A 3-minute lesson from the Tennessee course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Sometimes you have to stop where you'd rather not — a breakdown on the highway. Other times the rules are about fairness: spaces reserved for people with disabilities and meters that keep spaces turning over.
If you must leave a disabled car on a highway
Get all four wheels off the traveled road if possible, or onto the shoulder as far from traffic as you can
If there's a curb, pull close to it
If you can't move it, raise the hood or tie a handkerchief to the left door handle or antenna
Turn on the emergency flashers, set the parking brake, put it in park or gear, turn off the engine and lock it
Walking on the interstate is illegal and dangerous. Except in an extreme emergency, stay in your disabled vehicle until a trooper, officer, emergency vehicle or good Samaritan stops to help.
Parked on or beside a highway at night? Leave your emergency flashers and parking lights on — never your headlights, which can blind and confuse approaching drivers.
The international symbol of access. Spaces with it are only for vehicles showing a valid placard or plate — and only when carrying the person it was issued to.
Your car overheats on I-40. Signal, pull onto the right shoulder as far from traffic as you can, turn on your flashers, raise the hood and stay with your car until help arrives. Don't set off walking along the interstate.
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.
Improperly parking in a space reserved for persons with disabilities can result in:
A $50 fine and possible towing
A $250 fine and 3 points
A $500 fine and suspension
A $100 fine and possible towing
Answer: A $100 fine and possible towing
Illegally parking in a handicap space is a misdemeanor punishable by a $100 fine, and the vehicle may be towed.