Virginia DMV Permit Practice Test 32
- Questions40
- Correct to pass34
- Passing score85%
- Minimum age15 years 6 months
-
1. A yellow horizontal rectangular sign showing one large arrow pointing left or right, facing traffic on the far side of a sharp bend, tells the driver
Show answer
Answer C: which way the roadway turns at that point
The large arrow sign is mounted on the outside of a sharp change in alignment so that a driver approaching head on immediately sees which way the road goes.
-
2. A regulatory message is normally carried on a sign whose shape is
Show answer
Answer A: a rectangle standing taller than it is wide
Regulatory signs that state a law, such as speed limits and turn restrictions, use a vertical rectangle with a black legend on a white background.
-
3. A large X with the letters R and R beside it is painted across your lane. What does it mean?
Show answer
Answer A: A railroad crossing lies a short distance ahead
The pavement marking repeats the advance warning for a grade crossing, and it is used on paved approaches where speeds are high or where gates are installed.
-
4. The rear of your vehicle begins to slide sideways on a slippery surface. What is the correct correction?
Show answer
Answer C: Ease off the accelerator and steer in the direction you want the front of the vehicle to go
Looking and steering toward your intended path lines the front wheels up with the direction of travel, while sudden braking or a sharp opposite input usually makes the slide worse.
-
5. How does alcohol typically affect a driver's vision?
Show answer
Answer D: It blurs vision, weakens night vision and narrows attention to the sides
Alcohol slows the eye muscles and the brain's processing of what is seen, degrading focus, night vision, depth perception and awareness of movement at the edges of the field of view.
-
6. You are ready to pull out of a parallel parking space into the traffic lane. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer C: Signal, check the mirror and blind spot, and wait for a gap
A driver leaving a parking space must yield to traffic already in the lane, so signal, look for the gap and only then move out.
-
7. Red pavement markings are used on a roadway to show that
Show answer
Answer A: it must not be entered from that direction
Red markings identify a roadway that is not to be entered or used, and they also mark the pavement of truck escape ramps.
-
8. You realize you have turned the wrong way onto a one-way street. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer A: Pull to the right, stop, and back into the street you came from when clear
Get out of the traffic stream first: pull right and stop, then back out into the street you came from once you can see it is safe.
-
9. A black on white regulatory sign at an intersection reads NO TURNS. What may a driver do there?
Show answer
Answer B: Only continue straight through the intersection
The NO TURNS sign bans turns in every direction at that intersection, so the only lawful movement from that approach is straight through.
-
10. A school crossing guard has returned to the curb but two children are still walking across the road. When may you go?
Show answer
Answer C: Only after the children have reached the far sidewalk
The guard leaving the road does not end your duty; you stay stopped until every child is clear of the roadway.
-
11. Your light turns green, but a vehicle is still in the middle of the intersection. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer D: Wait until the intersection is clear before you move ahead
A green light means go only when the way is clear. Drivers already inside the intersection must be allowed to finish crossing.
-
12. In Virginia, what type of license carries the curfew and passenger restrictions discussed in the graduated licensing rules?
Show answer
Answer C: A provisional driver's license, which by definition is held by a driver under 18
Virginia's curfew and passenger restrictions attach to the provisional driver's license, the license type issued to a driver who is under 18.
-
13. A bicyclist is riding around a single-lane roundabout in the middle of the lane as you wait to enter. What is your duty?
Show answer
Answer C: Yield to the bicyclist just as you would to a car
A bicyclist using the roundabout is traffic like any other vehicle and has the same claim to the circulating lane.
-
14. You are entering a marked school zone during the posted hours. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer A: Slow to the school zone limit and watch for children
The school zone limit applies throughout the posted hours, whether or not you can see any children at that moment.
-
15. Where is the safest place for children under 13 to ride?
Show answer
Answer C: In the back seat
The back seat keeps children away from the force of a deploying front air bag and is farther from the most common impact area, which is why it is recommended through at least age 12.
-
16. An officer directing traffic faces you and holds one hand up with the open palm toward your vehicle. What does the gesture mean?
Show answer
Answer D: Stop before reaching the officer
A raised open palm shown toward a driver is the standard signal to stop.
-
17. You are making a U-turn at a signal on a green left arrow. Who must you still watch for?
Show answer
Answer D: People in the crosswalk you will cross as you come around
Even a protected arrow does not clear the crosswalk, and a U-turn sweeps across a crosswalk that pedestrians may already be using.
-
18. Why is repeatedly changing lanes to work through heavy traffic a poor idea?
Show answer
Answer A: It raises the crash risk and saves almost no time
Each lane change adds a conflict with another vehicle, and in congestion the lanes move at similar average speeds, so the gain is negligible.
-
19. What penalty applies in Virginia to intentionally impeding or disrupting a funeral procession that is under police or sheriff escort?
Show answer
Answer D: A traffic infraction that carries four demerit points on the offender's driving record
Virginia treats intentionally impeding or disrupting an escorted funeral procession as a traffic infraction, and a conviction carries four demerit points against the offender's driving record.
-
20. A pedestrian has stepped into a crosswalk at an intersection ahead of you. What is your obligation?
Show answer
Answer C: Yield and let the pedestrian finish crossing before you proceed
Drivers must yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk, and an intersection has a legal crosswalk whether or not lines are painted on the pavement.
