Dangerous Driving Behaviors and Sharing the Road: Alcohol and the .08 Limit, Under-21 Drinking, Open Containers, Drugs and Medications, Driving Impaired With a Child, Aggressive Driving and Road Rage, Distracted Driving and the Hand-Held Phone Ban, Drowsy Driving Danger Signs, Pedestrian Right-of-Way and Crosswalks, Emergency Vehicles, Trucks and Their Four No-Zones, School Buses and the 20-Foot Rule, Motorcycles, Bicycles and the 3-Foot Law, Mopeds and Scooters, Driver Assistance Technologies, and Rules for Bicyclists and Electric Bicycles
Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Maryland MVA knowledge test. The facts follow the official manual; the wording is ours.
Source: Maryland Driver's Manual (MDOT MVA, December 2025), Sections 6 and 7 (pages 33–42) and Section 10.M–N (pages 53–54).
Alcohol and drugs
Maryland treats a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher as driving under the influence, but any amount impairs judgment, coordination, vision and reaction time and can bring criminal charges well below .08. You cannot judge your own BAC by counting drinks, because weight, body fat, when and how much you ate, fatigue, mood and medications all change it. Under 21, drinking any alcohol is illegal; a driver stopped after drinking faces suspension or revocation and a charge of violating the license's alcohol restriction. Driving with an open container of alcohol in the passenger area is illegal: any open can, bottle or package, even a six-pack with open, empty or missing containers, in the seats or anywhere the driver or passengers can reach. Illegal drugs, some prescriptions and inhalants impair alertness, concentration, coordination, reaction time, distance judgment and responses to signals; read label warnings, since driving impaired by a medication that warns against it is a criminal offense, and licenses are suspended or revoked for driving on controlled dangerous substances. A conviction for drunk or drugged driving with a child in the vehicle lets the judge double the fine and jail time. Plan a sober ride before you drink, and expect an ignition interlock after a drunk-driving arrest.
Aggressive, distracted and drowsy driving
Aggressive driving includes speeding, tailgating, ignoring signals and devices, unsafe lane changes, failing to yield and unsafe or illegal passing, often triggered by crowded roads, delays, rushing, construction and stress; allow extra time, be patient and courteous, focus on your own driving, signal, obey the rules, yield, avoid competing, and treat others as you want to be treated. Distracted driving, taking eyes, hands or mind off driving, causes more police-reported crashes than anything else and a third of fatal crashes; examples include programming a GPS, children and pets, loose objects, phones, smoking, eating, radios, makeup, shaving, reading and passengers. Using a hand-held phone, including texting, is illegal while driving; hands-free calls are allowed but should be rare, short, made by a passenger or from a safe stop, with voicemail taking incoming calls. Drivers under 18 may not use a phone at all, even hands-free, except to call 911. Sleepiness slows reactions and judgment like drugs or alcohol, especially for high-mileage drivers, people with sleep disorders and people on certain medications; warning signs are closing or unfocused eyes, a drooping head, endless yawning, wandering thoughts, forgetting the last miles, missing an exit, drifting from the lane and varying speed. Rest or change drivers.
Pedestrians and emergency vehicles
Pedestrians have the right-of-way at crossings but must obey signals; without a signal you must stop for pedestrians in a marked or unmarked crosswalk, and most intersections have a crosswalk even if unmarked. Watch for deaf, blind and mobility-impaired pedestrians who need more time. Obey the signal where there is one, never pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk, and yield to pedestrians when turning on green or when turning on red after stopping. Emergency vehicles using sirens and lights have the right-of-way: move as close as possible to the edge of the road, stay out of intersections, and remain stopped until it passes; going the same direction, you may not pass it unless it stops or an officer waves you by. Approaching a stopped emergency vehicle, tow truck or service vehicle, move to a lane not immediately adjacent to it, or if you cannot, slow to a safe speed and be ready to stop.
Trucks and buses
Trucks turn wide and often move left before a right turn; do not mistake that for a lane change and pass on the right, since you can be caught between the truck and the curb. Stopping past a stop line puts you in the path of turning trucks. A loaded truck can weigh more than 80,000 pounds and needs the length of a football field to stop, against about 2,000 pounds for most cars, so never cut in front. Trucks and buses have four no-zones: in front, roughly 10 to 20 feet, where they need almost twice the time and room to stop, so pass quickly, wait to see both headlights in your mirror, and do not slow down after pulling in; on the sides, where if you cannot see the driver's face in the side mirror the driver cannot see you, and the right-side blind spot runs the trailer's length and extends three lanes; in the rear, about 200 feet, where the driver cannot see you and a sudden stop leaves you nowhere to go; and behind a backing truck, which has no rearview mirror and kills or injures hundreds of people a year. If you cannot see the truck's mirrors, the driver cannot see you.
