Pavement markings yellow — Virginia Permit Test
Pavement markings yellow on the Virginia permit test — 7 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Yellow center lines separate traffic moving in opposite directions. What the lines look like tells you whether passing is allowed.
Yellow is the only marking that means a car may be coming at you, so the color itself is a warning about which lane is which.
A broken yellow center line means passing on the left is allowed in either direction when the way ahead is clear.
The gaps in the line mark where the road is straight enough to see a car coming while you are still able to pull back in.
Where a broken yellow line runs alongside a solid yellow line, passing is allowed from the side with the broken line and not from the solid side.
The solid side is the direction that cannot see far enough ahead, which is why only one side of the road gets the gap.
Double solid yellow lines mark the center of the road and passing is not allowed in either direction. You may cross them only to turn left or to pass a person walking or riding.
Two solid lines mean neither direction has the sight distance to pass, which is a fact about the road rather than about the traffic on it.
On a three-lane road where the center lane has a broken yellow line on both sides, drivers going either way may use the center lane for passing.
A shared passing lane only works if both directions read it the same way, so the markings have to be identical on both sides.
Where the center lane has a solid yellow line and a broken yellow line on each side, drivers going either way may use it for left turns, but may not travel more than 150 feet in it.
The lane is a place to wait for a gap, and a driver who runs along it is using it as a passing lane with cars coming the other way.
Red reflectors set into the pavement mark areas that must not be entered. They face so that only traffic going the wrong way can see them.
If you can see them you are already going the wrong way, which makes them the last warning before a head-on crash.
On the test
What do yellow lines down the middle of a road tell a driver?
Traffic runs in opposite directions here. Yellow is the only marking that means a car may be coming at you, so the color itself is a warning about which lane is which.
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/