Alabama ALEA Permit Practice Test 40
- Questions30
- Correct to pass24
- Passing score80%
- Minimum age15 years
-
1. What is the best way to keep your phone from distracting you on a trip?
Show answer
Answer D: Silence it and stow it before you start
A phone you cannot hear and cannot reach cannot tempt you, which is far more reliable than deciding case by case while you drive.
-
2. How does marijuana affect a driver?
Show answer
Answer C: It slows reaction time and impairs judgment of time and distance
Marijuana impairs coordination, attention and the ability to judge speed and distance. Driving while impaired by it is illegal everywhere, even where its use is legal.
-
3. What habit prevents the hood from flying up while you are driving?
Show answer
Answer D: Press the hood down at the front and check that the latch has caught
Most hoods fly up because they were left on the safety catch, so check that the main latch is fully closed after any work under the hood.
-
4. Why is dusk one of the harder times of day to drive?
Show answer
Answer B: The failing light blurs shapes into the background
In fading light there is not enough contrast to pick objects out, yet it is not dark enough for headlights to do the work, so pedestrians and cyclists disappear.
-
5. How many points does Alabama assess for driving on the wrong side of the road or for illegal passing?
Show answer
Answer B: 4 points
Wrong side of road and illegal passing are assessed at 4 points on the Alabama point table.
-
6. When may a driver of a motor vehicle use a marked bicycle lane?
Show answer
Answer C: Only to cross it when turning or entering the road where the markings allow
A bike lane is a lane for cyclists. Motor vehicles may only cross it to enter or leave the road or to make a turn where the markings permit.
-
7. You have finished parallel parking at the curb. How should the vehicle sit?
Show answer
Answer A: Close to the curb, so that it does not stick out into the traffic lane
A parked vehicle must sit close enough to the curb that it does not intrude into the path of passing traffic; the exact maximum distance is set by each state.
-
8. You have just driven through a deep puddle and your brakes feel weak. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer D: Drive slowly while lightly applying the brakes until they dry and work normally
Wet brakes grip poorly and may pull to one side. Gentle braking at low speed generates heat that dries the pads and discs quickly.
-
9. A pedestrian signal displays a steady walking person symbol. What does it mean for a pedestrian at that corner?
Show answer
Answer B: The pedestrian may start crossing in the direction of the signal
The steady walking person permits a pedestrian to begin the crossing, while still yielding to vehicles already lawfully in the intersection.
-
10. A yellow sign shows a truck on a slope with the legend 7 PERCENT GRADE. What should a driver of a heavy vehicle do?
Show answer
Answer A: Select a lower gear before starting down
The percentage shows how steep the descent is, and choosing a low gear at the top lets the engine hold the vehicle back instead of the brakes overheating.
-
11. You are driving on the through road of a T-intersection and want to turn left into the side road. Oncoming traffic is approaching on the through road. What must you do?
Show answer
Answer C: Yield to the oncoming traffic before you turn
The vehicle waiting in the stem of the T yields to both of you, but you still owe the right of way to oncoming through traffic before turning across it.
-
12. You are approaching a highway-rail grade crossing marked only with a crossbuck sign. What does that sign require?
Show answer
Answer A: Yield to any approaching train and cross only when the tracks are clear
The crossbuck is a regulatory yield sign, and a train can never stop or steer around a vehicle, so the driver must always give way.
-
13. What is the minimum reinstatement fee an Alabama driver must pay after a license has been cancelled, suspended, revoked or disqualified?
Show answer
Answer D: 100 dollars
Alabama charges a reinstatement fee of not less than 100 dollars before the driver may be relicensed, and other charges may be added to it.
-
14. Which family of signs normally uses a rectangle that is wider than it is tall?
Show answer
Answer B: Guide signs, which name routes and destinations
Guide signs are laid out as horizontal rectangles because they have to carry route numbers, place names and distances side by side.
-
15. A regulatory sign reads TURN ON HEADLIGHTS NEXT 15 MILES. What does it require?
Show answer
Answer C: Low beam headlights on for that stretch, day or night
Such a section is signed where a road is hard to see along, and the requirement is to run headlights, not just daytime running lamps, through the whole stretch even in bright daylight.
