DMV Practice Lab · Car practice sample
Maryland printable driving practice
20 questions · Choose one answer for each question. Check your choices against the answer key after you finish.
A short sample of car driving questions. Read the handbook to cover the other topics you need.
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Practice questions
1. Your light turns green while a pedestrian is still lawfully crossing in front of you. What should you do?
- Yield until the pedestrian is clear of your path.
- Start immediately because green gives you absolute priority.
- Sound the horn and drive around the pedestrian.
- Move into the crosswalk so the pedestrian has to stop.
My answer:
2. You want to turn right at a steady circular red light. No sign prohibits the turn. What is required first?
- Slow down without stopping if the lane looks empty.
- Wait for a following driver to sound the horn.
- Enter the crosswalk first and stop only if someone approaches.
- Make the required stop, then yield and turn only when it is safe.
My answer:
3. A traffic signal at an ordinary road intersection flashes red. How should you treat it?
- Stop only if traffic approaches from the right.
- Wait for the flashing light to become a steady green before ever moving.
- Stop, then follow the right-of-way rules that apply after a stop sign.
- Proceed at your normal speed.
My answer:
4. You have stopped at a nonfunctioning signal. A vehicle is still in the intersection. Does your stop alone let you enter?
- Yes, because dark-signal intersections have no right-of-way rules.
- No; you must yield and wait until it is safe to continue.
- Yes; completing the stop gives immediate priority.
- Yes, if you hold your horn.
My answer:
5. A U-turn is otherwise permitted, but an approaching vehicle is close enough to create an immediate danger. What is required?
- Yield before making the U-turn.
- Turn immediately because U-turns have priority.
- Rely on the other vehicle to leave the road.
- Begin the turn and stop across its lane.
My answer:
6. Your turn signal is on, but moving from the shoulder into traffic would force another driver to brake sharply. Should you move?
- Yes; the signal gives you immediate right of way.
- Yes; vehicles already on the road must always stop.
- Yes; shoulder traffic has priority over lane traffic.
- No; the movement must be reasonably safe.
My answer:
7. An obstruction requires you to cross the center of the road. An oncoming vehicle is close and is using its unobstructed side. What must you do?
- Force the approaching driver onto the shoulder.
- Ignore the centerline and enter without checking.
- Yield to the oncoming vehicle before moving around the obstruction.
- Take priority because your lane is blocked.
My answer:
8. No exception allowing a pass on the right applies. How should you overtake a vehicle moving in your direction?
- Drive between the vehicle and the nearest curb.
- Pass to its left with a safe separation.
- Squeeze past on whichever side is narrower.
- Pass on the right regardless of road layout.
My answer:
9. The vehicle ahead is preparing to turn left. Is that fact alone enough to make passing it on the right lawful?
- No; the pass must also be safe and meet the roadway requirements.
- Yes; you may pass regardless of available space.
- Yes; oncoming traffic must clear a path for you.
- No; Maryland never permits passing on the right.
My answer:
10. Your mirror shows a gap in the next lane. What must be established before moving out of your lane?
- Only that the turn signal is blinking.
- That your car is larger than the car behind.
- That you have stayed in the current lane for one mile.
- That the complete lane change can be made safely.
My answer:
11. You enter a two-way left-turn lane for a permitted turn. How far should you drive in it?
- At least half a mile before turning.
- Any distance, once your turn signal is on.
- Only the shortest practicable distance needed for the turn.
- As far as necessary to bypass the traffic queue.
My answer:
12. After entering the intersection for a left turn, what kind of receiving lane must you use?
- A lane reserved exclusively for oncoming turns.
- A lane lawfully available to traffic moving in your new direction.
- Any lane, including an opposing-traffic lane.
- Only the shoulder of the receiving road.
My answer:
13. The posted speed limit is higher than a safe speed for the heavy rain and pedestrian activity ahead. What should guide your speed?
- A reasonable, prudent speed for the actual hazards, below the limit when necessary.
- The posted maximum, regardless of conditions.
- The speed needed to keep the driver behind from being impatient.
- A fixed speed that ignores visibility and roadway conditions.
My answer:
14. On an undivided road, a school vehicle ahead is stopped with alternating red lights. You approach from the opposite direction. How far from its front must you stop?
- At least 5 feet.
- At least 10 feet.
- You do not need to stop when approaching its front.
- At least 20 feet.
My answer:
15. You approach a stopped school vehicle with alternating red lights on a four-lane road that has no separate divided roadways. May you pass because there are four lanes?
- Yes, if you are traveling in the opposite direction.
- Yes, if the lane nearest the school vehicle is empty.
- No; lane count alone does not create the divided-highway exception.
- Yes; four painted lanes always remove the stop requirement.
My answer:
16. At an unsignalized crosswalk without an overpass or tunnel, a pedestrian is approaching your half from the adjacent lane on the opposite half. What must you do?
- Proceed because the pedestrian is not yet directly in front of you.
- Stop rather than waiting for the pedestrian to step into your own lane.
- Keep going until the pedestrian reaches the center of your lane.
- Yield only if the pedestrian runs.
