Before You Drive and Basic Driving: Tires, Seat, Mirrors, Belts, Air Bags, Child Seats, Loads, Driver Assistance, Starting, Steering and Backing: the Monthly Pressure Check and the Penny Test, Sitting 10 Inches From the Wheel, Mirror Settings That Add 12 to 16 Degrees, Clean Windows and Unlawful Decals, the Belt Law for Vehicles Made After 1981 and Its Primary Enforcement, Surviving Five Times More Often Inside the Car, How to Wear the Belt, Air Bags in a Twentieth of a Second, Hands Outside the Wheel, Children 12 and Under in Back, Restraints at 40 Inches and Boosters to 57 Inches, the $50 Fine, Children Left Alone, Securing a Load, ADAS Features You Cannot Use on the Test, Starting and Moving, Hands at 3 and 9, and Backing With the Left Hand at 12

Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Kentucky Class D operator's license knowledge test. The facts follow the official manual; the wording is ours.

Source: Kentucky Driver Manual (KSP/KYTC, July 2026 edition), Section Four "Before You Drive" (pages 28–32) and Section Five "Basic Driving" (page 33).

Tires

You cannot control other drivers or the road, but you can control your vehicle's and tires' maintenance, and crashes caused by tire neglect are preventable. Check pressure with a gauge monthly when the tires are cold: read the PSI on the sticker inside the driver's door jamb, measure at the valve stem and let air out or add air until the numbers match. Check tread with a penny: hold it with Lincoln's body between thumb and forefinger, put his head first into the deepest groove, and if you can see all of his head the tires are too worn to drive on and must be replaced.

Seat, mirrors and windows

Sit upright with your back against the seat and feet on the floor; slouching reduces the restraint system's effectiveness. Adjust seat and mirrors before moving so you see clearly and control the pedals and wheel with room for the air bag: the foot pivots smoothly from brake to accelerator with the heel on the floor, the top of the wheel is no higher than the shoulders and below the chin, there are 10 inches between your chest and the wheel, the seat is not so far forward that steering is hard and not reclined, and the head restraint touches the back of your head no lower than the ears. The inside mirror is the primary rear view: frame the rear window with it and set the day/night position for the time of day. Set the outside mirrors to reduce blind spots: for the left, rest your head against the closed window and adjust until the rear edge of the vehicle barely shows; for the right, lean so your head is below the rearview mirror or above the center console and do the same. You will not see the vehicle's sides in a normal glance, but the setting adds 12 to 16 degrees of view on each side. Keep the windshield clean, since sun or headlights on a dirty windshield cut vision; keep washer fluid full, which also prevents winter freezing; clean the inside often, especially if you smoke; clear snow, ice and frost from all windows; hang nothing from the mirror and put no decals on the windshield or rear window, which are unlawful and block vision; and excessive tint is not allowed.

Safety belts

Kentucky law requires the driver and all passengers of any vehicle made after 1981 to wear a properly adjusted and fastened belt, with children secured in a federally approved restraint. Belts greatly reduce injury and death, keep you from being thrown out in a crash or rollover, help you keep control, and your survival odds are five times greater inside the vehicle; they hold you in your seat through sudden stops and keep you off the wheel or dashboard, which in a frontal crash at 55 mph your unbelted body would strike at 55 mph, with little chance of survival. It is illegal to drive or ride unbelted, and the belt law is primary, so an officer can stop you for it alone. Wear the shoulder harness across the shoulder and chest with minimal slack, never under the arm or behind the back, which can cause serious internal injuries, and the lap belt snug and low across the hips so you cannot slide out; wear belts even with air bags.

Air bags

Air bags are supplemental restraints designed for moderate to severe crashes, though they may deploy in minor ones, and they work best with belts, which position the body for the bag and restrain you through the initial and any later impacts. Deployment takes about one-twentieth of a second, faster than a blink, and side bags deploy faster still; the powder that fills the cabin afterward is a drying agent, not smoke. Move the driver's seat as far back as safe operation allows, set the passenger seat as far from the dashboard as possible with no arms, legs or items on the dash, keep your hands on the outside of the wheel and never across the hub, seat children 12 and under in the back in a belt or child restraint, and never put a rear-facing child seat in front of an active passenger air bag, turning the bag off with the factory switch if one exists; read the owner's manual for your vehicle's bags.

Child passenger safety

Install any child seat properly and use it correctly, keep every child 12 and younger restrained in the back seat, and never place a rear-facing seat in front of an active air bag. A child 40 inches or shorter must ride in a federally approved child restraint system, and violating the law brings a $50 fine plus a $10 fee for the Traumatic Brain Injury Trust Fund. A child under eight who is between 40 and 57 inches tall must ride in a child booster seat, which raises the child to fit a lap-and-shoulder belt; a child taller than 57 inches needs no booster at any age. The seat gives maximum protection only if installed correctly, ideally in the middle of the rear seat and anchored so it cannot move; State Police posts host inspection sites. A child left alone can move the vehicle and cause a collision, and a small child left in hot weather can die; in Kentucky it is illegal to leave a child under eight in a vehicle under circumstances showing extreme indifference to human life that create a grave risk of death and cause the child's death, and other laws forbid endangering a child's life or health.

Securing a load

Driving with an unsecured load is illegal and dangerous, with a costly fine and possible jail if it causes a crash; a load is secure only when nothing can slide, shift, fall, sift onto the road or become airborne. Tie it down with rope, netting or straps, tie large objects directly to the vehicle or trailer, consider a sturdy tarp or net over the whole load, do not overload, double check, and secure animals too. Before driving ask whether anything could fall or blow out, whether the load is secured at the back, sides and top, what would happen under sudden braking, a bump or a collision, and whether you would feel safe driving behind your own vehicle.

Driver assistance systems

Many newer vehicles carry features that sense and monitor conditions, identify dangers and may alert you by sound or vibration or take control of braking or steering: blind spot warning, backup camera, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assistance and active parking assist, among others. On the driving test you may not use certain features such as parking assist and cruise control. These features assist; they do not drive the vehicle. Stay engaged, perform head checks and use mirrors and cameras, read the owner's manual, know the limitations, remember they may not work in rain, snow, ice, fog, hills and curves, keep sensors clean and undamaged, and keep the software up to date.

Basic driving

To start, check the owner's manual, put your right foot on the brake, confirm the selector is in park, turn the key on and check the indicator lights and gauges such as fuel, ABS and air bags. To move, shift to drive with your foot on the brake, check ahead for a clear path and check traffic to the sides and rear, signal, and press the accelerator gently with the top of the foot and the heel on the floor, accelerating gradually and smoothly. To stop, check the mirrors for traffic behind, move your foot to the brake and press with steady pressure until stopped. The wheel always turns in the direction you want the vehicle to move, forward or in reverse. Hands at 2 and 10 are no longer recommended because of air bags; place both hands on the outside of the wheel at 3 and 9, gripping firmly but gently with the fingers rather than the palms, thumbs up along the face of the wheel, and never turn the wheel gripping it from the inside. To back up, check behind the vehicle before getting in, since children and small objects are invisible from the seat; put your foot on the brake and shift to reverse; hold the wheel at the 12 o'clock position with your left hand, rest your right arm on the seat back and look directly through the rear window, using the mirrors but remembering they do not show the area immediately behind; accelerate gently and keep the speed slow, since the vehicle is much harder to steer in reverse; steer slightly in the direction the rear should move; make quick checks to the front and sides when backing while turning; and keep looking to the rear until you have completely stopped.

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