Passing — New Jersey Permit Test
Passing on the New Jersey permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Two solid center lines mean no passing is allowed.
Solid lines mark the places where a driver cannot see far enough to get back in safely.
Both center lines are solid: No passing allowed.
Where one center line is broken, passing is allowed on the side with the broken line.
The broken line marks the side with the sight distance. The solid side does not have it.
One center line is broken: Passing is allowed only on the side with the broken line.
A pass must be completed before the center lines are solid again.
The solid line starts where the view runs out. Being alongside somebody there leaves nowhere to go.
All passing must be completed before the center lines are solid again.
Passing on the right is allowed on a road with more than one lane in the same direction, and never on the shoulder.
The shoulder is where a broken-down car sits and where a walker steps. It is not a lane.
Passing on the right is allowed only on roads with more than one lane going in the same direction
A driver does not pass on a hill or curve, or at any time they cannot see far enough ahead.
The oncoming car you cannot see is the one you would meet head-on in the wrong lane.
On a hill or curve or at any time they cannot see far enough ahead.
A driver does not pass at a street crossing or intersection.
Cross traffic can enter while you are alongside another car, with nowhere left to go.
At a street crossing or intersection.
On the test
What do two solid center lines mean?
Passing is prohibited in either direction. Solid lines mark the places where a driver cannot see far enough to get back in safely. New Jersey Driver Manual, p.64: “Both center lines are solid: No passing allowed.”
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 New Jersey Driver Manual, published by the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-15.