Highway driving — Massachusetts Permit Test

You must yield the right-of-way to drivers already on the highway when you enter it.

The traffic on the highway cannot see the whole ramp and cannot stop for it. Fitting into a gap is the merging driver's job.

Yield the right-of-way to drivers already on the highway.

When entering a highway, increase your speed to match vehicles already on the road.

Joining slowly forces everybody behind to brake. Matching the speed is what makes the gap usable.

When you enter a highway, increase your speed to match vehicles already on the road.

Signal your exit at least 500 feet before you reach the exit ramp.

Five hundred feet is the warning the traffic behind needs before you start slowing. Signaling at the ramp is signaling too late.

Be sure to signal your exit at least 500 feet before you reach the exit ramp.

If you miss your exit, do not stop and never back up on the highway; leave at the next exit instead.

Reversing on a highway puts you against traffic doing sixty. Missing an exit costs minutes and nothing else.

If you miss your exit, do not stop. Never back up on the highway.

On an expressway with three or more lanes in your direction, use the far right lane for slower driving, the middle for faster, and the far left for passing.

Three lanes means three jobs. Passing in the middle lane is how a road that could work smoothly stops working.

On an expressway with three or more lanes in your direction, use the far right lane for slower driving, the middle lane for faster driving, and the far left lane for passing.

Do not drive in another driver's blind spot.

Sitting alongside somebody who cannot see you means they will change lanes into you eventually. Nothing about your driving warns them.

Do not drive in another driver’s blind spot.

If you plan to drive far, stop and stretch every two hours or every 100 miles.

Highway hypnosis creeps up on a driver who has not moved for hours. The break is what resets it.

If you plan to drive far, stop and stretch every two hours or every 100 miles.

If your vehicle breaks down on a highway, move it as far from the travel lane as you can, stay in the vehicle, and do not stand near the travel lane.

Many people have been killed standing beside a broken-down car. The safest place is inside it with the belt on.

Stay in your vehicle. Do not stand near the travel lane or in the breakdown lane.

Take extra care exiting a highway that uses breakdown lanes as travel lanes, and check your right-hand blind spot before exiting.

Traffic can be moving in the lane you are about to cross into. On an ordinary highway there would be nothing there.

Look to your right and check your right-hand blind spot before exiting.

Avoid highway hypnosis: if you have been driving a long time and feel tired, get off at the next exit, rest stop, or service area.

The road stops registering after hours of the same view. Getting off is the only thing that fixes it.

If you've been driving for a long time and feel tired, you should get off the highway at the next exit, rest stop, or service area.

A divided highway has separate roadways for traffic in opposite directions, and highway speed limits are usually between 45 and 65 mph.

Separate roadways are what make a highway divided. Nothing coming the other way can cross into your lane.

Highway speed limits are usually between 45 to 65 mph.

Who has the right-of-way when a driver enters a highway?

Drivers already on the highway. The traffic on the highway cannot see the whole ramp and cannot stop for it. Fitting into a gap is the merging driver's job. Massachusetts Driver's Manual, p.95: “Yield the right-of-way to drivers already on the highway.”