My answer:
17. A blind pedestrian using a guide dog or predominantly white cane is crossing. What right-of-way duty applies to you?
- Yield to the pedestrian.
- Require the pedestrian to wait for every vehicle to pass first.
- Yield only if the cane has a red tip.
- Use the horn to require the pedestrian to retreat.
My answer:
18. A pedestrian begins crossing in the direction of a walking-person signal. What must a turning driver do?
- Assume a turn signal gives the car priority.
- Sound the horn and continue through the pedestrian’s path.
- Yield only after the pedestrian reaches the centerline.
- Give the pedestrian the right of way.
My answer:
19. You notice a child near the road and an obviously confused person beginning to cross. What additional duty does Maryland state?
- Maintain speed because they must watch for you.
- Warn once and then ignore their movements.
- Exercise proper precaution for these vulnerable pedestrians.
- Assume they will respond exactly like attentive adult drivers.
My answer:
20. You are choosing an ordinary parking spot on the approach to a stop sign at the side of the roadway. What clearance does the state rule require?
- The rule applies only after you pass the sign.
- Do not stand or park within 30 feet on that approach.
- Stay only 5 feet from the sign.
- Stay only 10 feet from the sign.
My answer:
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Answer key & explanations
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Maryland · 20-question sample · Mark one correct answer for each question.
1. A — Yield until the pedestrian is clear of your path.
A green signal permits movement, but it does not cancel the duty to yield to people and vehicles lawfully in the intersection or adjoining crosswalk.
2. D — Make the required stop, then yield and turn only when it is safe.
A permitted right turn on red follows a complete stop and yielding to lawful crosswalk users and conflicting traffic. The absence of a prohibition sign does not remove those duties.
3. C — Stop, then follow the right-of-way rules that apply after a stop sign.
A flashing red intersection signal requires a stop. Afterward, proceed under stop-sign rules when it is safe; this provision is not the separate railroad-crossing rule.
4. B — No; you must yield and wait until it is safe to continue.
Stopping is only the first duty. You must also yield to users already in the intersection and keep stopped until your movement can be made safely.
5. A — Yield before making the U-turn.
Permission to make a U-turn does not provide priority over approaching traffic. You must yield when an approaching vehicle is an immediate danger.
6. D — No; the movement must be reasonably safe.
A signal communicates an intention. Maryland separately requires a move from a shoulder or bikeway onto the roadway, or another change of course, to be reasonably safe.
7. C — Yield to the oncoming vehicle before moving around the obstruction.
When an obstruction makes a move left of center necessary, you must yield to traffic properly using the unobstructed side when it is close enough to be an immediate danger.
8. B — Pass to its left with a safe separation.
The normal overtaking rule calls for passing on the left at a safe distance. Separate provisions define when passing on the right is permitted.
9. A — No; the pass must also be safe and meet the roadway requirements.
A vehicle making or preparing a left turn is one situation in which a right-side pass may be allowed, but safety and the restrictions on where you drive still apply.
10. D — That the complete lane change can be made safely.
A vehicle should stay within a single lane as nearly as practicable and must not leave it until the driver has determined that the move is safe. One observation alone may not reveal every conflict.
11. C — Only the shortest practicable distance needed for the turn.
Maryland limits travel in this lane to the shortest practicable distance before the left turn or U-turn, or after a left turn. Entering it is not permission to cruise along it.
12. B — A lane lawfully available to traffic moving in your new direction.
The turn must end in a lawful lane for the direction you are entering. The turning movement does not allow you to leave the intersection facing against traffic.
13. A — A reasonable, prudent speed for the actual hazards, below the limit when necessary.
Maryland’s basic speed rule requires a reasonable and prudent speed for actual and potential dangers, with appropriate reductions for weather, pedestrians and other hazards. The posted maximum is not always a safe target.
14. D — At least 20 feet.
The stopping distance is at least 20 feet from the school vehicle’s front when approaching it from the front. The different-roadway divided-highway exception does not apply to this undivided road.
15. C — No; lane count alone does not create the divided-highway exception.
The exception is for a school vehicle on a different roadway of a divided highway. On the undivided road described, meeting and overtaking drivers must stop as required.
16. B — Stop rather than waiting for the pedestrian to step into your own lane.
The stopping rule also covers a pedestrian approaching from an adjacent lane on the other half. It does not allow waiting until the pedestrian is directly in your vehicle’s path.
17. A — Yield to the pedestrian.
Maryland protects blind and partially blind pedestrians using the specified cane or a guide dog. A red tip is not required on a qualifying white or metallic cane.
18. D — Give the pedestrian the right of way.
A walking-person or Walk indication permits crossing in that direction and requires vehicle drivers to give the crossing pedestrian the right of way.
19. C — Exercise proper precaution for these vulnerable pedestrians.
The law specifically calls for proper precaution when a driver observes a child or an obviously confused or incapacitated individual, alongside the general duty to avoid pedestrians.
20. B — Do not stand or park within 30 feet on that approach.
The 30-foot approach restriction applies to roadside flashing signals, stop signs, yield signs and traffic control signals. It helps keep the control visible and the approach usable.
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