Sharing the road — Virginia Permit Test
Sharing the road on the Virginia permit test — 11 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
People walking are especially likely to be badly hurt when struck. Be careful around schools, playgrounds and residential areas, and be aware of them when turning.
A person on foot has nothing around them, so the same impact that dents a car ends a life.
People walking have the right of way when you are making a right or a left turn. Let them cross the street completely before you begin the turn.
A turning driver is watching for a gap in traffic, which is the moment somebody steps off the curb in front of them.
A person riding a bicycle on a roadway generally has the same right of way as the driver of a motor vehicle.
A rider treated as an obstacle rather than a vehicle is one who gets squeezed toward the curb by every car that passes.
People on bikes may ride in the center of the lane when they need to, such as when turning left or when the lane is too narrow to share with a car.
Taking the lane is safer than hugging the edge, because it puts the rider where a driver is already looking.
If the lane is not wide enough to leave three feet when passing a person on a bicycle, you must change lanes to pass safely.
Squeezing past inside the lane leaves the rider nowhere to go if a drain or a pothole appears under their wheel.
More than half of all fatal motorcycle crashes involve automobiles, and many are caused by the driver failing to see the motorcycle in traffic.
Drivers are trained by habit to look for something car-shaped, so a narrow machine can be looked straight at and not registered.
Never drive beside a motorcycle in the same lane. A rider uses the whole width of the lane as conditions change, and debris can be a major obstacle to them.
A stone that a car rolls over can put a motorcycle down, so the rider needs the room to move that a car does not.
Allow an extra second of following distance behind a motorcycle, and double that in bad weather.
A motorcycle can stop in less room than a car, so the gap that works behind a car is already too small behind a bike.
Low speed vehicles have a top speed between 21 and 25 miles per hour. They may be driven on public roads with speed limits of 35 miles per hour or less.
These vehicles are much slower than the traffic around them, so a driver coming up behind one closes on it faster than expected.
Light rail trains share the road with vehicles and cross traffic at many points. Never drive around lowered crossing gates and always look both ways before turning across the tracks.
A train on a street runs on rails and cannot steer around a car, so every avoidable collision is the driver’s to avoid.
State law requires drivers to pass horse-drawn buggies with at least three feet of clearance when the way is clear, and to slow down without using the horn.
A horse startled by a horn can bolt into the road, which puts the buggy and everyone near it into the traffic lane.
On the test
When should a driver be most alert for people on foot?
Near schools, playgrounds and homes. A person on foot has nothing around them, so the same impact that dents a car ends a life.
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/