Large trucks and buses — Maryland Permit Test
Large trucks and buses on the Maryland permit test — 9 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
There are four large blind spots around trucks where other vehicles disappear from view. They are called No-Zones.
There is one on each side, one straight ahead over the hood and one behind the trailer.
Trucks and buses have blind spots on both sides. If you cannot see the driver's face in their side mirror, they cannot see you.
The mirror works both ways, so the test is the same in both directions.
Truck and bus drivers need almost twice as much time and room to stop as cars, so do not move in front of one too soon after passing it.
Cutting in and slowing down asks for a stop in a distance the truck does not have.
When passing a truck, move back into its lane only when you can see both of its headlights in your rear-view mirror, and then do not slow down.
Seeing both headlights is the proof you have left the driver enough room.
Never cross behind a truck that is backing up, because truck drivers do not have a rear-view mirror and may not see you cutting in behind them.
A driver reversing a truck is reading mirrors, and no mirror on a trailer points straight back.
A fully loaded truck can weigh more than 80,000 pounds and take the length of a football field to stop.
Weight decides how long a stop takes, and a truck has forty times yours.
Never try to cut in along the right side of a truck at an intersection as the driver begins their turn: you could be caught between the turning truck and the curb.
The truck swings wide to make the turn, and the gap you see is the space it is about to use.
Most cars weigh only 2,000 pounds, against a fully loaded truck at more than 80,000.
Knowing your own weight against a truck's is what makes the stopping distance believable.
A truck's right-side blind spot runs the length of the trailer and extends out three lanes.
Three lanes is wider than most drivers would ever guess, which is why they sit in it.
On the test
How many large blind spots do trucks have?
Four of them. There is one on each side, one straight ahead over the hood and one behind the trailer.
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.
Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Maryland Driver's Manual, published by the Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-06.