Rules of the road theory test questions

67 questions in this topic

The core of the Highway Code. What the limits are on each type of road, who has priority at junctions and roundabouts, where you may and may not park or stop.

A lot of it is knowing the default rather than looking for a sign. Not every road tells you its limit, and the question is often whether you know what it is when nothing says so.

Practise rules of the road

Questions come from the DVSA revision question bank, used under licence. You will not see whether an answer is right until you have committed to one, which is the point. A sample of every topic is free and needs no account.

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The defaults you are expected to know

Much of driving is reading signs, but a surprising amount of it is knowing what applies when there is no sign at all. Nobody puts a speed limit sign on every street, marks every place you cannot park, or explains who should go first at every junction. This topic covers the background rules that fill those gaps.

Speed limits without a sign

On a road with street lights, expect 30mph if nothing says different, and in Wales most of those roads dropped to 20mph in 2023. Away from built-up areas the national limit takes over: 60mph for a car where there is no central reservation, and 70mph where there is one or on a motorway. Those are maximums, not targets. A narrow country lane with a national speed limit sign is not an invitation to drive at sixty.

Priority

Most junctions are marked, but priority still confuses people. Roundabouts normally work by letting traffic already circling, which reaches you from the right, go first. Where a road narrows because of parked cars on your side, the oncoming driver generally has the right to come through first. At an unmarked crossroads nobody has priority, which is the reason to arrive slowly, looking both ways, prepared to pull up. The Highway Code is clear that you should never insist on your right of way if it would cause a collision.

Parking and stopping

There are more places you must not stop than most drivers realise: on the zigzags by a crossing, opposite or close to a junction, in a marked bus stop, in a cycle lane during its hours, or across a dropped kerb. Parking on the pavement is banned throughout London and in Scotland, and causing an obstruction is an offence anywhere. A good test is whether your car makes life harder for a wheelchair user, a pram, a bus or an emergency vehicle.

Reversing and turning

Turning in the road, reversing round a corner and finding your way through one-way systems each come with their own rules about where and how. They are less glamorous than speed limits but come up in real driving most days.

In the test

Learn the default rules properly rather than relying on memory of a sign. Many questions describe a road and ask what applies when nothing tells you.

How this topic appears in the real test

The car theory test is 50 multiple choice questions in 57 minutes, and you need 43 correct to pass. The questions are drawn from every topic, so you cannot skip one and hope. There is a hazard perception part as well, and you have to pass both on the same day.

These are revision questions rather than the questions you will be asked on the day.