Special lanes — Virginia Permit Test
Special lanes on the Virginia permit test — 7 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
A bicycle lane is marked by a white line or green paint and a bicycle symbol. Drivers should not drive in it except when it is necessary to turn.
The lane is the only space a rider has, and a car sitting in it forces the rider out into traffic to get around.
A shared lane marking, or sharrow, is a bicycle symbol under a double chevron. It marks a lane too narrow for a car and a bike side by side.
The marking is there because the rider has to take the middle of the lane, so a driver squeezing past has nowhere legal to go.
Drivers must stop for a red signal behind a bicycle box, not inside it. Right turns on red are not allowed at intersections with a bicycle box.
The box is where riders wait in front of the traffic so drivers can see them, and a car in the box puts them back out of sight.
High occupancy vehicle lanes are marked by a diamond shape in the lane. Road signs state the least number of passengers a vehicle must carry and when the rules apply.
The rules only run at certain hours, so the sign rather than the paint is what tells you whether the lane is open to you now.
A lane use control sign shows which way traffic in that lane must go. Traffic in the lane must turn in the direction of the arrow.
Drivers choose a lane before they can read the arrow, so the one who ignores it is the one going straight from a turn-only lane.
Bus-only lanes are marked with BUS ONLY lettering, red pavement, or both. A diamond marking may also show that a lane is reserved as a bus lane.
A bus lane keeps a full bus moving through traffic, and one car in it holds up more people than the car carries.
If you enter a high-speed toll lane without a transponder, do not stop. Stopping is unsafe and the vehicle owner will be billed for the toll.
Traffic behind you is arriving at highway speed and does not expect a stopped car, so stopping trades a bill for a rear-end crash.
On the test
When may a driver use a marked bicycle lane?
When it is necessary in order to turn. The lane is the only space a rider has, and a car sitting in it forces the rider out into traffic to get around.
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/