However, you may not legally drive faster than the posted speed limit.

Using an entrance ramp to exit a Utah freeway is illegal, even in a traffic jam.

An on-ramp is full of drivers looking the other way to merge. A car coming down it meets them head on.

Do not use an entrance ramp to exit the freeway—it is illegal, even in a traffic jam.

A vehicle in the left lane must move safely to the right when approached from behind, or the driver can be cited for impeding traffic.

Sitting in the left lane makes everybody else weave around you, and weaving is what causes the crash.

You can be issued a citation for impeding traffic if a vehicle is following behind you in the left lane of travel on a multi-lane highway and you do not change lanes and allow the other vehicle to pass.

A Utah driver should change lanes on a freeway only to pass, to get off the freeway, or to enter the correct lane for an upcoming route separation.

Every lane change on a freeway is a small risk taken at speed. Three good reasons is the whole list.

Change lanes only to pass, get off the freeway or enter the correct lane for an upcoming route separation in the freeway.

What following distance does Utah set for freeway driving?

At least two seconds. At seventy miles an hour two seconds is over two hundred feet, which is roughly what it takes to stop. Utah Driver Handbook 2026-2027, p.39: “You should always maintain at least two seconds following distance behind the vehicle ahead of you. Under adverse conditions, the time needs to be increased.”