Road test at Coney Island, Brooklyn

Despite the name, the Coney Island road test site sits well west of the amusement parks. Cars line up on Bayview Avenue between Neptune Avenue and West 33rd Street, in a quiet residential corner at the western end of Coney Island, bounded by Coney Island Creek and the gates of Sea Gate. Expect a divided road, very narrow two-way blocks lined with parked cars, and a short dead end.

How the Coney Island Road Test Works

The DMV line-up is on Bayview Avenue between Neptune Avenue and West 33rd Street, facing West 33rd Street (Brooklyn, NY 11224). Bayview is a divided road here: test cars wait along the right-hand curb of the northwest-bound roadway, just past the Neptune Avenue junction, with the Kaiser Park ball fields on the right. When you turn in from Neptune, keep right of the median; the other side is marked DO NOT ENTER. Meeting your instructor here? The B36 and B74 buses stop on West 33rd Street, a short walk away.

Arrive up to 15 minutes early: if you are late, you may not be tested. You typically wait in the car for the examiner, who checks your papers and photographs you, your documents, your permit and the car. Only the accompanying licensed driver may come (in our car, that is our instructor), the examiner sits in the front passenger seat, and no recording is allowed, so dash cams stay off. Full document and vehicle rules are on our Brooklyn road test page.

The drive itself usually takes about 10 to 20 minutes on a compact loop, so the elements come quickly; plan extra time for the wait in line. Tests usually finish back at the line-up, and results are posted at roadtestresults.nyrtsscheduler.com after 6 p.m. on test day (see how to check your road test results). In bad weather, check the DMV closings page before you leave.

The Streets Around the Coney Island Line-Up

The area is small and flat, boxed in by Coney Island Creek, the Sea Gate gates and Neptune and Mermaid Avenues, with no ramps or cobblestones. The challenge is how much is packed into a few blocks: narrow two-way streets, a divided road, traffic signals, STOP signs, an all-way stop and an unsigned junction. Here is one loop that tests from this line-up have followed:

1. Bayview Avenue past West 33rd Street, where it curves left and narrows.
2. Left onto West 36th Street.
3. A stop at the unsigned Canal Avenue T-junction, then left into the dead end for a three-point turn.
4. Out of the dead end at its STOP sign, a STOP at West 37th Street, then left.
5. The all-way stop at Neptune Avenue, then left.
6. East on Neptune Avenue and left onto Bayview, right of the median, back to the line-up.

The examiner chooses the route on the day and must include right turns too, so expect variations on nearby blocks.

Never drive through the Sea Gate gates west of West 37th Street: those streets are private.

Maneuvers on the Coney Island Road Test

Statewide, the DMV wants to see at least three left and three right turns, a controlled and an uncontrolled intersection, parallel parking and a three-point turn. Around Bayview Avenue, they look like this:

• Pulling out. Signal left, check the mirror and over your left shoulder, then merge into the single lane without drifting onto the stripes by the median.
• Turns. Signal at least 100 feet ahead, start a left from just right of the center, don't cut corners on these tight blocks, and don't swing wide on rights.
• Controlled intersections. Signals on Neptune Avenue and at the Bayview junction, STOP signs on Canal Avenue, the all-way stop at West 37th Street and Neptune Avenue. Stop at the stop line or before the crosswalk.
• Uncontrolled intersection. West 36th Street at Canal Avenue has no STOP sign for you or for traffic from your right. Slow to a stop, look past the parked cars and yield to traffic from the right.
• Three-point turn. It has been reported in the Canal Avenue dead end, though the examiner can choose another quiet block. Pull right and stop, signal left and check traffic, turn across, back up with the wheel turned fully right while looking back, then pull forward. Use as few moves as you safely can, and when you leave the Canal Avenue dead end, stop fully at its STOP sign.
• Parallel parking. It is on every test, and the examiner picks the spot. Look back through the rear window while reversing and finish with your wheels within one foot of the curb.
• Traffic and controls. Let oncoming buses through on the narrow blocks, and know the wipers, defroster, lights and windows: being unfamiliar with the controls is scored.

Road Signs and Signals Near the Coney Island Test Site

Citywide rules apply too: 25 mph unless posted and a full stop at every STOP sign. At a crosswalk without a working signal, stop and stay stopped until the pedestrian has crossed; people may also legally cross mid-block. Stop at least 20 feet back from a school bus flashing red lights, from either direction.

Common Mistakes at the Coney Island Site

• Turning into the DO NOT ENTER roadway at Bayview and Neptune, especially on the final left turn from Neptune.
• A pull-out without a shoulder check, then too much speed into the West 33rd Street curve.
• Cutting the left into West 36th Street, or hugging parked cars.
• Rolling through the unsigned Canal Avenue junction.
• Rolling past the STOP sign after a good three-point turn.
• Going out of turn at the all-way stop, or waiting there for an instruction.
• Speeding past P.S. 188, or turning across the Neptune Avenue bike lane without looking.

How Coreway Prepares You for the Coney Island Road Test

• Drills outside the test area. Pull-outs beside parked cars, turns onto a divided road, narrow two-way blocks, unsigned T-junctions, all-way stops, dead-end three-point turns and parallel parking, practiced in neighborhoods such as Manhattan Beach, or Gravesend and Bath Beach across Coney Island Creek. Book single driving lessons or a lesson package.
• A practice run of the test on your lessons, checked against the DMV's own categories, with every mistake reviewed.
• A document check. Photo permit, original MV-278 (valid one year from issue), MV-262 if you are under 18, glasses if your permit requires them. Need the certificate? Take our 5-hour course in Brooklyn.
• A warm-up lesson and an easy meet-up. Choose the 45-minute lesson plus car for the road test and drive the same car just before your test, outside the test area. If you book only the car, your instructor meets you about 10 to 15 minutes before your appointment, at a Coreway location or at the line-up.
• A DMV-compliant car. Book our car for the road test in Brooklyn, a well-maintained Toyota Corolla, with our instructor as your accompanying driver. No date yet? We also book appointments, including a rush road test.

No practice in the Coney Island test area

DMV regulations bar learner-permit holders from driving in a designated road test area except to take the test (15 NYCRR §4.1) and bar driving instructors from giving lessons there (15 NYCRR §76.16(c)). The DMV also states that practice driving is not allowed at test sites. Coreway does not run practice drives on these streets, and we ask students not to drive here on their own. Because the DMV publishes no map, we treat everything between Coney Island Creek and Mermaid Avenue, from Sea Gate east to about West 28th Street, as off-limits and come here on test day only.