Starting on hill or curb — Rhode Island Permit Test

Starting on hill or curb on the Rhode Island permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

On a hill start in the road test, you stop at the right side, set the parking brake and shift to neutral; the parking brake must hold the vehicle from rolling back.

A parking brake that slips lets the car roll back into whoever is behind.

You will be instructed by the examiner to drive to the right side of the road, stop, and then set your parking brake and shift to neutral. The parking brake must hold the vehicle from rolling back.

Rhode Island Driver’s Manual, p.33

To start on a hill, look over your left shoulder for traffic, put the car in gear, signal, release the parking brake and drive out carefully.

Letting go of the brake before you are in gear lets the car roll back.

When starting your vehicle on the hill, look over your left shoulder to be sure that traffic is clear, put the vehicle in gear, signal, release the parking brake and drive out carefully.

Rhode Island Driver’s Manual, p.33

When starting from the curb or changing lanes, check your mirrors and look over your shoulder to make sure the mirrors' blind spots are clear.

A small car can sit in your blind spot where no mirror shows it.

Check your mirrors and look over your shoulder to make sure the blind spots of the mirrors are clear and no other vehicle has entered your intended path.

Rhode Island Driver’s Manual, p.33

On the test

On a hill, after you set the parking brake and shift to neutral, what must happen?

The parking brake holds the car still. A parking brake that slips lets the car roll back into whoever is behind. Rhode Island Driver’s Manual, p.33: “You will be instructed by the examiner to drive to the right side of the road, stop, and then set your parking brake and shift to neutral. The parking brake must hold the vehicle from rolling back.”

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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All Rhode Island permit topics

Where these come from

Every rule here is checked against Rhode Island Driver’s Manual, published by the Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.