Scanning look ahead — Delaware Permit Test
Scanning look ahead on the Delaware permit test — 4 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Safer drivers look at least 10 seconds ahead of their vehicle, the distance it will travel in 10 seconds.
A driver looking just past the hood sees the stopped traffic too late to slow gently.
Safer drivers tend to look at least 10 seconds ahead of their vehicle.
In city traffic, try to look at least one block ahead, since 10 seconds is about one block.
Looking only at the bumper ahead hides the car backing out of a driveway half a block up.
When you drive in city traffic, you should try to look at least one block ahead.
On the highway, 10 seconds of looking ahead is about four city blocks, or a quarter of a mile.
At highway speed, a crash a block ahead is only a few seconds away.
On the highway, 10 seconds is about four city blocks or a quarter of a mile.
Looking well ahead saves fuel, because each quick stop takes time and fuel to get back up to speed.
Racing up to every red light and braking hard burns gas twice for nothing.
By looking well ahead, you can save fuel.
On the test
Safer drivers tend to look at least how many seconds ahead?
10 seconds. A driver looking just past the hood sees the stopped traffic too late to slow gently. Delaware Driver Manual, p.116: “Safer drivers tend to look at least 10 seconds ahead of their vehicle.”
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.
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Delaware Driver Manual, published by the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-05.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/DE.pdf (Delaware Driver Manual, July 2026, Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-09-14; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/DE.pages.txt (scripts/de-text.sh: plain pdftotext cropped to keep the section tab out, physical 47 under -layout; the fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/DE-exam.html (Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, Driver's License Exam, https://dmv.de.gov/DriverServices/drivers_license/index.shtml?dc=dr_lic_written, read 2026-10-05; states both exam figures; sha256 pinned under examSource)
- https://dmv.de.gov/menu/forms_manuals.shtml (read 2026-10-05; links the manual)
- https://dmv.de.gov/DriverServices/faqs/index.shtml?dc=dr_faq_general (read 2026-10-05; its 30 and 24 are the exam page's figures before 2024-12, per the Internet Archive)