Washington State road tests are administered by the Department of Licensing (DOL). You need 50 supervised hours before testing — 10 at night. The permit must be held for 6 months.

What the test covers

Washington road tests run on public streets near the DOL location. Tests typically run 15-20 minutes.

Skills tested:

Intersection navigation
Left and right turns
Stopping at signs and signals
Lane changes
Parallel parking
Backing
Speed and following distance
Mirror and observation habits

Washington tests parallel parking.

What gets people failed

Not stopping fully. Complete stop at every stop sign. Rolling through is the most common failure in Washington state road tests.

Parallel parking. Hitting cones, mounting the curb, or ending up far from the curb are common failures. Washington allows a limited number of attempts.

Not checking blind spots. Signal, mirror check, head turn, then move. Examiners watch for the head turn on every lane change. Missing it is a deduction.

Right-of-way errors. Washington roads include a lot of four-way stops and uncontrolled intersections. Who goes first at an all-way stop is tested. The rules: first to arrive goes first; if simultaneous, yield to the right.

Speed. Washington residential default is 25 mph. Exceeding it on test day costs points.

Weather conditions in Washington

Washington’s weather varies significantly by region. Western Washington (Seattle area) sees a lot of rain. Eastern Washington is drier. If you’re testing in the Seattle area, make sure you’ve practiced driving in rain before test day. Wet roads affect stopping distance, and new drivers who haven’t driven in rain are at a disadvantage.

Before the test

Bring:

Valid Washington learner’s permit
Driving log showing 50 hours (10 night)
Vehicle registration and current insurance
Parent or guardian if under 18

Tracking your hours

Washington night hours use sunset-to-sunrise. Seattle sunset in December is around 4:20 PM — one of the earliest in the contiguous US. Winter evening drives start counting as night very early in the season.

Moda tracks Washington hours using your location’s exact sunset. Download on the App Store

Full Washington permit requirements: Washington permit hours

Stop manually tracking hours. Moda logs driving automatically.

Auto-detects night driving, exports DMV forms, and syncs across family phones.