Pedestrians — New York Permit Test
Pedestrians on the New York permit test — 8 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Pedestrians are at high risk in traffic, and the law requires a driver to be extra careful to avoid a collision with them.
A person on foot has nothing between them and a bumper. The care has to come from the car.
Pedestrians are at high risk in traffic. The law requires you to be extra careful to avoid a collision with them.
A driver should look out for children near schools, bus stops, playgrounds, parks and ice cream trucks.
Children step into the road without checking. These are the places they do it.
Look out for children, near schools, bus stops, playgrounds, parks and ice cream trucks.
When a driver backs up their car or truck they should look through the back window for pedestrians, and should not rely only on mirrors when children are near.
A small child sits below the back window and below every mirror. Looking is the only way.
When you back up your car or truck, look through your back window for pedestrians. Do not rely only on mirrors when children are near.
Before backing into a driveway, or out of one, a driver should get out of the vehicle and check behind it.
Anything shorter than the trunk lid is invisible from the seat. Getting out settles it.
Before you back into a driveway, or out of it, get out of the vehicle and check behind your vehicle.
Pedestrians are supposed to walk on the side of the road and face the traffic in the lane nearest them, so a driver making a right turn should watch for pedestrians on their right and a driver making a left turn should watch on the other side of the road.
People walk facing the cars nearest them. That is where a turning driver should look.
Pedestrians are supposed to walk on the side of the road and face the traffic in the lane nearest them.
A special right-of-way law allows blind pedestrians to go across the road with a guide dog or a white or metal cane, and a driver must always give them the right-of-way at a marked or unmarked crosswalk even if the signals or other right-of-way rules are not in their favor.
A blind pedestrian cannot read a signal or a gap. The law puts the duty on the driver.
A special right-of-way law allows blind pedestrians to go across the road with a guide dog or a white or metal cane.
The law requires pedestrians to obey traffic and pedestrian signals, traffic officers and official signs, and to use the sidewalk when available or face traffic as they walk.
The rules run both ways. A pedestrian has duties as well as a right to cross.
Obey traffic and pedestrian signals, traffic officers and official signs.
Pedestrians must never stand in the road to hitchhike or conduct business with motorists.
Somebody standing in a traffic lane is a hazard nobody is expecting.
Never stand in the road to hitchhike or conduct business with motorists.
On the test
What does the law require of a driver around pedestrians?
Extra care to avoid a collision. A person on foot has nothing between them and a bumper. The care has to come from the car. New York State Driver's Manual, p.67: “Pedestrians are at high risk in traffic. The law requires you to be extra careful to avoid a collision with them.”
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
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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.