Driveway and sidewalk yield — Iowa Permit Test
Driveway and sidewalk yield on the Iowa permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Drivers crossing a sidewalk, or entering or leaving a driveway, alley, or parking lot, must yield to pedestrians.
People on a sidewalk do not expect a car to cut across, and a car pulling out can easily hit them.
Drivers crossing a sidewalk, entering or exiting a driveway, alley, or parking lot must yield to pedestrians.
It is illegal to drive on a sidewalk except to cross it.
Sidewalks are for people on foot, and a car on one leaves walkers nowhere safe to go.
It is illegal to drive on a sidewalk except to cross it.
Drivers entering a road from a driveway, alley, or roadside must yield to vehicles already on the main road.
Cars on the main road are moving at speed and expect a clear lane, so the car pulling out waits for a gap.
Drivers entering a road from a driveway, alley, or roadside must yield to vehicles already on the main road.
On the test
You are pulling out of a parking lot across a sidewalk. Who must you yield to?
Pedestrians on the sidewalk. People on a sidewalk do not expect a car to cut across, and a car pulling out can easily hit them. Iowa Driver's License Manual, p.19: “Drivers crossing a sidewalk, entering or exiting a driveway, alley, or parking lot must yield to pedestrians.”
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 Iowa Driver's License Manual, published by the Iowa Department of Transportation, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/IA.pdf (Iowa Driver's License Manual, edition M1170 07/23/2026, Iowa Department of Transportation, retrieved 2026-09-14; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/IA.pages.txt (the plain pdftotext fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- https://iowadot.gov/drivers-licenses-ids/driver-education/manuals-practice-tests/drivers-manual
- https://iowadot.gov/drivers-licenses-ids/driver-education/online-permit-test-skip-trip (read 2026-10-04; states no count or mark)
- https://iowadot.gov/drivers-licenses-ids/get-or-renew-drivers-licenses-ids-permits/under-18-permit-license-or-id/instruction-permit-under-age-18 (read 2026-10-04; states no count or mark)
- https://iowadot.gov/drivers-licenses-ids/driver-education/manuals-practice-tests/take-practice-test (read 2026-10-04; its 25 questions and 80% describe the practice test and are not used)
- https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/chapter/761.604.pdf (IAC 10/1/25; 761-604.9(1): "will declare the minimum passing score for each test")
- docs/plans/iowa-exam-shape.md (every official source checked for the exam's shape, and what each gave)