-
21. A driver who is passing you cannot complete the pass because a vehicle is coming. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer C: Ease off the accelerator and make room for them to drop back in
The only place for the passing vehicle to go is the gap behind you, and easing off opens that gap immediately.
-
22. Visibility drops suddenly and you decide to leave the highway. What is the safest way to do it?
Show answer
Answer A: Take the next exit or a wide pull off, well clear of the traffic lanes
Get right off the traveled way, and off the shoulder too if you can, because vehicles in poor visibility often drift onto the shoulder.
-
23. What is the correct first step when parallel parking behind an empty space?
Show answer
Answer D: Signal, pull up alongside the vehicle in front of the space, then back slowly into it
Parallel parking is done in reverse from a position alongside the vehicle ahead of the space, because backing in lets the rear wheels guide the vehicle to the curb.
-
24. A wide crosswalk you are turning across has a refuge island in the middle. What should you assume about people standing on it?
Show answer
Answer D: They may step off the island into your path at any moment
An island is a pause in a crossing, not the end of one, so treat anyone on it as a pedestrian who is still crossing.
-
25. You are parking facing downhill on a street with a curb. Which way should the front wheels point?
Show answer
Answer A: Toward the curb, so the vehicle would roll into it if it moved
Turning the wheels toward the curb when facing downhill means a vehicle that starts to roll is stopped by the curb instead of entering the traffic lane.
-
26. Why should you not switch the engine off while the vehicle is still moving fast?
Show answer
Answer B: You lose power steering and the steering may lock
With the engine off the steering becomes very heavy and on many vehicles the column can lock, so shift to neutral first and only shut down once stopped.
-
27. A curb lane is marked BUS ONLY 7 AM TO 9 AM. What may the driver of a car do?
Show answer
Answer A: Use the lane outside those hours
A part-time bus lane is reserved only during the posted period, and outside it the lane serves general traffic like any other.
-
28. Which clue tells you that a parked vehicle is about to pull into traffic?
Show answer
Answer D: Exhaust smoke, brake lights, front wheels turned out or a driver in the seat
A running engine, lit brake lights, turned wheels or a person behind the wheel all mean the vehicle may move. Slow down and give it room.
-
29. What should you check on the hitch before towing a trailer?
Show answer
Answer B: That the coupler is locked and the safety chains are crossed underneath
The coupler must be latched and pinned, and the chains crossed under the tongue so they cradle it if the coupling lets go.
-
30. Your right-turn lane shows a green arrow while the through lanes face a red ball. What does that mean?
Show answer
Answer C: Only the right turn is allowed, and it is protected while the arrow lasts
A green arrow gives a protected movement in that direction only; the red ball still stops the through traffic in the other lanes.
-
31. A white arrow painted in your lane points only to the right, and a sign above the lane shows the same movement. What must you do?
Show answer
Answer C: Turn right from that lane
Pavement arrows used with lane-use signs are regulatory, so a driver occupying that lane must make the movement shown.
-
32. A pedestrian is crossing at a corner where no crosswalk is painted on the pavement. What is your duty?
Show answer
Answer A: Yield, because a legal crosswalk exists at the corner even without paint
Every intersection has a crosswalk whether or not it is marked, and drivers must yield to pedestrians crossing there.
-
33. A driver ahead brakes for no reason you can see, again and again. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer B: Increase your following distance and be ready for yet another stop
Unexplained braking tells you the driver is unsure or distracted, so the safe answer is more room, not less.
-
34. You find that the road surface has turned to sheet ice. What speed is appropriate?
Show answer
Answer A: A crawl, slow enough that you could stop without braking hard
Ice can cut grip to a fraction of normal, so stopping takes many times the usual distance and only a crawl leaves any margin.
-
35. Blue pavement markings are used together with white markings at
Show answer
Answer D: parking spaces reserved for people with disabilities
Blue supplements the white markings of accessible parking spaces, which is the only assignment blue has on the pavement.
-
36. A child seat was in the car during a moderate crash. What should be done with it?
Show answer
Answer A: Replace it, because a seat that has been through a crash may be weakened
Crash forces can damage a seat in ways you cannot see, so a seat involved in anything but the mildest crash is replaced.
-
37. A raised area crosses the roadway and carries a series of white markings on its face. What are those markings for?
Show answer
Answer A: To make the hump visible so drivers slow for it
Speed hump markings warn drivers that the pavement rises, which matters most at night or when the hump is in shadow.
-
38. You reach the end of the acceleration lane and there is still no gap in the traffic. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer B: Slow down and merge behind the traffic rather than forcing your way in
Merging behind the traffic costs you only a little speed, while forcing into a space that is not there puts you alongside a vehicle with nowhere to go.
-
39. What must you do before changing lanes, in addition to signaling and checking your mirrors?
Show answer
Answer D: Glance over your shoulder to check the blind spot the mirrors do not cover
Mirrors leave an area beside and behind the vehicle that they cannot show, so a quick head check is needed before the vehicle moves sideways.
-
40. The green left-turn arrow ends and a steady red ball comes on for your lane, at an intersection where no turn on red is allowed. What must you do?
Show answer
Answer D: Stop and wait, because no turn is allowed while the red ball is lit
Once a red indication faces your lane and no turn on red is permitted there, the turn is over; only a vehicle already inside the intersection completes its movement.