North Dakota driving lesson · Emergencies & Winter Driving
Towing, coasting, backing & littering
A 3-minute lesson from the North Dakota course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Pulling a camper, utility or boat trailer adds weight, so you need more distance to stop and specific safety equipment. A few more rules finish this lesson: don't coast downhill in neutral, back up carefully, and never litter.
Know the rule
A trailer's extra weight lengthens the distance needed to stop your vehicle.
Coasting is prohibited: no driver may coast downhill with the gears or transmission in neutral, and a truck or bus driver may not coast downhill with the clutch disengaged.
Back up only when necessary and without interfering with other traffic; you're responsible for backing safely. Before backing, walk around your vehicle to check clearance for children and obstacles.
You're pulling a camper at 55 mph. Because that's faster than 25 mph, you need safety chains or trailer brakes that can hold it if the coupling breaks, plus turn signals, stop lights, two red reflectors and two red taillights on the back.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
At what towing speed must you have safety chains or brakes capable of holding the trailer if the coupling fails?
Faster than 40 mph
At any speed
Faster than 15 mph
Faster than 25 mph
Answer: Faster than 25 mph
When traveling faster than 25 mph, you need safety chains or brakes capable of holding the trailer if the coupling breaks.