Railroad and light rail crossings — California Permit Test
Railroad and light rail crossings on the California permit test — 9 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
The speed limit is 15 mph within 100 feet of a railroad crossing when you cannot see the tracks for 400 feet in both directions.
If you cannot see down the track, the only safe speed is one you can stop from at once.
The speed limit is 15 mph within 100 feet of a railroad crossing and you cannot see the tracks for 400 feet in both directions.
You may drive faster than 15 mph at a railroad crossing if the crossing is controlled by gates, a warning signal or a flagman.
Something is watching the track for you, which is exactly what you could not do yourself.
You may drive on or cross a sidewalk to enter or exit a driveway or alley.
Flashing red warning lights at a crossing mean you must stop and wait, and you may not cross until the red lights stop flashing, even if the gate rises.
The gate can lift for one train while a second is still coming the other way.
Flashing red warning lights indicate you must stop and wait. Do not proceed over the railroad tracks until the red lights stop flashing, even if the gate rises.
When the crossing devices or a person warn you a train is coming, stop at least 15 feet from the nearest track.
A train overhangs its rails by a good margin, and 15 feet keeps your bumper out of it.
When the crossing devices or a person warns you a train is coming,
Do not go under lowering gates or around lowered gates; if the gates are down and you see no train, call the posted railroad emergency number or 911.
A gate that is down with no train is a fault, and the railroad is the only one who can clear it.
Do not go under lowering gates or around lowered gates. If the gates are lowered and you do not see a train approaching, call the posted railroad emergency toll-free number or 911.
Stop, look and listen at a crossing, and where there are multiple tracks look in both directions and cross only when it is safe.
A train passing on the near track hides a second one arriving on the far track.
Stop, look, and listen. If you see a train coming or hear a horn or bell, do not cross.
Expect a train on any track, at any time, traveling in either direction.
Timetables are for passengers. A freight train can be on any rail at any hour.
Expect a train on any track, at any time, traveling in either direction.
Never stop on railroad tracks, and do not start across unless you have enough room to cross completely.
Traffic ahead can stop without warning, and a car trapped on the rails has nowhere to go.
Never stop on the railroad tracks. Wait and do not begin proceeding if you do not have enough room to completely cross the tracks.
Watch for vehicles that must stop before crossing train tracks, including buses, school buses and vehicles marked with a hazardous materials placard.
They will stop where nothing tells you to, and the car behind them has to expect it.
Watch for vehicles that must stop before they cross train tracks.
On the test
What is the speed limit within 100 feet of a railroad crossing you cannot see along?
15 mph. If you cannot see down the track, the only safe speed is one you can stop from at once. California Driver’s Handbook, p.51: “The speed limit is 15 mph within 100 feet of a railroad crossing and you cannot see the tracks for 400 feet in both directions.”
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 California Driver’s Handbook, published by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-21.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/CA.pdf (California Driver’s Handbook, DL 600 ENGLISH (REV. 6/2025), retrieved 2026-09-14; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/CA.pages.txt (the pdftotext -layout fixture every citation here was cut against and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/SOURCES.json, CA entry — the folio offset of 6 and its basis, the three non-law pages, the two sign gallery pages, and the record of why California’s exam shape is this app’s own
- docs/plans/chosen-exam-shapes.md section 5 — the decision that a state publishing neither exam figure ships 40/32 with both disclosed
- docs/plans/how-to-build-laws.md — the rule that the handbook is the syllabus and nothing enters this file without a page in it