General Knowledge

Overview

At a Glance: General Knowledge is the broadest part of the NSW Driver Knowledge Test. It covers the licensing scheme, learner restrictions, phones, parking, motorways, crashes and keeping your car roadworthy. In the in-person DKT it has traditionally been its own section, and you can afford only a few mistakes in it.

This topic draws on several chapters of the NSW Road User Handbook. Most questions test rules you can learn by heart, so steady revision pays off.

Licences and Learner Rules

The Graduated Licensing Scheme takes you from learner to full licence in stages. These are the facts that come up most often:

• Supervisor: your supervisor must hold a full (unrestricted) Australian licence and sit next to you. P1, P2, learner and overseas licence holders cannot supervise. If the supervisor isn’t eligible, both of you can be fined.
• Plates: L plates go on the outside of the car, front and back (or on the roof), with the whole letter visible. A plate on the dashboard or behind a window doesn’t count.
• Speed: learners and P1 drivers can drive at no more than 90 km/h, and P2 drivers at no more than 100 km/h.
• Towing: learners must not tow anything. P1 drivers may tow a light trailer up to 250 kg unloaded.
• Places: learners must not drive in Centennial Park, Moore Park or Parramatta Park.
• Carry your licence: you must have your licence with you every time you drive. A digital licence counts if your phone is charged and the screen can be read.

Licence stage	Demerit point limit	Max speed	Minimum time held (under 25)
Learner	4	90 km/h	12 months
P1	4	90 km/h	12 months
P2	7	100 km/h	24 months
Full (unrestricted)	13	Posted limit	—

If you’re under 25, you need to log 120 hours of supervised driving, including 20 at night. You also need to wait 10 months on your L plates before you can sit the Hazard Perception Test. The Safer Drivers Course gives you a 20-hour log book credit. A structured lesson with a licensed instructor can be logged as 3 hours for every 1 hour of lesson time.

Key Fact: There is no test between P1 and P2. All three tests (DKT, Hazard Perception Test and Driving Test) are done before you get your P1 licence.

Phones, Screens and Cameras

Learner, P1 and P2 drivers must not use a mobile phone at all while driving. That includes hands-free, Bluetooth, music and maps. Being stopped at traffic lights or in a queue still counts as driving. You can use the phone only when you’re parked out of the line of traffic. The engine doesn’t have to be off. There are two small exceptions:

• showing your digital licence when police ask for it;
• using wallet functions to pay while stopped in a car park, driveway or drive-through.

A phone offence carries 5 demerit points. That is more than the 4-point limit for learner and P1 drivers, so one offence means losing your licence. NSW cameras detect illegal phone use. They also catch seatbelts that aren’t worn or are worn wrongly, such as a sash under the arm.

Parking and Stopping

Parking questions are mostly about measured distances, so they’re easy marks once you’ve learned them.

Situation	Rule
Gap to other parked cars	At least 1 metre in front and behind
Double dividing lines	Don’t park within 3 metres
Bus stop	Don’t park within 20 m before or 10 m after (unless signed)
Railway level crossing	Don’t stop within 20 m either side
Continuous yellow kerb line	No stopping at any time
Broken yellow kerb line	Clearway during signed hours

Park parallel and close to the kerb unless signs or markings allow angle parking. Never double park, and check for bicycle riders before opening your door.

Motorways and Lane Use

On a road with two or more lanes and a limit over 80 km/h, keep out of the right lane unless you’re overtaking or another exception applies. When you join a motorway, you give way to traffic already in the lane you’re moving into. If you miss your exit, carry on to the next one. Reversing or making a U-turn on a motorway is never allowed. Stop only in an emergency, and then use the emergency stopping lane.

Signals, Lights and Hazards

• Indicate before every turn, even from a turn-only lane.
• Headlights must be on from sunset to sunrise, and whenever it’s too dark to see a person in dark clothing 100 metres away.
• Dip from high beam when an oncoming vehicle is within 200 metres, or when you’re 200 metres or less behind another vehicle.
• Give way to emergency vehicles with sirens or flashing lights, even if your light is green.
• At roadworks, roadwork speed limits apply even when you can’t see any workers. Stop at a traffic controller’s handheld Stop sign.

Crashes and Breakdowns

After a crash you must stop, help anyone injured and exchange details. Call 000 if anyone is hurt. If police don’t attend but a vehicle is towed away, report the crash within 24 hours on 131 444. If you break down, move as far left as you can and turn on your hazard lights.

Vehicle, Registration and Towing

• Tyres, including the spare, need at least 1.5 mm of tread.
• Number plates must be clean, visible and not covered, including by a bike rack.
• Nobody may ride in a trailer or caravan, and a car may tow only one trailer.
• A vehicle that fails its safety check can only be driven to be repaired or inspected.

DKT Tip: General Knowledge questions often hide the answer in a number: 1 m, 3 m, 20 m, 100 m, 200 m. List every distance in this guide on one page and drill it.

Ready to test yourself? Try the General Knowledge quiz.

Common Mistakes on the DKT

• Thinking P drivers can supervise. Only a full Australian licence holder can.
• Thinking stopped at a red light means parked. For L and P drivers, the phone ban still applies at the lights.
• Mixing up the 1 m and 3 m parking gaps. Leave 1 m between you and other parked cars, and 3 m from double dividing lines.
• Using the old demerit limit. A full licence has a limit of 13 points, not 12.
• Assuming there’s a P1-to-P2 test. There isn’t one any more.
• Treating the right lane as a fast lane. On roads over 80 km/h it’s for overtaking.