Braking and stopping distance — Wyoming Permit Test
Braking and stopping distance on the Wyoming permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Before braking you must identify a danger, predict what could happen and decide what to do, which takes at least 1 second.
Your car keeps moving at full speed while you think, so that second is road you cover before braking even starts.
PREDICT what could happen, and DECIDE what to do. This takes at least one second.
It takes about 3/4 second to move your foot from the accelerator to the brake.
Even after you decide to stop, the car travels a good distance while your foot moves to the pedal.
It takes about 3/4 second to move your foot from the accelerator to the brake.
A passenger vehicle at 55 mph can typically stop in about half the length of a football field, about 130-140 feet.
Knowing how far a car slides before it stops shows why you need room ahead at highway speed.
A passenger vehicle traveling 55 mph can typically stop in about half the length of a football field (about 130-140 feet).
A heavy vehicle with a loaded trailer usually needs over two-thirds of a football field, about 190-200 feet, to stop.
If you cut in front of a loaded truck and brake, it cannot stop in the space a car could.
A heavy vehicle with a loaded trailer will usually take over two-thirds the length of a football field (about 190-200 feet) to stop.
In heavy traffic, when a truck's brakes may be hot, its stopping distance may double to 1.5 times the length of a football field, 400 feet.
Hot brakes grip less, so a truck in stop-and-go traffic needs far more room than you might guess.
In heavy traffic, when a truck's brakes may be hot, the stopping distance may double to 1.5 times the length of a football field (400 feet).
If you are tired, have been drinking or are not paying attention, your reaction time may be slower, so you may not act on a decision soon enough.
A slow reaction adds road between seeing a danger and braking, which can be the gap between a near miss and a crash.
Finally, you may not be able to execute your decision soon enough because your reaction time may also be slower.
On the test
How long does it take to identify a danger, predict and decide what to do?
At least 1 second. Your car keeps moving at full speed while you think, so that second is road you cover before braking even starts. Wyoming Rules of the Road Driver License Manual, p.49: “PREDICT what could happen, and DECIDE what to do. This takes at least one second.”
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.
What it costs
- One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
- Free to start: a 10-question test and the first section of cards. No sign-up and no account.
- Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
- Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
- Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Wyoming Rules of the Road Driver License Manual, published by the Wyoming Department of Transportation, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/WY.pdf (Wyoming Rules of the Road Driver License Manual, August 2021, Wyoming Department of Transportation, Driver Services Program, retrieved 2026-09-14 and re-checked 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/WY.pages.txt (the plain pdftotext fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/WY-exam.html (045-1 Wyo. Code R. 1-11, WYDOT Rules Chapter 1 Section 11, as reproduced by the Legal Information Institute, retrieved 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json under examSource)
- https://wyoleg.gov/arules/2012/rules/ARR24-032.pdf (the department's 2024 filing of Chapter 1; Section 11(b)(ii): "A minimum grade of 80 percent shall be required to pass the knowledge test.")
- https://www.dot.state.wy.us/home/driver_license_records/driver-license/testing.html (read 2026-10-04; describes the written test, states no count or mark)
- https://www.dot.state.wy.us/home/driver_license_records/formsapplications/driver-manuals.html (read 2026-10-04; links the manual)