Passing — Virginia Permit Test
Passing on the Virginia permit test — 9 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Before passing, check the traffic ahead, behind and in your blind spot. Signal, accelerate past, and return to the right lane as soon as you can see the front of the passed vehicle in your mirror.
Seeing the whole front of the car in your mirror is the point at which you are far enough ahead not to clip it coming back.
It is against the law to exceed the speed limit while passing another vehicle.
Passing is not an exception to the limit, so a driver who needs to speed to finish the pass did not have room for it.
You must finish a pass before you reach a no-passing zone. If you are still in the left lane when you reach it, you are breaking the law.
The zone begins where the sight distance runs out, so a pass still in progress there is one you can no longer see the end of.
You may pass on the right when the vehicle you are passing has signaled and is making a left turn. You may not drive off the pavement to get around it.
The shoulder is where a broken-down car or a walker is, so using it to get past turns a delay into a collision.
When passing someone on a bicycle, a moped or a similar device, reduce speed and pass at least three feet to the left.
Three feet is the room a rider needs to swerve around a pothole without swerving into your car.
Passing is unlawful and unsafe on hills, on curves, at intersections and at railroad crossings, except on roads with two or more lanes going the same way.
Each of these hides the road you would need to get back in, so the car you would meet is one you cannot see yet.
Passing is unlawful when a solid line marks the left side of your lane.
The solid line is the road telling you the view runs out, which is a measurement rather than an opinion.
Passing is unlawful when you are coming up on a crosswalk and the vehicle ahead of you or in the next lane has stopped.
A stopped car at a crossing is almost always stopped for somebody walking, and passing it hides them until they step out.
When you are being passed, do not speed up. Hold a steady speed or slow down.
Speeding up strands the passing car alongside you with oncoming traffic closing, and it cannot get back in.
On the test
When can a driver safely pull back in after passing?
Once its front shows in your mirror. Seeing the whole front of the car in your mirror is the point at which you are far enough ahead not to clip it coming 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.
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/