Passing — North Carolina Permit Test

To pass, look ahead and behind to decide when it is safe, signal to alert the drivers ahead and behind you, and blow the horn to signal the driver ahead, which places that driver under a legal obligation to help you pass.

The horn is not rude here; it is the law’s way of telling the other driver the pass has started and they must make room.

The horn signal places the driver of the vehicle you are passing under a legal obligation to help you pass.

The law requires the passing driver to pass at least two feet to the left of the vehicle being passed.

Two feet is the margin for a mirror, a swerve or a gust of wind. Closer than that, a small mistake becomes contact.

The law requires the passing driver to pass at least two feet to the left of the vehicle being passed.

You cannot pass safely unless you can see far enough ahead to get back into your lane before meeting oncoming traffic, and you have not passed safely if the vehicle you passed has to slow down to let you back in.

Cutting back in so close that the other driver brakes means the pass was not finished. You had not earned the space.

You have not passed safely if the vehicle you have passed must slow down to allow you back into your correct lane.

Passing is always unsafe and usually illegal on any curve or hill where you cannot see at least 500 feet ahead.

A car coming over the crest at 55 mph closes 500 feet in a few seconds. Less sight distance than that is not enough to get back.

On any curve or hill where the driver cannot see at least 500 feet ahead;

You may not pass wherever there is a solid yellow line in your lane or a double solid yellow line, nor where a vehicle has stopped at an intersection or crosswalk to let people cross.

The stopped car is hiding a pedestrian. Passing it puts you in the crosswalk at the moment they step out.

At intersections or crosswalks where a vehicle has stopped to allow people to cross the street; and

Passing at intersections in cities and towns, or at railroad crossings, is always unsafe and usually illegal.

A railroad crossing or a town intersection is where traffic turns and crosses. Being in the wrong lane there is where the crash is.

Places where passing is always unsafe and usually illegal: • At intersections in cities and towns or at railroad crossings;

What does sounding your horn before passing do, under North Carolina law?

Obliges the driver ahead to help you pass. The horn is not rude here; it is the law’s way of telling the other driver the pass has started and they must make room. North Carolina Driver Handbook, p.55: “The horn signal places the driver of the vehicle you are passing under a legal obligation to help you pass.”