Speed limits
Near a railroad crossing where you cannot see far down the tracks, the limit is normally 15 mph. When may you drive faster than 15 mph there?
- When the crossing is controlled by gates, a warning signal or a flagman. Correct answer
- When you cannot hear a train horn or bell.
- When the crossing has only a single track.
Why
The 15 mph limit covers the last 100 feet before a crossing when your view of the tracks falls short of 400 feet in each direction. It no longer applies when gates, a warning signal or a flagman controls the crossing. Silence is not control. The handbook tells you to expect a train on any track, at any time, from either direction, so not hearing one proves nothing. The single-track answer fails too, since the rule says nothing about how many tracks there are, and many crossings have more than one. Even at a controlled crossing, flashing red lights mean you stop and wait until they stop flashing, even if the gate goes up.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is When the crossing is controlled by gates, a warning signal or a flagman.
The rule behind this one
California speed limits and the basic speed law goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on speed limits
- Which of these does the handbook define as an alley?
- You reach an intersection with no stop signs on any corner, and buildings block your view of the cross street. Besides keeping within the speed limit, what does the handbook tell you to do?
- At night you drive out of a brightly lit parking lot onto a dark road. What does the handbook advise?
- You are driving in strong, gusty winds. Which of these does the handbook recommend?