Being passed — New York Permit Test
Being passed on the New York permit test — 2 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
If another vehicle passes on the left, a driver should decrease their speed slightly and stay centered in their lane until the vehicle has safely passed.
Speeding up stretches the pass into oncoming traffic. Easing off ends it sooner.
If another vehicle passes you on the left, decrease your speed slightly and stay centered in your lane.
A driver being passed on the right by many vehicles should move into the right lane and allow them to pass on the left.
Being overtaken on the right means you are the slow car in the fast lane.
If you find that you are being passed on the right by many vehicles, you should move into the right lane and allow them to pass you on the left.
On the test
What should a driver do while another vehicle passes them on the left?
Slow slightly and hold the lane. Speeding up stretches the pass into oncoming traffic. Easing off ends it sooner. New York State Driver's Manual, p.40: “If another vehicle passes you on the left, decrease your speed slightly and stay centered in your lane.”
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 York State Driver's Manual, published by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-15.