Backing up — West Virginia Permit Test
Backing up on the West Virginia permit test — 2 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Before backing, check completely around your vehicle for people and obstacles, look to the front, sides and rear, and keep looking to the rear while backing. Do not depend on your mirror.
A mirror shows the view from the driver's seat, and a small child is below it.
It is not advisable to back up in a traffic lane except when backing into a parallel parking space, and you should never back across other traffic lanes or through an intersection.
Nobody behind you expects a car to come backwards at them.
On the test
What must you not depend on when backing up?
Your mirror alone. A mirror shows the view from the driver's seat, and a small child is below it.
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.
All West Virginia permit topics
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against West Virginia Driver's Licensing Handbook, published by the West Virginia Department of Transportation, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-06.