Looking behind — Maine Permit Test

Looking behind on the Maine permit test — 4 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

Check your mirror for traffic behind you often, every 6 to 8 seconds.

A driver who never glances back learns about the tailgater only when he is hit.

Check your mirror often for traffic behind you - every 6 to 8 seconds.

Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.77

Look in your mirrors quickly before you slow down or stop, and especially before you slow down suddenly.

If you brake hard without looking, the car close behind you may not stop in time.

Look in the mirrors quickly before you slow down or stop. It is very important to do this when you slow down suddenly.

Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.78

Check behind before slowing for something in the road the driver behind you cannot see, such as a car stalled just around a corner.

The driver behind sees only your brake lights and has no reason to expect a sudden stop.

When you slow down for something in the road ahead that the driver behind you cannot see (for example, you come around a corner and see a car stalled in the middle of the road).

Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.78

Check behind before slowing to turn into a side road or driveway just before a large intersection, because the driver behind will not expect you to slow there.

The driver behind is watching the big intersection ahead, not your early slowdown.

When you are preparing to turn into a side road or driveway. (When the turn is just before a large intersection, a driver behind will not expect you to slow down where you do and may be too close behind)

Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.78

On the test

How often should you check your mirror for traffic behind you?

Every 6 to 8 seconds. A driver who never glances back learns about the tailgater only when he is hit. Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.77: “Check your mirror often for traffic behind you - every 6 to 8 seconds.”

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.

All Maine permit topics

Where these come from

Every rule here is checked against Maine Driver’s License Manual, published by the Maine Secretary of State, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-05.