Changing lanes and signals — Alabama Permit Test
Changing lanes and signals on the Alabama permit test — 5 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
Never change lanes until you are sure it is safe: check for clearance to the side, ahead and behind, and glance over your shoulder to check the blind spot your mirror does not cover.
A car can sit in your blind spot where no mirror shows it.
Glance over your shoulder to check the “blind spot” your mirror does not cover.
Show your intentions with turn signals or hand signals, but remember that a signal does not grant the right to change lanes.
Other drivers may not have seen your signal, so you still have to wait for a safe gap.
You should show your intentions to other drivers by using turn signals or hand signals, but remember that a signal does not grant the right to change lanes.
The hand signal for a left turn is the hand and arm extended straight out.
An arm held straight out points the way you are going to turn.
LEFT TURN ......hand and arm extended out.
The hand signal for a right turn is the hand and arm extended upward.
The upward arm is the driver-side way of pointing right.
RIGHT TURN......hand and arm extended upward.
The hand signal to stop or decrease speed is the hand and arm extended downward.
An arm pointing down tells the driver behind you are slowing.
STOP OR DECREASE SPEED…..hand and arm extended downward.
On the test
Before changing lanes, what must you do besides checking your mirrors?
Glance over your shoulder at the blind spot. A car can sit in your blind spot where no mirror shows it. Alabama Driver Manual, p.66: “Glance over your shoulder to check the “blind spot” your mirror does not cover.”
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 Alabama Driver Manual, published by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-04.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AL.pdf (Alabama Driver Manual, November 2024, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Driver License Division, retrieved 2026-09-14; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/AL.pages.txt (the plain pdftotext fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- https://www.alea.gov/dps/driver-license/driver-license-manuals
- https://www.alea.gov/dps/driver-license/driver-license-information (read 2026-10-04; states no count or mark)
- https://www.alea.gov/dps/driver-license/license-and-id-cards/graduated-driver-license (read 2026-10-04; "Must complete the written examination and receive a passing grade.")
- https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/alabama/Ala-Admin-Code-r-760-X-1-.13 (read 2026-10-04; requires the examination, sets no figure)