Virginia Default Speed Limits
Default speed limits where no sign is posted: residential, urban, rural, school zones, and interstate maximums.
- Residential default (mph)
-
25
Source: Virginia Driver's Manual, Section 3: Safe Driving, Speed Limits, p. 15
- Urban default (mph)
-
25
Source: Virginia Driver's Manual, Section 3: Safe Driving, Speed Limits, p. 15
- Rural default (mph)
-
55
Source: Virginia Driver's Manual, Section 3: Safe Driving, Speed Limits, p. 15
- School zone (mph)
-
25
Source: Virginia Driver's Manual, Section 3: Safe Driving, Speed Limits, p. 15
- Interstate maximum (mph)
-
65
- Turning right (and left) on a red light
-
Right on red is allowed statewide after a full stop, unless a traffic control device prohibits it. You may also turn left on red from a one-way highway onto another one-way highway after a full stop. You may not turn on a steady red arrow unless a device there permits it. Either way, yield to pedestrians in an adjacent crosswalk and to traffic using the intersection. Virginia splits the rule across two sections. Va. Code 46.2-835 allows the right turn: except where a traffic control device is placed prohibiting turns on steady red, traffic facing a steady red circular signal, after coming to a full stop, may cautiously enter the intersection and make a right turn. Va. Code 46.2-836 is the mirror provision for the left turn, and it is the commonly missed half: except where a device prohibits it, traffic facing a steady red circular signal ON A ONE-WAY HIGHWAY, after a full stop, may cautiously enter the intersection and make a left turn ONTO ANOTHER ONE-WAY HIGHWAY. Both sections then flip the default for a steady RED ARROW: facing a red arrow you must remain standing until a signal to proceed is shown, EXCEPT where a traffic control device is placed permitting turns on steady red. Both sections close with the same yielding duty, to pedestrians lawfully within an adjacent crosswalk and to other traffic using the intersection. Prohibitions are by posted device at the intersection; Virginia has no jurisdiction-wide ban comparable to New York City's.
Every Virginia number, ready to print.
Default Speed Limits plus every other Virginia rule we track, bound into a glove-box-sized PDF.
Get the free PDF