AK Permit Practice Test 16

All 20 questions in test 16

Every question below comes from the Alaska question bank on this page. Open a question to see the correct answer and the explanation. Nothing here is hidden behind a signup.

1. 1. You keep missing small warning signs on long Alaska drives until you are almost on top of them. What eye habit prevents that?

   1. Look far ahead and keep the eyes moving while you drive
   2. Fix your gaze on the lane line directly before the hood
   3. Watch only the vehicle ahead and copy its reactions
   4. Check signs only after passing them in the rear mirror
   Show answer

   Look far ahead and keep the eyes moving while you drive. Signs are placed to be read early, and drivers who look far ahead with constantly moving eyes collect them while there is still time to act. A gaze locked near the hood, blind copying of the driver ahead, or mirror reading after the fact all surrender that time. Sweep from far roadside to horizon and back, including shoulders where animal and work warnings stand. The habit also spots brake lights, animals, and lane changes long before they become emergencies.

   Study this in the handbook: Road signs by color and shape

2. 2. In Alaska, another driver stops at a crosswalk to let a pedestrian cross. What must you do beside that driver?

   1. Pass slowly on the side away from the pedestrian
   2. Pass when the pedestrian is still behind the stopped vehicle
   3. Proceed because only the first driver must yield
   4. Stop as well and never pass that vehicle on either side at the crosswalk
   Show answer

   Stop as well and never pass that vehicle on either side at the crosswalk. A vehicle stopped at a crosswalk often hides the very person it stopped for, and that person may emerge from in front of its hood directly into the next lane. Passing on either side, even slowly and even while the pedestrian still appears behind the stopped vehicle, drives into that hidden path. The yield belongs to every driver approaching the crossing, not merely the first. Stop in line with the other vehicle, wait until the crosswalk is visibly empty in both directions, and only then proceed.

   Study this in the handbook: Turn signals and pavement markings

3. 3. In Alaska, an intersection has no painted crosswalk lines. Do pedestrians still hold right of way there?

   1. Yes, at intersections as well as at marked crosswalks, even without painted lines
   2. No, paint must be present before pedestrians gain protection
   3. Only when a crossing guard paints temporary lines
   4. Only on streets where crosswalk signs are posted
   Show answer

   Yes, at intersections as well as at marked crosswalks, even without painted lines. Paint helps drivers spot a crossing, yet the protection for people on foot lives at intersections themselves and at marked crosswalks alike. A driver may not demand painted lines before yielding, and neither a guard nor a posted sign creates the underlying right. This matters most on older streets and rural corners where markings fade or were never laid. Treat every intersection corner as a crossing place, scan the curbs before turning, and yield to anyone crossing there with due care.

   Study this in the handbook: Turn signals and pavement markings

4. 4. In Alaska, a flashing yellow beacon is installed with a road sign. Why is it there?

   1. To give the sign special emphasis where that is needed
   2. To cancel the sign when the beacon is flashing
   3. To turn the sign into a stop requirement
   4. To show that the sign applies only at night
   Show answer

   To give the sign special emphasis where that is needed. A flashing yellow beacon draws the eye to a sign that needs extra notice. The sign keeps its own meaning and force while the beacon flashes; the beacon does not cancel it. It also does not convert a warning or other sign into a stop order, and it does not limit the sign to nighttime hours. Slow as the underlying sign demands, read its message, and give the condition ahead more attention than a plain sign might receive.

   Study this in the handbook: Traffic signals and lane control signals

5. 5. In Alaska, you prepare to turn left across an oncoming motorcycle. What error must you guard against?

   1. Assuming the rider will slow down and wave you through the turn
   2. Misjudging how far away the motorcycle is or how fast it travels
   3. Looking only once, because motorcycles hold a steady course and speed at all times
   4. Treating the motorcycle as smaller traffic that must always yield
   Show answer

   Misjudging how far away the motorcycle is or how fast it travels. Turning left in front of oncoming motorcyclists causes a large percentage of car and motorcycle crashes, because drivers often fail to pick the cyclist out of the traffic scene or judge the motorcycle speed wrongly. The small profile breaks the habits drivers build around cars, so the scan must be deliberate: look once, then again, and make sure you see the motorcycle and know its speed before you turn. Never assume the rider will slow, wave, or yield by size. When the speed picture is uncertain, wait behind your line until it is certain.

