Under 18 restrictions — Maine Permit Test
Under 18 restrictions on the Maine permit test — 6 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
A Maine driver under 18 may not drive while using a mobile phone or handheld electronic device.
A new driver glancing at a phone misses the brake lights ahead.
A person under 18 years of age who has been issued a Maine driver's license may not:
A Maine driver under 18 may not drive between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m.
Late-night roads have more tired and drunk drivers, and a new driver is least able to cope with them.
A person under 18 years of age who has been issued a Maine driver's license may not:
A Maine driver under 18 may not carry passengers other than immediate family unless a licensed driver at least 20 years old, licensed 2 years, sits beside them.
A car full of friends pulls a new driver's eyes and mind off the road.
A person under 18 years of age who has been issued a Maine driver's license may not:
Under Maine's under-18 passenger rule, immediate family includes grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters and their step relations, children and a spouse.
A teen who guesses wrong about who counts as family can lose the license over one ride.
Immediate family member means grandparent, step grandparent, parent, stepparent, brother, stepbrother, sister, stepsister, child, stepchild, spouse, analogous family members as may be connected via the operation of a family foster home and when living with the immediate family, foreign exchange students, court appointed wards of an immediate family member and a child whose parent is deployed for military service and is under the guardianship of an immediate family member.
Maine's under-18 restrictions last 270 days from when the road test was passed.
A teen who thinks the limits end at once may drive friends home at midnight a week after the test.
These restrictions are in effect for a period of 270 days from when road test was passed.
In Maine, breaking an under-18 restriction brings a license suspension and a 270-day extension of the restrictions, which may run past the 18th birthday.
A teen who expects only a warning may risk a late-night drive and lose the license.
Any violation of the conditions of these restrictions will result in a license suspension and a 270-day extension of the restrictions which may extend beyond the 18th birthday.
On the test
What may a newly licensed Maine driver under 18 not do while driving?
Use a mobile phone or handheld device. A new driver glancing at a phone misses the brake lights ahead. Maine Driver’s License Manual, p.9: “A person under 18 years of age who has been issued a Maine driver's license may not:”
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 Maine Driver’s License Manual, published by the Maine Secretary of State, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-05.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/ME.pdf (Maine Driver’s License Manual, Rev 4/24, Maine Secretary of State, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/ME.pages.txt (scripts/me-text.sh: plain pdftotext except physical 82, which is -layout; the fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/ME-exam.html (Maine BMV, Drivers License Exam page, https://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/driver-licenses-and-ids/car-license/drivers-license-exam, read 2026-10-04; states both exam figures; sha256 pinned under examSource)
- https://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/driver-licenses-and-ids/car-license/driver-license-manual-and-Maine-motorist-handbook-and-study-guide (read 2026-10-04; links the manual)