Stop for crosswalk pedestrians — District of Columbia Permit Test
Stop for crosswalk pedestrians on the District of Columbia permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
You must come to a complete stop for a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk who is on the half of the roadway you are traveling on, or approaching so closely from an adjacent lane on the other half as to be in danger.
A walker in your half of the road is in your path, and one coming fast from the other half will be in it a second later.
The driver of a vehicle shall come to a complete stop when a pedestrian crossing the roadway in a crosswalk is:
When any vehicle is stopped at a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to let a pedestrian cross, a driver approaching from the rear must not overtake and pass the stopped vehicle.
The stopped car hides the person walking in front of it, and a driver who passes it will hit them without ever seeing them.
Whenever any vehicle is stopped at a marked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection to permit a pedestrian to cross the roadway, the driver of any other vehicle approaching from the rear shall not overtake and pass the stopped vehicles.
A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle so close that it is impossible to yield.
No driver can stop a car in the length of a single step, so a walker who darts out leaves the driver no chance.
A pedestrian may not suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impossible to yield.
On the test
A pedestrian in a crosswalk is on your half of the roadway. What must you do?
Come to a complete stop. A walker in your half of the road is in your path, and one coming fast from the other half will be in it a second later. DC Driver Manual, p.61: “The driver of a vehicle shall come to a complete stop when a pedestrian crossing the roadway in a crosswalk is:”
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
What it costs
- One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
- Free to start: a 10-question test and the first section of cards. No sign-up and no account.
- Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
- Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
- Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.
All District of Columbia permit topics
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against DC Driver Manual, published by the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-05.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/DC.pdf (DC Driver Manual (English), Rev. 7/29/2021, District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles, fetched 2026-10-05 from the Wayback Machine's original-bytes capture of dmv.dc.gov; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/DC.pages.txt (the plain pdftotext fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- https://dmv.dc.gov/publication/dc-dmv-automobile-driver-manual (read 2026-10-05; links only the 2023 Issuu flipbooks)
- https://issuu.com/dcdmv/docs/dc_dmv_driver_manual_english_revised_final (the current 2023 edition, read 2026-10-05 from its public page images to diff against the pinned edition; not pinnable)
- https://dmv.dc.gov/service/knowledge-tests (read 2026-10-05; states no count or mark for the knowledge test)
- https://dcregs.dc.gov/Common/DCMR/RuleList.aspx?ChapterNum=18-1 (18 DCMR chapter 1, sections 100-114, read 2026-10-05; section 104 sets what the examination covers and states no figure)
- https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/50-1401.01 (D.C. Code 50-1401.01, read 2026-10-05; requires a knowledge examination and states no figure)