   Study this in the handbook: Pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists

6. 6. A yellow sign ahead shows a bold arrow bending to the right on an Alaska road. How should you take what is coming?

   
   1. Stop before the bend and yield to traffic coming the other way
   2. Take the curve ahead at the advisory speed posted for it
   3. Stay in the left part of your lane until the bend straightens
   4. Turn right onto the next side road before the bend begins
   Show answer

   Take the curve ahead at the advisory speed posted for it. The bending arrow announces that the road itself curves, and any advisory speed placard below it names a pace the bend can be taken safely. Stopping mid approach creates a rear end risk, drifting left places you toward opposing headlights, and hunting for a side road misreads a warning as a turn order. Brake before the bend while still straight, look through the turn toward the exit, and hold a steady speed until the road opens again.

7. 7. Your pass is almost finished as a solid yellow line for your direction appears ahead in Alaska. What must your pass satisfy?

   1. It may finish over the solid line if you honk while crossing
   2. It must end before the line only when oncoming traffic is visible
   3. Finish without interfering with oncoming safety and before that solid line
   4. It must be abandoned by braking hard in the opposing lane
   Show answer

   Finish without interfering with oncoming safety and before that solid line. A solid yellow line approaching in your lane closes the passing opportunity, and a lawful pass must be fully finished, without interfering with oncoming safety, before that line arrives. Audible warnings, an apparently empty road, or a panic stop in the opposing lane do not satisfy the rule. Judge the whole maneuver before starting: if the return cannot beat the line with room to spare, stay in lane and wait for the next legal section.

   Study this in the handbook: Turn signals and pavement markings

8. 8. An overhead signal shows a steady red X above the center lane you wanted to use in Alaska. What does it require?

   1. Use the lane only for a left turn at the next intersection
   2. Do not use that lane for travel in your direction
   3. Enter the lane but keep your hazard flashers running
   4. Share the lane with opposing traffic at reduced speed
   Show answer

   Do not use that lane for travel in your direction. Reversible lanes change direction by time of day, and the red X is the message that the lane currently belongs to the other side or to nobody. Entering anyway, even briefly for a turn or with flashers lit, places you against traffic that holds a green arrow. Stay in a lane marked for your direction, and change lanes only where the overhead signals grant it. The X must be obeyed before you reach the lane line, not after.

   Study this in the handbook: Traffic signals and lane control signals

9. 9. In Alaska, you must place a phone call while traveling. What should you do first?

   1. Slow in the travel lane and dial quickly
   2. Ask a rear passenger to hold the wheel
   3. Use voice dialing while rolling through traffic
   4. Pull over to a safe area before making the call
   Show answer

   Pull over to a safe area before making the call. A call demands conversation, memory, and emotion that driving also demands, so the two tasks belong in sequence rather than together. Pulling into a safe area first gives the call your full attention and returns your full attention to the road afterward. Dialing slowly in a lane, sharing the wheel, and voice dialing each keep the conversation inside the moving vehicle where a surprise can arrive mid sentence. Park clear of traffic, finish the call, and merge back only when your mind is fully on driving again.

10. 10. In Alaska, who inside a motor vehicle does the safety belt law require to use a belt?

    1. Only the driver and front seat passengers
    2. Only passengers under sixteen years old
    3. Everyone in the vehicle must use a safety belt
    4. Only drivers on highways outside cities
    Show answer

    Everyone in the vehicle must use a safety belt. Belt law covers the whole cabin because crash physics makes no seating exemptions, and every occupant becomes either a restrained survivor or an unrestrained projectile endangering others. Front only, youth only, and highway only readings each invent limits the statute refuses. Drivers must wear their own belt as the first example, then secure every passenger according to age and size before the vehicle moves. The habit belongs on the shortest familiar trip most of all, since most collisions gather close to home at moderate speeds.

    Study this in the handbook: Safety belts and child seats

11. 11. You cruise for miles beside the rear fender of the vehicle ahead in the next lane on a multi lane Alaska highway. Why is that position poor?

