Maine DMV Practice Test 2026

Not quiteCorrect answer: A — Yield to the cyclist and complete the turn behind them

The cyclist is going straight in a lane that continues straight. Turning across their path is the classic right-hook collision.

Drivers check mirrors for cars and never see a bicycle travelling at 20 mph in the lane they are about to cross.

Not quiteCorrect answer: A — Turn left after yielding to oncoming traffic and to pedestrians in the crosswalk

A circular green permits every movement that is not otherwise prohibited, but it is permissive rather than protected: oncoming traffic has the same green, so the gap is yours to judge.

Green is read as "my turn", when for a left turn it only means the turn is allowed. The oncoming driver has exactly the same indication and no duty to let you across.

Not quiteCorrect answer: B — A warning about a condition on or near the road ahead

The diamond is reserved for warning signs. It tells you that a hazard or a change in the road is coming so you can slow and prepare before you reach it. Distances belong on green guide signs and services on blue ones.

Drivers assume anything on a post is a rule they can be cited for. A diamond warns; it does not itself post a limit or a prohibition.

Not quiteCorrect answer: D — Driving along it to get past slower traffic

A two-way left turn lane is shared by both directions, so a driver coming the other way may be entering it as you do. It exists for turns only and is never a travel or passing lane.

An empty middle lane looks like a free lane. Using it to travel puts you head-on into a driver who entered it from the opposite direction for exactly the purpose it was built for.

Not quiteCorrect answer: C — A park, historic site or other recreational or cultural area

Brown is reserved for recreational and cultural interest areas — parks, campgrounds, historic sites and scenic areas.

Brown is easy to skip when studying because it never appears in a rules question. It appears on the sign-identification section of many state tests.

Not quiteCorrect answer: B — Turn left as the arrow directs, but not go straight ahead or turn right

An arrow permits only the movement it points to. The circular red still governs every other movement, so through traffic in the same signal group stays stopped while the turn goes.

Any green is read as general permission. The combination is deliberate: the left turn is being run on its own protected phase precisely because straight-ahead traffic must not move.

Not quiteCorrect answer: B — Whether the road is divided by a median or barrier, under your state's law

Most states excuse oncoming traffic only where a physical median separates the directions. Painted lines usually do not count, and several states require every direction to stop.

Drivers apply the rule from the state they learned in. This is one of the largest state-to-state differences on the whole test — check your own handbook.

Not quiteCorrect answer: B — Turning around to travel back the way you came

The symbol is a U-shaped arrow crossed out, so the sign prohibits the 180-degree turn and nothing else. A left turn is a different movement with its own sign; unless a NO LEFT TURN sign is posted as well, the left turn may still be allowed.

Treating the no U-turn sign as a no left turn sign. They are separate signs prohibiting separate movements.

Not quiteCorrect answer: A — The driver on the right

When two vehicles arrive at the same time, the one on the right has right-of-way. It is a tie-breaker, not a general rule about right-hand traffic.

Drivers apply "yield to the right" everywhere. It only settles simultaneous arrivals — otherwise the first to stop goes first.

Not quiteCorrect answer: B — A place to stop, rest and use facilities

Rest areas are signed in blue as a motorist service. Using one is the correct response to drowsiness — there is no substitute for stopping.

Coffee, open windows and loud music delay sleep by minutes at most. A rest area exists because pulling over is the only real fix.

Not quiteCorrect answer: D — Yield to all traffic and pedestrians on the road and sidewalk

A vehicle entering a roadway from a driveway, alley or parking lot yields to everything already there, including people on the footpath you cross.

The sidewalk is the part people forget. You cross it before you reach the road, and pedestrians on it have priority.

Not quiteCorrect answer: A — You are on the wrong side of the road

The colours are reversed from normal. Yellow belongs on your left, white on your right; the reverse means you are facing oncoming traffic.

In poor visibility drivers follow whichever line they can see. Knowing which colour belongs on which side turns the markings into an orientation instrument.

Not quiteCorrect answer: D — You may turn left and oncoming traffic is being held by a red light

A green arrow gives you a protected turn: oncoming traffic has a red light. A solid green ball, by contrast, gives you a permitted turn — you may turn only after yielding to oncoming vehicles and pedestrians.

Protected (green arrow) and permitted (green ball) turns are not the same. You still watch for pedestrians in both cases.

Not quiteCorrect answer: B — Lane changes are permitted when it is safe

Broken means permitted. White means the traffic beside you is going the same direction.

Drivers who conflate broken white with broken yellow think they may cross into oncoming lanes to pass on any broken line.

Not quiteCorrect answer: A — Stop as well — a pedestrian you cannot see is likely crossing

A stopped vehicle at a crosswalk hides whatever it stopped for. Passing it is how pedestrians are struck at speed with no warning at all.

Drivers assume the stopped car is turning or broken down. In most states passing a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk is itself an offence.

Not quiteCorrect answer: A — Traffic will come toward you, with no median separating the two directions

The median that has been keeping the two directions apart stops here. From this point the lane to your left carries oncoming vehicles, so keep right and treat the centre line, not a strip of grass, as your protection.

Staying in the left lane out of habit from the divided section. Past this sign that lane belongs to traffic coming the other way.

Not quiteCorrect answer: B — You stopped first, so you go first — but you must still let the oncoming car clear if you both move

Order of arrival decides first. The straight-beats-left rule only applies when two vehicles arrive together, and cooperating beats standing on the rule.

Two correct rules — first-to-arrive, and straight-before-left — get applied in the wrong order, which is why four-way stops deadlock.

Not quiteCorrect answer: D — When you can see the whole vehicle you passed in your rear-view mirror

Seeing the entire vehicle in your interior mirror means you have the length to return without forcing them to brake.

Cutting back in early is what turns a completed pass into a side-swipe, usually with the passed driver braking hard.

Not quiteCorrect answer: C — Turning right at this location

A red circle with a diagonal slash over a symbol prohibits whatever the symbol shows. Here the symbol is a right-turn arrow, so the right turn itself is banned — at any time and on any signal, unless a plaque limits the hours.

Confusing it with NO TURN ON RED, which only bars the turn while the light is red. This sign bars the turn altogether.

Not quiteCorrect answer: A — Change lanes away from it if you can, or slow down substantially if you cannot

Every state now has a Move Over law. The obligation is to vacate the adjacent lane where possible and otherwise to slow markedly.

Drivers who cannot change lanes often do nothing at all. Slowing is the required fallback, not an optional courtesy.