Changing lanes and passing — West Virginia Permit Test
Changing lanes and passing on the West Virginia permit test — 10 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Before changing lanes a driver checks the mirrors and then looks over the shoulder to cover the blind spot.
The mirror leaves a gap beside the car exactly the size of the vehicle about to be hit.
A driver should not change lanes in an intersection or at a railroad crossing.
Both are places where a driver needs to be predictable to traffic arriving from another direction.
A driver returning from a pass should signal and move back when the front of the passed vehicle, both its headlights, can be seen in the rear-view mirror.
Cutting back too soon leaves the passed driver braking, which is how a pass becomes a sideswipe.
Passing on the right is not permitted unless there is a lane designated for passing.
Drivers being passed look left, and a vehicle appearing on the right arrives where nobody checked.
Passing is prohibited within 100 feet of an intersection, bridge, viaduct, tunnel, underpass or railroad crossing.
These are the places where the road narrows or another vehicle can appear, leaving nowhere to pull back in.
Passing is prohibited on a curve or hill, or anywhere a driver cannot see oncoming traffic.
A pass needs a clear view of the road you will occupy, and a crest hides exactly that.
Passing is prohibited when the solid yellow line is in your lane.
The line marks a stretch measured as too short to complete a pass safely.
Passing is prohibited when a vehicle in front has stopped at an intersection to let a pedestrian cross.
The stopped vehicle is hiding somebody walking, and pulling around it is how they are struck.
If a driver has to exceed the speed limit to complete a pass, the pass was not necessary.
A pass that needs speeding is a pass that has run out of road, which is when head-on collisions happen.
A driver passing on a two-lane highway should sound the horn to alert the driver ahead, and at night may blink the headlights instead.
The driver being passed may be about to move over for a hazard you cannot see.
On the test
What comes after checking the mirrors before a lane change?
A look over the shoulder at the blind spot. The mirror leaves a gap beside the car exactly the size of the vehicle about to be hit.
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 Division of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-01.
- https://dmv.wv.gov/driver-services/drivers/drivers-licensing-handbooks
- https://webapps.transportation.wv.gov/TWS/DMV/Drivers_Licensing_Handbook.pdf
- https://dmv.wv.gov/graduated-drivers-licensing-gdl
- https://dmv.wv.gov/driver-services/drivers/sample-drivers-test
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-5-2/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-6-1/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-8-8/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-12-2/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-12-7/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-13-3/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-13-4/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-14-9a/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-14-15/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-15-2/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-15-46/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-15-49/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17B-2-3a/
- https://code.wvlegislature.gov/17C-4-6/