Regulatory signs — West Virginia Permit Test

Regulatory signs 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

A speed limit sign shows the fastest speed permitted under good weather and road conditions.

The posted number assumes good weather and a dry road, which makes it a ceiling rather than a target.

This sign forbids passing another vehicle on this stretch of road.

Passing here means crossing into oncoming traffic on a stretch where the view ahead runs out first.

This sign directs a driver to keep to the right of an obstruction or divider.

A divider exists because the two streams of traffic must not mix, and passing it on the wrong side puts a driver into one of them.

This sign prohibits a right turn at the intersection it faces.

The turn is banned because of something a driver cannot see from the stop line, such as a one-way street or a hidden crossing.

This sign prohibits a left turn at the intersection it faces.

A left turn crosses the oncoming stream, and it is banned where there is not enough gap or sight distance to judge it.

This sign prohibits turning around to travel in the opposite direction.

Turning around leaves a vehicle stopped and sideways across the road, which is why it is banned where the view is short.

This sign shows that traffic on the street may travel in one direction only.

Entering a one-way street against the flow puts a driver into traffic that has no reason to expect them.

This sign warns that a driver is facing a roadway they may not enter.

The sign marks a roadway carrying traffic toward the driver, so entering it means meeting that traffic head-on.

This sign warns a driver who has entered a roadway traveling against the flow of traffic.

This is the last warning before a head-on collision, placed where a driver can still stop and back out of it.

This sign removes the permission to turn after stopping at a signal showing stop.

The turn is taken away where a driver cannot see the crossing traffic or the crosswalk well enough to judge it.

On the test

What does this sign tell a driver?

The fastest speed allowed in good conditions. The posted number assumes good weather and a dry road, which makes it a ceiling rather than a target.

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.

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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.