Certificate of Attendance (NRS 392)

Nevada law mandates that teen drivers under the age of 18 must now present a signed DMV form 301 when applying for a driver’s license. This new form (301) is a certificate signed by a high school official that verifies you meet school attendance requirements. During the summer, when school is out of session, you will have to contact the main CCSD office to handle the research and signing of your certificate. Beginning August 10th, you will need to contact your school directly. You can then make arrangements to get the certificate signed with the appropriate school official.

Here is the link to the Certificate of Attendance form: http://www.dmvnv.com/pdfforms/dmv301.pdf

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Preparing for the Nevada Driving Skills Test – Part I

In this post, we will discuss how to prepare for the Nevada driving skills test, also known as the “road test.” This is where the rubber meets the road–literally. This is the final portion of the Nevada driver’s test which, if passed successfully, will earn you the coveted Nevada driver’s license. If you are a Nevada teen driver, by now you should have obtained your Nevada instruction permit, passed your 30-hour driver’s ed course and have spent 50-hours behind the wheel being supervised by your parent or another licensed driver over the age of 21.

Inspect the Vehicle Before the Night Before Your Nevada Driving Test

The night before your driving test, you should be extremely familiar with the vehicle you’re going to be driving during the road test. At minimum, you should spend the night before the test making sure that the car is street legal and without any issues that could prevent you from taking the driver’s test. This typically involves a pre-test inspection. Understand that the Nevada DMV examiner that will be grading you, will conduct their own vehicle inspection prior to you hitting the road. If the vehicle you’re driving is not up to legal standards or is deemed unsafe in any way, you will be sent home without proceeding with the test.

To conduct a good pre-test inspection, you should make sure that all the vehicle lights work, including the brake lights, head light, reverse lights, hazards and the turn signals. You should also make sure that the horn works on the vehicle as the DMV examiner will want to see that it is operational. If any of these are not operational, the test will not proceed.

You should also make sure that you are familiar with all the buttons, levers and instruments in the vehicle. This includes the AC controls, windshield wipers, turn signals, emergency / parking brake, headlight switch, etc. Not knowing these can not only frustrate you and create a downward spiral, but it also can be the means for an automatic failure.

Before arriving to the Nevada DMV for your driving test, you should make sure that your windows and windshield are clean. They should also be free from cracks. It is illegal to drive in Nevada with a cracked windshield, as this is considered an obstruction to your view. A cracked windshield will prevent you from taking the Nevada driver’s test.

Cracked, low or excessively worn tires is another reason that the examiner can use for NOT allowing you to take the driving test. Be sure that there is adequate air pressure and tire tread on the vehicle you plan to use. Also, you should ensure that there is no excessive cracking on the outside of the tires, which is a common occurrence in Nevada’s dry climate.

Understand the Vehicle Controls Before Heading to the DMV

Be sure that you know how to adjust the side and rear view mirrors of the vehicle you will be driving. These should be adjusted just before you hit the road on the driving test so that you can show the examiner that you are a safe driver who always adjusts their mirrors before hitting the road. If you fumble around at the last minute, you show the Nevada DMV examiner that you’re not really as prepared for a Nevada license as you want them to believe.

Gather Up Your Nevada DMV Forms the Night Before

Last but certainly not least: make sure you have all your required paperwork ready to go the night before and place it by the front door so you don’t forget it. I can’t tell you how many times our students became so nervous that they showed up for the driving test appointment without the required paperwork. Don’t let this happen to you! Not only will you be extremely embarrassed, you will not be able to proceed with your road test and will likely have to wait weeks before you can come back.

How to Get a Nevada Driver’s License

This post will show you how to get a Nevada driver’s license in simple, step-by-step “visual” fashion. This is the best way to follow the sometimes confusing information on the DMV website. If you are ready to start your Nevada driver’s ed requirement, please be sure to visit us at https://nvdriversed.com where you can start for FREE!

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Handling Traffic Accidents in Las Vegas

**Update** Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department is again responding to traffic accidents

As you may have heard, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Metro) no longer responds to automobile accidents where no one was injured, with few exceptions. According to LVMPD, traffic fatalities have increased dramatically and they need to focus their efforts on traffic enforcement (writing tickets to traffic violators) which, in turn, reduces the amount of traffic accidents and traffic fatalities. NHP, North Las Vegas and Henderson police departments still respond to all automobile accidents that occur on the roadways of their respective jurisdictions. They do not, however, respond to accidents that occur on private property such as shopping centers, restaurants, etc.

Now, if you are involved in an accident in LVMPD’s jurisdiction but no one is injured, LVMPD may still respond if one of these things happen:

1. one or more of the vehicles is in the roadway, cannot be moved and is causing a traffic problem

2. one of the parties involved is being uncooperative and won’t exchange insurance/driver information, which is required by law.

Now that we know who will respond to your traffic accident in Las Vegas and surrounding jurisdictions, let’s take a look at what you should do should you become involved in an automobile accident.

What to Do if You are Involved in a Traffic Accident in Las Vegas

1. Attend to any injuries involved. Call 9-1-1 if someone is injured, making sure that you can give them the location of the emergency. Sometime people call 9-1-1 but don’t have a clue as to where they actually need help. Remember, if emergency personnel can’t get to you, they can’t be of any help.

2. As soon as possible, try to take photos of the scene. This could be beneficial later on should the at-fault driver change their story about who is really at fault in the accident.

3. Move all vehicles out of the roadway as soon as it is safe and practical to do so.

4. Get the names of the driver and passengers as well. Make note of how many people are in the vehicle. There have been many cases where there was only one driver actually in the other vehicle but later, several people filed a claim saying that they were injured in the automobile accident – even when they weren’t involved!

5. By law, you are required to exchange information (insurance and Nevada driver’s license) with anyone that you are involved in a vehicle accident, regardless as to who is at fault. Just because you think you are at fault, you are still entitled to the other driver’s information. To help you gather this information, we have included a handy Nevada Driver Info Exchange sheet (click the link and you can downloaded it instantly). We recommend you print out several of these and place a couple inside each vehicle in your home. These will help you get all the information you will need in the event the police do not respond to your accident.

6. Contact your insurance company as soon as you can to let them know the details of the accident. Remember, you are paying them to act as your agent in the case of an automobile accident. Let them know the details regardless as to whether or not you were at fault.

7. If the other driver was at fault in the accident, be sure to initiate a claim with their insurance company, providing them all the details from your Driver Exchange sheet.

Hopefully, you will never be involved in an automobile accident. However, should that time come, it is important to know as much as you can so as to protect yourself. Be sure to prepare yourself by printing out the Nevada driver exchange sheet, compliments of NV Drivers Ed, and keep it in your glove compartment just in case.