Railroad crossing rules — Alaska Permit Test
Railroad crossing rules on the Alaska permit test — 7 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Never get trapped on a crossing: when traffic is heavy, wait on the approach until you are sure you can clear the crossing.
A car stuck on the tracks behind stopped traffic has nowhere to go when a train comes.
When traffic is heavy, wait on the approach to a crossing until you are sure you can clear the crossing.
After the last car of a train passes, do not start up until you are sure no train is coming on another track, especially from the other direction.
The first train hides a second one on the next track, and drivers pull out right into it.
When the last car of a train passes the crossing do not start up until you are sure no train is coming on another track, especially from the other direction.
Never drive around crossing gates: if the gates are down, stay in place and do not cross until they are raised. It is against the law to go around them.
Gates come down because a train is near, and a driver weaving around them meets it on the tracks.
If the gates are down, stay in place and do not cross the tracks until the gates are raised.
Never shift gears on a crossing: in a manual-transmission vehicle, shift down before the tracks and do not change gears while crossing.
A missed shift can stall the car right on the rails, where a train cannot stop for it.
If your vehicle has a manual transmission, shift down and do not change gears while crossing the tracks.
Be prepared to stop when following buses or trucks that are required to stop at railroad crossings, and do not pass them where the law prohibits it.
A bus or truck ahead will stop at every crossing, and a driver who is not ready hits it from behind.
Be prepared to stop when you are following buses or trucks which are required to stop at railroad crossings.
Be prepared to stop if a train is within 1500 feet of a railroad crossing.
A train that close is on you in seconds, and it cannot stop easily or within a short distance.
Be prepared to stop if a train is within 1500 feet of the crossing.
You must stop when a train is close to a crossing even if the crossing is unmarked.
Many rural crossings have no lights or gates, and the train is just as deadly there.
You must stop even if the crossing is unmarked.
On the test
Traffic is heavy and backed up past a railroad crossing. What should you do?
Wait on the approach until you can clear it. A car stuck on the tracks behind stopped traffic has nowhere to go when a train comes. Alaska Driver Manual, p.63: “When traffic is heavy, wait on the approach to a crossing until you are sure you can clear the crossing.”
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)