-
16. You pass into a work zone with a reduced speed limit but you see no workers. What speed applies?
Show answer
Answer D: The posted work zone limit, whether or not workers are present
A posted work zone speed limit is a regulatory limit in force at all times, and narrow lanes and uneven surfaces remain dangerous when nobody is working.
-
17. A yellow horizontal rectangular sign showing one large arrow pointing left or right, facing traffic on the far side of a sharp bend, tells the driver
Show answer
Answer C: which way the roadway turns at that point
The large arrow sign is mounted on the outside of a sharp change in alignment so that a driver approaching head on immediately sees which way the road goes.
-
18. A sign with a black legend on a fluorescent pink background is used for
Show answer
Answer A: traffic incident management
Fluorescent pink is set aside for signing that manages traffic around a crash, a spill or another unplanned incident, so it stands apart from routine work zone orange.
-
19. It is cold and the road looks wet, but you notice the tires of vehicles ahead are throwing up no spray. What does this suggest?
Show answer
Answer B: The surface has frozen and is probably icy
Water throws spray, but ice does not. A shiny road with no spray in freezing temperatures is a strong sign of black ice, so slow down and avoid sudden inputs.
-
20. A driver breaks the Alabama Move Over Act while also driving under the influence or driving recklessly. What follows?
Show answer
Answer A: The minimum penalty is at least doubled
Alabama requires at least double the minimum fine or sentence when a Move Over violation is combined with DUI, reckless driving, a construction zone violation, a wireless device violation or racing.
-
21. Rain is falling and the outside temperature reads close to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Why is that dangerous?
Show answer
Answer A: The rain can freeze on contact and glaze the road with ice
Near freezing, rain landing on cold pavement can turn to a glaze of ice almost at once, so a road that looks merely wet may have no grip at all.
-
22. Where is a U-turn most clearly unsafe and generally prohibited?
Show answer
Answer D: On a curve or near a hill crest, where other drivers cannot see you
U-turns are barred where approaching drivers cannot see you in time, such as on a curve or near the top of a hill.
-
23. Your wiper blades smear the windshield instead of clearing it. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer C: Replace the blades, because smearing means that the rubber is worn
Worn or hardened rubber cannot wipe cleanly, and blades are cheap compared with driving without a clear view.
-
24. You are turning left at an intersection just beyond the crest of a hill. What is the added risk?
Show answer
Answer B: Oncoming vehicles appear with very little warning and close quickly
A crest hides approaching traffic until it is close, so the gap you thought was empty can fill in the time the turn takes.
-
25. Which common non-prescription medicine is most likely to make a driver drowsy?
Show answer
Answer C: A cold or allergy remedy containing an antihistamine
Antihistamines in cold and allergy remedies are a leading cause of drowsiness behind the wheel, which is why the label carries a warning.
-
26. A sign with a green background and a white legend normally provides
Show answer
Answer A: directions, distances and destinations
Green is the background color of the guide sign series, which names routes and destinations and gives the distance to them.
-
27. A vehicle in front of you has already begun turning left into a driveway when the gap you were waiting for opens up. What should you do?
Show answer
Answer B: Wait and let that driver finish the turn
A vehicle that has lawfully started a maneuver keeps the right of way until it is finished.
-
28. Is it acceptable to drive with your vehicle straddling the line between two lanes?
Show answer
Answer D: No, you must drive as nearly as practical entirely within a single lane
A vehicle astride the line takes up two lanes and leaves the drivers around it unable to predict where it will go.
-
29. Once you have parallel parked, how close to the curb should your wheels be?
Show answer
Answer C: Within the distance your state allows, commonly 12 to 18 inches
Parking close to and parallel with the curb keeps the vehicle out of the traffic lane without damaging the tires; each state sets the exact maximum, usually 12 inches and 18 inches in some states.
-
30. A square sign with a red field, a wide white horizontal bar and the words DO NOT ENTER tells a driver that
Show answer
Answer B: the roadway ahead must not be entered from that point
The do not enter sign is posted at the end of a one-way roadway or ramp to keep traffic from driving into it against the flow.