After the Pre-Trip Inspection and the Skills Test, the road test is the third and final part of the DMV exam. It is formally called the Driving Performance Evaluation, or DPE.
The road test did not change in 2023. California's modernization updated the vehicle inspection and basic control skills tests only. The road test runs the same as it always has.
How You Pass
You must finish with no more than 30 errors and no critical driving errors. A single critical error is an automatic failure.
At all times you must:
- Wear your seat belt
- Obey all traffic signs, signals, and laws
- Complete the test without a collision or a moving violation
- Drive in a safe and responsible manner
The examiner scores you on specific maneuvers and on your general driving behavior throughout. Directions are given with enough lead time to carry them out — you will not be rushed, and you will never be asked to drive in an unsafe manner.
If your route does not naturally produce a particular traffic situation, the examiner may ask you to simulate it by explaining what you would do.
The entire road test is conducted in English. This is required by federal law under 49 CFR §391.11(b)(2) and §383.133(c)(5). It applies to all three parts of the skills test. If you fail to comprehend instructions given in English, you receive a verbal warning for the first two offenses on the same test date. A third offense ends the test as an automatic failure.
What You Are Tested On
You will drive a route with a variety of traffic situations. Scored elements include:
- Left and right turns
- Intersections
- Urban business districts
- Lane changes
- Expressway and highway driving
- Stops and starts
- Curves
- Railroad crossings
- Bridges, overpasses, and signs
- Steering
- Regular traffic checks
- Use of turn signals
- General driving behavior — clutch usage, gear usage, brake usage, lane usage
- School bus student discharge, where applicable to the vehicle and endorsement
Attempts
You are allowed a total of three attempts across the vehicle inspection, basic control skills, and road tests. Failing any one segment counts as one attempt against that total.
If you are required to test on separate vehicle types — for example a Class A vehicle and a passenger transport vehicle — you get three attempts for each.
A retest fee applies to each basic control skills retest and each road test retest. There is no waiting period to retake the basic control skills test.
Our Advantage on the Road Test
Our yard sits on West Capitol Avenue, minutes from the West Sacramento commercial drive test center on Evergreen Avenue. Our students train on the roads the test routes actually use — the same intersections, the same on-ramps, the same railroad crossings, the same left turns onto the same streets.
Public road training is one student and one instructor in the truck. Your road hours are your road hours. You are not sitting in a jump seat watching somebody else drive.
Official DMV Documents
California Commercial Driver Handbook (PDF)
DMV Commercial Driver Information
We train on the test routes.
Seven days a week, minutes from the West Sacramento test site.
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