    1. The driver ahead must yield the lane to you after a mile together
    2. Your engine works harder there because of air pressure from that vehicle
    3. State law forbids driving beside any vehicle for more than a mile
    4. You sit in its blind spot, where its inside mirror cannot show you
    Show answer

    You sit in its blind spot, where its inside mirror cannot show you. A driver checks mirrors that leave a blind area near the rear fenders, and cruising inside that area makes you invisible at the moment the other driver decides to change lanes. No yielding rule, engine effect, or mileage limit captures the danger. Either pass decisively through the blind area or fall back where the driver can see you, and never linger there while traffic gives you a choice. Your safety depends on being seen before the other vehicle moves.

12. 12. In Alaska, you drive with only parking lights lit while the vehicle moves. What does lighting law say?

    1. Parking lights mark a parked vehicle, so do not drive on them alone day or night
    2. Parking lamps alone are allowed for moving travel during daylight hours only on city streets
    3. Moving travel on parking lamps alone is allowed below 30 miles per hour
    4. Parking lamps may fully replace headlights on well lit city streets at night
    Show answer

    Parking lights mark a parked vehicle, so do not drive on them alone day or night. Parking lamps tell other drivers that a vehicle is standing still, so moving on them alone broadcasts a lie about your state while leaving your own path dark. The prohibition covers day and night, slow streets and lit cities alike, because the signal to others matters as much as the glow to you. Headlights mark a moving vehicle honestly and light the way it travels. Select full lighting whenever the vehicle moves in dim conditions, and reserve parking lamps for the standing role their name describes.

    Study this in the handbook: Turn signals and pavement markings

13. 13. A twenty year old at an Alaska party drinks a single beer and plans to walk home without driving anywhere. What does state law say about the drinking?

    1. It is allowed because the person does not intend to drive afterward
    2. It is allowed in private homes when parents know about the party
    3. It is illegal for a person under twenty one to consume alcohol
    4. It is allowed when the amount stays below one standard drink
    Show answer

    It is illegal for a person under twenty one to consume alcohol. Alaska sets twenty one as the drinking age without a small amount, private home, or ride home exception. A single beer consumed by a twenty year old is illegal consumption even when driving never enters the plan. Good transportation choices prevent the far worse driving offense, but they do not retroactively legalize the drink. Underage guests should decline entirely, and hosts should never treat a safe ride as permission to serve minors.

    Study this in the handbook: Alcohol, implied consent and under 21 rules

14. 14. In Alaska, a bicyclist prepares to stop. Which hand signal announces that stop?

    1. Right arm extended straight out sideways to the right
    2. Left arm extended straight out sideways
    3. Both arms raised above the helmet
    4. Left arm extended and bent down at the elbow
    Show answer

    Left arm extended and bent down at the elbow. Drivers behind a rider need the stop warning as early as riders need it from vehicles, and the bent down left arm is the agreed shape for that warning. Straight arms sideways claim turns in their directions, and raised arms improvise outside the shared language. Learn the three arm positions as a driver even if you never ride, because the rider ahead of you at a stop sign is speaking them to your windshield. Signal reading is mutual: riders declare, drivers understand, and both arrive at the stop unpuzzled.

15. 15. In Alaska, driving under the influence of any controlled substance covers which drugs?

    1. Only street drugs sold without any prescription
    2. Only narcotic drugs with strong pain effects
    3. Narcotic and non narcotic drugs, not only illegal drugs
    4. Only drugs named on a short roadside list
    Show answer

    Narcotic and non narcotic drugs, not only illegal drugs. Controlled substance law follows pharmacology rather than street reputation, reaching prescribed sedatives, stimulants, and other regulated compounds alongside narcotics and illegal supplies. A driver impaired by a lawful prescription therefore faces the same influence prohibition as a driver impaired illicitly. Narrowing the ban to street sales, narcotics alone, or a memorized list leaves the most common medicinal impairments outside imagined law. Ask every prescriber and pharmacist about driving, obey label bars without exception, and treat impairment itself as the legal event regardless of how the drug was obtained.

