Regulatory signs — Maryland Permit Test
Regulatory signs on the Maryland permit test — 13 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
The stop sign is the only eight-sided sign on the road. Stop at the stop line; with no stop line, stop before the crosswalk; with neither, stop before entering the intersection.
The crosswalk is where somebody is already walking, so the stop has to happen before it.
You must make a complete stop at the stop line. • If there is no stop line, stop before entering a crosswalk.
At a stop sign you must yield to vehicles and people already in the intersection and stay stopped until it is safe to enter and continue through.
The full stop is the moment you get to look; a rolling stop spends it.
You must yield to vehicles and pedestrians in the intersection; and remain stopped until it is safe to enter and continue through the intersection.
The yield sign is the only sign of its shape. Slow down as you reach it, look left and right, and yield to people walking, to bicycles and to vehicles before going on.
Yielding means fitting into a gap, and a gap cannot be judged at full speed.
Slow down as you come to a yield sign. Look to the left and the right. Yield to pedestrians, bicycles, and vehicles.
A speed limit sign tells you the maximum speed limit for the part of the road where it is posted.
The posted number assumes ideal conditions, which is often not the road you are on.
This sign tells you the maximum speed limit for the part of the road where it is posted.
A no right turn sign means a right turn is not allowed at that place.
The turn is banned where the road it leads into cannot take the traffic safely.
No Right Turn
A no U-turn sign means you may not turn around to go back the way you came at that place.
A U-turn crosses every lane at once, and nobody coming is expecting it.
No U-Turn
A do not enter sign means you may not drive into that road from where you are.
Everything past it is coming at you, at full speed and not expecting you.
Do Not Enter
A wrong way sign means you are already heading against the traffic on that road.
You will meet cars head-on, and every second closes the gap faster than either driver can react.
Wrong Way
A no turn on red sign means you may not turn while the signal is showing stop, even where a turn on red would otherwise be allowed.
These go up where a turning driver cannot see somebody stepping off the curb in time.
No Turn on Red
A do not pass sign means you may not pass other vehicles along that stretch of road.
It goes up where you cannot see far enough ahead to know the other lane is empty.
Do Not Pass
A stay to the right of median sign tells you which side of a divider you belong on.
Something solid sits in the road, and taking the wrong side of it means meeting traffic head-on.
Stay to the Right of Median
A one way sign means traffic can only go in the direction of the arrow.
Turning against it puts you head-on into every car on the street.
Traffic can only go in the direction of the arrow.
A no left turn sign means a left turn is not allowed at that place.
The picture inside the circle is the movement being taken away, so one glance is enough.
No Left Turn
On the test
Where must you stop at this sign when there is no stop line?
Before the crosswalk. The crosswalk is where somebody is already walking, so the stop has to happen before it. Maryland Driver's Manual, p.21: “You must make a complete stop at the stop line. • If there is no stop line, stop before entering a crosswalk.”
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.
What it costs
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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.