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.
Turn off your engine and radio.
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.
Keep your hands in plain view – on the steering wheel is best.
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.
If the officer issues you a citation, do not argue with the officer about the citation. You will have your chance to make your case if you go to court.
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. Maryland Driver's Manual, p.45: “Turn off your engine and radio.”
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
- One payment, once — not a subscription. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel, for an exam you sit one time.
- Free to start: a 10-question test and the first section of cards. No sign-up and no account.
- Paying opens the rest of the cards, unlimited full-length practice tests, and retests built from exactly the questions you got wrong.
- Every level up to Prepared — 3 tests passed in a row.
- Do the work, fail the real exam, and we refund you.
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.