Following distance law — Alaska Permit Test
Following distance law on the Alaska permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
A driver may not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for speed, traffic and the condition of the roadway.
Faster speeds, heavy traffic and bad roads all need more stopping room, so a safe gap changes with them.
A driver of a motor vehicle may not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for speed, traffic, and conditions of the roadway.
On a two-lane roadway outside an urban area, a driver must safely pull over when 5 or more vehicles are immediately behind.
A line of cars stuck behind a slow driver tempts someone to pass unsafely, so letting them by prevents a head-on crash.
AS 28.35.140 requires drivers on a two-lane roadway outside of an urban area to safely pull over when there are five or more vehicles immediately behind.
Although the manual recommends the 4-second rule, 13 AAC 02.090 requires at a minimum the 2-second rule.
The regulation sets the floor the law will enforce; leaving more room than that is what keeps you out of a rear-end crash.
NOTE: While this chart recommends the use of the 4 second rule, 13 AAC 02.090 requires at a minimum the 2 second rule.
On the test
How closely may you follow another vehicle?
No closer than is reasonable and prudent. Faster speeds, heavy traffic and bad roads all need more stopping room, so a safe gap changes with them. Alaska Driver Manual, p.32: “A driver of a motor vehicle may not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for speed, traffic, and conditions of the roadway.”
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 Alaska Driver Manual, published by the Alaska Department of Administration, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AK.pdf (Alaska Driver Manual, REV.10/2025, Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-09-14 and re-checked 2026-10-04; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AK.pages.txt (the plain pdftotext fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- https://dmv.alaska.gov/credential-services/drivermanual/ (read 2026-10-04; links the manual)
- https://dmv.alaska.gov/credential-services/instruction-permit/ (read 2026-10-04; states no count or mark)
- https://dmv.alaska.gov/credential-services/your-first-alaska-drivers-license/ (read 2026-10-04; states no count or mark)
- https://www.akleg.gov/basis/aac.asp?media=print&secStart=2.90.010&secEnd=2.90.990 (2 AAC 90, read 2026-10-04; 2 AAC 90.420(h)(2) sets the knowledge test's retest wait and no figure)