Sharing with bicycles and slow vehicles — West Virginia Permit Test
Sharing with bicycles and slow vehicles on the West Virginia permit test — 9 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
When passing a cyclist a driver should slow down, make sure the rider is aware of them, and leave plenty of room.
A cyclist wobbles around a pothole without warning, and the room left is what absorbs it.
Where there is no room to pass a cyclist and traffic is approaching, a driver waits until the oncoming traffic has gone by.
A pass that squeezes between a cyclist and an oncoming car has no space left for a mistake.
A driver meeting an oncoming cyclist at night should dim the headlights.
A dazzled rider cannot see the edge of the road they are trying to hold.
A bicycle ridden after dark must carry a white headlight visible for at least 500 feet to the front and a red reflector on the rear.
A driver has to see a cyclist far enough ahead to change course, which is what the lamp is measured for.
A bicycle must have brakes strong enough to stop one wheel on dry, level, clean pavement, and a bell or other device audible for at least 100 feet.
A cyclist without a warning device has only a shout to keep somebody from stepping out.
Cyclists must obey the same rules of the road as other drivers, ride in the same direction as traffic, and yield to pedestrians.
A cyclist riding against traffic meets drivers who are looking the other way for a gap.
A slow-moving vehicle must display a triangular emblem warning approaching drivers of its low speed.
The closing speed on a tractor doing 15 mph is what surprises a driver at highway speed.
A driver approaching a horse must take every precaution not to frighten it, and should not sound the horn.
A frightened horse moves into the road faster than its rider can prevent.
Animal riders may use most public highways but may not use interstate highways.
Interstate speeds leave no margin for an animal that shies at a passing truck.
On the test
How should a driver pass a cyclist?
Slow down and leave plenty of room. A cyclist wobbles around a pothole without warning, and the room left is what absorbs 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 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/