Testing, License Types and Other Important Information: The Two-Part Knowledge Exam, the Road Skills Test, Vision Standards, Learner's Permits and Licenses, Receiving Your License, New Residents, Titles and Plates, Inspections, Insurance, Voter Registration and Organ Donation
Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Virginia driver's license knowledge exam. The facts follow the official manual; the wording is ours.
Source: Virginia Driver's Manual (DMV 39, 2026 printing), Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, section 1 "Testing" (pp. 3–4), section 6 "License Types" (pp. 31–32) and section 7 "Other Important Information" (pp. 33–34).
The tests
Every applicant takes a vision screening and may take a two-part knowledge exam and a road skills test; a DMV representative says which. You need the knowledge exam unless you hold a valid license from another U.S. state, Canada, Germany, France or South Korea. The exam is given on a computer and drawn from this manual: part one is ten traffic sign questions and you must answer all ten correctly before starting part two, general multiple-choice questions that require 80 percent. The exam may be taken only once per business day; an audio version exists and it is offered in many languages and American Sign Language, so translators are not allowed for offered languages. Applicants under 18 who fail must wait a full 15 days to retake it (fail on January 1, retake no sooner than January 17). After three failures you cannot try a fourth time until you complete the classroom part of driver education, or an approved 8-hour course based on the manual, taken at a driving school or online after the third failure (under 18, only if you already completed the classroom component). During the exam you may not get help, help anyone, seek or share questions, or use a cell phone; a sample exam is in section 8. Customers with special needs should tell DMV staff.
You need the road skills test unless you hold a valid license from another state, Canada, Germany, France, South Korea or Taiwan. You supply the vehicle (no autocycles) with a valid inspection sticker, plates, registration and decals, and working brakes, belts, horn, lights, signals, mirrors and speedometer. The examiner requires either a driver education certificate or a completed behind-the-wheel checklist (CSMA 19) certified by a licensed driver who practiced with you. Under 18, the road test is part of the driver education course at a public, private or commercial school (home-schooled students see form HS 3). At 18 or older, hold the learner's permit 60 days before the first road test, or complete approved driver education, in which case the school gives the test; otherwise DMV staff do. The test is once per business day; after a failure wait two days; after three failures at DMV, complete the in-vehicle part of driver education before a fourth try.
The vision screening is a machine test, not a medical exam; failing it may send you to an eye-care professional. If you need glasses or contacts, you must wear them to drive and your license shows a C restriction, removed after laser surgery by passing the screening unaided or filing a Vision Screening Report (MED 4). Unrestricted license: 20/40 or better in one or both eyes and 110 degrees of horizontal vision. Daylight only license: 20/70 or better and 70 degrees (with one eye, at least 30 degrees toward the nose and 40 toward the temple); it allows driving from a half-hour after sunrise to a half-hour before sunset. Bioptic telescopic lens wearers follow publication MED 44.
License types
Always carry a valid license or permit; misusing one brings fines, jail or suspension. A learner's permit lets you drive with a licensed driver at least 21 in the front passenger seat, alert and able to help; the supervisor may be 18, 19 or 20 if they are your legal guardian, brother, sister, half-sibling or step-sibling. At 19 or older you must hold the permit 60 days or present a driver education certificate to apply for a license (see Parents in the Driver's Seat, DMV 16). A driver's license covers any vehicle or small truck under 26,001 pounds exempt from CDL rules (DMV 141). A CDL covers tractor-trailers, passenger buses, tank vehicles, school buses for 16 or more occupants including the driver, and hazardous materials (DMV 60V and 60A). A school bus built for 15 occupants including the driver needs no CDL, only the commercial driver and school bus tests for an endorsement, with the 15-occupant restriction printed on the license. An international driver's license is not a license at all, only a translation for travel abroad, issued by AAA (not to suspended or revoked drivers); visitors may drive on their home-country license with a translation; internet-marketed "international licenses" are invalid, and selling any fake license document is a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Other important information
Your license arrives by mail; for security, customer service centers do not issue them. Notify DMV of a move within 30 days, since the Postal Service will not forward a license. A new resident who drives must get a Virginia license within 60 days and must title and register the vehicle and get plates within 30 days. Plates go on the front and rear with month-and-year decals in the designated spots (except permanent plates); carry the registration card while driving, and register locally if your city or county requires it. Every vehicle passes an annual safety inspection and shows the sticker; some localities also require an emissions inspection. Check tires monthly and before trips with the penny test (if any part of Lincoln's head is covered, the tread is safe) and check pressure with a gauge against the manual or driver's door jamb.
To register and get plates you must carry liability insurance from an authorized company or pay the $500 uninsured motor vehicle fee, which buys no coverage but allows one year of registration. Minimum coverage for policies since January 1, 2022: $30,000 for injury or death of one person, $60,000 for two or more, and $20,000 property damage (earlier policies $25,000, $50,000 and $20,000). Keep the vehicle insured for the whole registration period even if it sits unused, and return the plates and cancel the registration before canceling insurance. Caught uninsured without paying the fee, your privilege is suspended until you pay a $600 noncompliance fee (or join a payment plan) and your insurer files a certificate of coverage, kept on file for three years. Insurers may rate a household by every driving-age member's record.
At any DMV office you may apply to register to vote if you are a U.S. citizen, a Virginia resident and 18 by the next general election, with voting rights restored by a circuit court after a felony or incompetency finding. Checking yes for organ, eye and tissue donation on the application is honored at 18 or older; under 18, parents or guardians make the final decision, so share your wishes.
Practise this with Virginia Driver License questions
More of this guide
Red, yellow and green lights and arrows, right and left turns on red, red arrows, flashing signals, dark signals as all-way stops, lane use signals, pedestrian hybrid beacons, sign colors and shapes, regulatory and warning signs, railroad crossings and crossbucks, work zone devices and fines, yellow and white line rules, two-way left-turn lanes, sharrows, bike lanes and bike boxes, HOV lanes, toll plazas and painted curbs.
Hands at 8 and 4, the 25, 35 and 55 mph limits, reckless driving at 20 over or 85 mph, the radar detector ban, when you must stop, the school bus rule and median exception, perception, reaction and braking distance, who yields to whom, funeral processions and convoys, the Move Over law and 500-foot rules, roundabouts, passing rules and the three-foot bicycle law, over-correcting, right and left turns, U-turns, hand signals, the two-, three- and four-second rule, searching 20 to 30 seconds ahead and blind spots.
Pedestrians, blind pedestrians and the crosswalk laws, bicyclists in the lane and the three-foot rule, looking twice for motorcycles, light rail, low-speed vehicles, truck No-Zones and 65-foot rigs, trailers, backing, the no-parking list and hill parking, headlights at 500 feet and with wipers, high and low beams, fog, rain, snow and ice, aggressive driving suspensions, the hand-held phone ban, drowsy driving, the .08 and .02 limits, drugs and marijuana, crash duties and the $3,000 report, deer crashes and what to do when police stop you.
The all-seat belt law, air bag distance and tilt, rear-facing to age 2 and child seats to 8, the $50 and $500 fines, pickup beds, booster criteria, suspension versus revocation, offenses that cost the license, demerit points and the 12-, 18- and 24-point thresholds, teen driver improvement rules, medical review, the uninsured fee, child support suspensions, implied consent, administrative license suspensions of 7 and 60 days, open containers, DUI with a child, impoundment, restitution and underage alcohol penalties.