Safe driving and emergencies
Your car stalls on a railroad crossing, a train is coming and the warning lights are flashing. Once you are out of the car, which way should you run?
- Away from the tracks, diagonally toward the direction the train is coming from. Correct answer
- Away from the tracks, diagonally in the same direction the train is traveling.
- Straight along the tracks, away from the train, until you are past the crossing.
Why
This is the emergency in the handbook where the instinctive move is the wrong one. Get out immediately, then run away from the tracks at an angle toward the oncoming train, and call 911 once you are clear. Running with the train, or along the tracks, keeps you inside the area the handbook marks on its own diagram as the crash area, which is the ground ahead of the stalled car. The procedure changes if there is no train in sight and the warning lights are not flashing: get out, dial the number on the railroad crossing post or the metal control box near the tracks, give the crossing number if one is posted, say that a vehicle is on the tracks, and then call 911.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is Away from the tracks, diagonally toward the direction the train is coming from.
The rule behind this one
Safe driving and emergencies in California goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on safe driving and emergencies
- An oncoming vehicle's headlights are so bright that you can barely see the road. Where should you look?
- How far back from the air bag cover should you sit, and how is that distance measured?
- You are using hand-to-hand (push/pull) steering. How should you hold the wheel?
- In which situation does the handbook call for hand-over-hand steering?