Good driving habits — Alabama Permit Test

Good driving habits on the Alabama permit test — 5 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

Before switching on the ignition, buckle your safety belt and see that all passengers do likewise.

A crash can happen in the first block of a trip, so the belts go on before the car moves.

Before switching on the ignition, buckle your safety belt and see that all passengers do likewise.
Alabama Driver Manual, p.20

In a car with a manual transmission, push in the clutch before turning the ignition key; with an automatic, be sure it is in park or neutral and press the brake as you turn the key.

Starting a car in gear can make it lurch into whatever is in front of it.

If you have an automatic transmission, be sure the indicator is in park or neutral and depress the brake pedal as you turn the key.
Alabama Driver Manual, p.20

Keep both hands on the wheel except when you must remove one to signal or for another purpose needed to drive the vehicle.

Two hands give you the control to steer out of trouble in an instant.

Always keep both hands on the wheel except when it is necessary to remove one for signaling or for another purpose necessary to the operation of the vehicle.
Alabama Driver Manual, p.20

To leave a parallel parking spot, look over your shoulder and in the mirrors, wait until the way is clear, signal, and enter the nearest lane, staying in it until it is safe to change.

Mirrors miss the blind spot, and a car pulling out is crossing the path of traffic already moving.

Enter traffic in the nearest lane and remain in that lane until it is safe to change into another lane.
Alabama Driver Manual, p.20

You must drive within a single traffic lane without weaving from one lane to another or straddling the lane marking; lanes are there even when they are not marked.

Other drivers plan around the lane you are in, so drifting across lines takes away the space they counted on.

Often lanes are not marked, but they are there whether marked or not.
Alabama Driver Manual, p.21

On the test

When should you buckle your safety belt?

Before switching on the ignition. A crash can happen in the first block of a trip, so the belts go on before the car moves. Alabama Driver Manual, p.20: “Before switching on the ignition, buckle your safety belt and see that all passengers do likewise.”

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.

All Alabama permit topics

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.