Changing lanes — Virginia Permit Test
Changing lanes on the Virginia permit test — 2 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Before changing lanes, check your mirrors, signal, look for other drivers moving into the same lane, and glance over your shoulder at your blind spot.
The mirrors do not show the piece of road right beside your back wheel.
Before changing lanes, check your side and rearview mirrors for traffic approaching you from behind.
On a multi-lane highway, stay in the right lane if you are driving slower than the traffic around you, because the left lane is for passing.
A slow car in the passing lane makes everybody else change lanes around it.
When driving 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 only.
On the test
In what order should you change lanes?
Check mirrors, signal, then look over your shoulder. The mirrors do not show the piece of road right beside your back wheel. Virginia Driver's Manual, p.17: “Before changing lanes, check your side and rearview mirrors for traffic approaching you from behind.”
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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- Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
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- Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.
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 2026-09-06.