Night driving — Maryland Permit Test
Night driving on the Maryland permit test — 2 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Do not stare into the headlights of traffic coming toward you: look at the road in front of you, or slightly to the right of your lane.
Looking into oncoming lights causes momentary blindness, and the edge of the road is the one thing still visible.
At night, increase the distance between you and the vehicle in front of you, which helps prevent a crash if it has to stop quickly.
You can only see as far as your headlights reach, so the gap has to cover what you cannot see.
On the test
Where should you look when facing oncoming headlights at night?
At the right edge of your lane. Looking into oncoming lights causes momentary blindness, and the edge of the road is the one thing still visible.
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.