School buses, motorcycles, bicycles and mopeds
Stop for a school bus with flashing red lights at least 20 feet from its back if you are behind it and 20 feet from its front if you are ahead of it, and stay stopped until the bus moves or the lights go off; on a multilane road divided by a physical barrier, do not stop for a bus on the other side. A motorcyclist is six times more likely than a car driver to be hurt in a crash, and drivers are at fault in over half of car-motorcycle crashes: yield to an oncoming motorcycle when turning left, look twice before changing lanes or merging, never share a lane since riders use the whole lane to avoid hazards and be seen, keep 3 to 4 seconds back because riders slow without brake lights, leave room when passing and wait to see the headlight in your mirror, hold your speed when a rider passes you, and signal early and merge only into real gaps around groups. Bicycles are vehicles: expect them on every road except interstates and toll bridges and tunnels, at intersections and circles, in all weather and at all hours, and out in the lane, even in the center on narrow or parked-up roads; a bicyclist may take the full lane even well below traffic speed when the lane is too narrow to pass safely. Check for bicyclists before opening a door. Bicyclists have the right-of-way when you turn, when you enter or cross a bike lane or shoulder, and the same rights as pedestrians in a crosswalk; failing to yield and causing a crash brings fines, possible jail and points. Bicycles may ride on sidewalks statewide unless a locality forbids it, yielding to pedestrians. Slow down behind a bicyclist, do not honk, expect swerves and quick stops, and pass with at least 3 feet whether the bicycle is in a bike lane, on a shoulder or in your lane, returning only after seeing it in your mirror. Assume bicyclists go straight unless they signal, remember they can ride 35 mph and appear from unexpected directions including sidewalks and trails, never turn right from a through lane right after passing a bike on a shoulder or bike lane, check your right blind spot before turning, move fully right into the bike lane, shoulder or turn lane before a right turn, never turn left right in front of a bicycle, look for bikes before moving right to pass a left-turner, expect a shoulder rider to merge left where the road narrows, use low beams near bicyclists at night and treat a dim reflective object as a possible bike in the lane, and expect children to be unpredictable. Mopeds and scooters follow all traffic laws, may ride on roads posted 50 mph or less, alone or side by side, on the road or shoulder, and should keep right; watch for them at intersections and on narrow roads.
Vehicle technologies and bicyclist rules
Advanced driver assistance systems prevent about 40 percent of crashes when used properly, helping with blind spots, following distance, crash avoidance, lane keeping and parking through sensors and cameras, but they have limits in rain, snow, fog, hills and curves, vary by vehicle, and carry confusing names; keep sensors clean and software current, learn the systems on any vehicle you drive, and never rely on them to drive for you. Bicyclists ride straight and single file, plan around hazards and doors, yield to pedestrians, obey signals, ride on the right and choose the proper lane at intersections, look back and signal turns, and turn left either as a vehicle from the left of the lane or as a pedestrian by walking the crosswalk. Riders under 16 must wear helmets, including passengers; every bicycle needs brakes that stop it within 15 feet from 10 mph on dry pavement, at night a white headlight visible 500 feet and a red rear reflector visible 600 feet, a firmly attached seat or trailer for a small child, and a basket, rack or bag so both hands stay on the bars. Electric bicycles have working pedals and motors of 750 watts or less: Class 1 assists only while pedaling up to 20 mph, Class 2 assists without pedaling up to 20 mph, and Class 3 assists only while pedaling up to 28 mph. Electric low-speed vehicles carry one standing rider on a platform with handlebars, weigh under 100 pounds, and reach 20 mph, subject to local rules.
Practise this with Maryland Driver License questions
More of this guide
The 20/40 and 140-degree vision standards, the 25-question, 20-minute knowledge test, skills test vehicle and supervising driver rules, reportable medical conditions, required documents, Type 1 and Type 2 permits, the 15 years 9 months age, co-signers, driver education, the 60-hour and 14-hour practice logs, the 45-day, 9-month and 3-month holding periods, the Provisional License and the 18-month path to a full license, out-of-country licenses, interpreters, the 21-year-old three-year supervising driver, organ donation at 18 or 16, Motor Voter, insurance cards and the $2,500 fine, seat belts, child seats to 8 or 4 feet 9 inches and rear-facing to 2, air bags and children under 13, ABS, headsets and the driving course maneuvers.
Risk management, defensive driving and visual search, every right-of-way rule from four-way stops to entrance ramps, posted limits as maximums and matching traffic speed, why speeding kills, when to slow down, the 3-to-4-second following distance and 4 to 5 seconds behind buses, what sets stopping distance, keeping right, turning steps, U-turns into the right-hand lane, passing on the left and when the right is allowed, the no-passing list including 100 feet of intersections, railroads, bridges and tunnels, and the general parking rules.
Who can override traffic control devices, dead signals, every vehicle signal from steady red and turns on red to flashing red arrows and lane use signals, crosswalk beacons, sign colors including fluorescent pink and black, sign shapes including the trapezoid and crossbuck, stop and yield signs, regulatory signs including HOV and two-way left lanes, warning signs, overhead, route, service and mile marker signs, every line marking from broken white to double solid yellow and dotted lines, stop and yield lines, SCHOOL and RxR markings, shared-use markings, crosswalks and bike lanes, with pictures of the signs.
The yellow-on-your-left rule, headlights at 1,000 feet and with wipers, low beams at 500 and 300 feet, night driving, fog, wet roads and pumping brakes without ABS, bridges that freeze first and black ice, snow emergency routes and the emergency kit, skid recovery, hydroplaning, railroad crossings and the vehicles that must stop, work zones and their amber, blue and green lights, traffic circle rules and exiting from the outside lane, interstate entering, exiting and stopping, funeral processions through red lights, and slow-moving vehicles at 25 mph.
What to do after a crash with and without injuries, leaving-the-scene penalties of 5 and 10 years, when the police must be called, unattended property and animals, finding a safe place after a breakdown and avoiding the ramp triangle, behavior during a traffic stop, Move Over fines of $110, $150 and $750 and their points, provisional restrictions including the 151-day passenger rule and midnight-to-5 a.m. curfew, implied consent, fake IDs, revocation, cancellation and suspension, provisional penalties for minors and adults, the 18-month clean period, and disability parking violations.