Traffic stops — Maryland Permit Test
Traffic stops on the Maryland permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
If an officer stops you, pull off to the side as far from traffic as possible, turn on your flashers, turn off the engine and radio, and roll down your window.
An officer approaching a car needs to hear you, and needs the engine quiet to know it will not move.
Stay in your vehicle with your seat belt fastened, and keep your hands in plain view, on the steering wheel if you can.
The officer cannot tell what a hand out of sight is reaching for.
If the officer issues a citation, do not argue about it: you will have your chance to make your case if you go to court.
The roadside is not where the decision gets made either way.
On the test
What should you turn off when an officer stops you?
The engine and the radio. An officer approaching a car needs to hear you, and needs the engine quiet to know it will not move.
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.