Parking rules — Massachusetts Permit Test
Parking rules on the Massachusetts permit test — 5 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
You must always leave at least a 12-foot wide clear roadway for traffic to pass when you park.
Twelve feet is one travel lane. Anything narrower blocks the road for everybody behind you.
You must always make sure that you leave at least a 12-foot wide, clear roadway for traffic to pass.
Parking in a business or residential district means your vehicle must be no more than 12 inches from the curb, unless angled parking is allowed.
Twelve inches is a hand span. Further out and the car sticks into the lane traffic uses.
If you park in a business or residential district, your vehicle must be no more than 12 inches from the curb.
When you leave your vehicle by itself, state law requires you to stop the motor, set the parking brake, lock the ignition, remove the key, and lock the door.
Five separate things, and the law asks for all of them. A running car left unlocked is a car that drives off without you.
When you leave your vehicle by itself, state law requires you to stop the motor, set the parking brake, make sure the ignition is locked, remove your key, and lock the door.
When you pull away from a curb you must wait for vehicles in the travel lane to pass, then signal and move slowly into traffic.
You are joining traffic from a standstill, so everything behind is faster than you. Waiting is the first step, not the signal.
When you pull away from the curb, you must wait for vehicles in the travel lane to pass.
You must not create a traffic hazard while parking or while your vehicle is stopped.
A car half in the lane is a hazard even when it is only there for a minute.
You must not create a traffic hazard while parking or while your vehicle is stopped.
On the test
How wide a clear roadway must be left for traffic when parking?
At least 12 feet. Twelve feet is one travel lane. Anything narrower blocks the road for everybody behind you. Massachusetts Driver's Manual, p.109: “You must always make sure that you leave at least a 12-foot wide, clear roadway for traffic to pass.”
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
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Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Massachusetts Driver's Manual, published by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-16.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/MA.pdf (Massachusetts Driver's Manual, Revised April 2026, Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-09-14 from mass.gov)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/MA.pages.txt (pdftotext -layout over that PDF; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/SOURCES.json (sha256, folio offset 8, folioMarker, nonLawPages, signGalleryPages and the extraction flag, each with its measured basis)