    Study this in the handbook: Alcohol, implied consent and under 21 rules

16. 16. In Alaska, what do white pavement markings such as lane lines separate?

    1. Traffic going in the same direction
    2. Traffic moving in opposite directions
    3. Parked vehicles from moving traffic only
    4. Bicycles from all motor vehicle lanes
    Show answer

    Traffic going in the same direction. White lines divide lanes that carry traffic the same way, such as parallel lanes on a multi lane or one way roadway. Opposite directions are divided by yellow, so color tells you whether traffic beside the line moves with you or toward you. White lines do more than split parking from travel, and they do not by themselves ban bicycles from lanes. Reading color before you change lanes helps you avoid drifting into an opposing lane by mistake.

    Study this in the handbook: Turn signals and pavement markings

17. 17. Your rear end slides left during an Alaska skid and you yank the wheel hard left then hard right to correct it. What does that accomplish?

    1. It cancels the skid by matching each slide with its opposite
    2. It straightens the vehicle faster than a gentle correction would
    3. It only changes the direction of the skid instead of ending it
    4. It locks the rear wheels so the slide stops within its own length
    Show answer

    It only changes the direction of the skid instead of ending it. Overcorrecting throws the vehicle weight from one side to the other, so each hard swing starts a fresh skid in the opposite direction. The result is a fishtail that grows rather than a recovery. Gentle steering toward the intended path, with patience while grip returns, is what ends a slide. Locked wheels and matched yanks belong to guesswork, not control. Ease off, look where you need to go, and let small corrections accumulate.

    Study this in the handbook: Vehicle emergencies, skids and stalls on the tracks

18. 18. An officer stops you in Alaska and you need papers from your glove box and wallet during the stop. When should you dig them out?

    1. Immediately on stopping, before the officer reaches your window
    2. While the officer walks up, so no time is wasted at the window
    3. Only after the officer returns to the patrol vehicle with them
    4. Wait for the officer to ask before retrieving documents
    Show answer

    Wait for the officer to ask before retrieving documents. Traffic stops are tense because an officer cannot see what hands inside a vehicle are doing. Keeping hands visible and waiting to be asked before reaching into a wallet or glove box removes a dangerous misunderstanding. Digging early or during the approach invites alarm, and waiting until the officer leaves wastes the exchange. Sit still, keep hands where they can be seen, and narrate slowly where the documents are when the request comes.

    Study this in the handbook: Emergency vehicles and the Move Over law

19. 19. You drive Alaska back roads on a freezing morning when most pavement looks merely damp. Which places turn slippery first?

    1. Sunny straight stretches where traffic polishes the surface
    2. Shaded areas, protected areas, and bridges freeze earliest
    3. Gravel shoulders that freeze into a solid driving surface
    4. Downhill lanes where engine braking keeps tires warm
    Show answer

    Shaded areas, protected areas, and bridges freeze earliest. Ice forms where cold lingers: shade blocks the weak winter sun, protected hollows trap cold air, and bridges freeze from above and below at once. Sunny straights thaw first, shoulders are not travel surfaces, and tire warmth cannot protect a downgrade. Treat every shaded bend and bridge deck as glazed until proven otherwise, especially in the first cold hours. Slow before those places rather than discovering the ice with your brakes already applied.

    Study this in the handbook: Vehicle emergencies, skids and stalls on the tracks

20. 20. Your right wheels drop off the pavement edge onto a soft Alaska shoulder at highway speed. What are the first control actions?

    1. Steer hard left at once to climb back onto the pavement
    2. Ease off the gas and grip the wheel firmly with both hands
    3. Brake hard while the wheels still touch both surfaces
    4. Accelerate so the wheels can climb the pavement lip easily
    Show answer

    Ease off the gas and grip the wheel firmly with both hands. A wheel off the edge needs calm before recovery: stop feeding gas and hold the wheel firmly while speed decays on the shoulder. Yanking back at the lip, braking hard across two surfaces, or accelerating to climb each turns a drift into a swerve. Let the vehicle slow well below highway pace, check for traffic, and only then turn back smoothly where the shoulder and pavement meet at a gentle angle.

    Study this in the handbook: School buses, passing and railroad crossings