Changing lanes — Virginia Permit Test
Changing lanes on the Virginia permit test — 4 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Before changing lanes, check your side and rearview mirrors, signal, then glance over your shoulder for anything in your blind spot.
The mirrors miss a whole car length beside your rear wheel, and the shoulder check is the only thing that covers it.
On a multi-lane highway, stay in the right lane if you are driving slower than the traffic around you. The left lane is for passing.
A slower car in the passing lane makes everyone behind it change lanes twice, and each change is a chance to be hit.
Before you move over, check for other drivers who may also be moving into the same lane.
Two drivers can pick the same gap from opposite sides of it, and neither is looking at the other while both watch the space.
When you pass, use the left lane and do not cruise in it. The left lane is for passing rather than for traveling.
Sitting in the passing lane after you have passed is what turns one overtaking car into a line of frustrated ones.
On the test
What is the last check before a driver moves into another lane?
A glance over the shoulder beside you. The mirrors miss a whole car length beside your rear wheel, and the shoulder check is the only thing that covers it.
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.
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Virginia Driver’s Manual, published by the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-02.
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/licenses-ids/exams/know-exam
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/forms/dmv39.pdf
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/sites/default/files/documents/dmv39i.pdf
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/licenses-ids/learners/apply
- https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/licenses-ids/learners/restrictions
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-870/
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-873/
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-874/
- https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title46.2/section46.2-862/