You must cross railroad tracks that run almost parallel to the direction you are travelling. What is the safest way to cross them?

Why A is correct

Tracks running nearly alongside the road are treacherous because the crossing angle is so shallow that a tyre can follow the rail instead of crossing it, and once a wheel drops into the channel beside the steel there is very little steering authority left. The safer move is to change lane position before you reach the rails so that you meet them as near to perpendicular as the roadway permits. That shortens the time each wheel spends alongside the steel and gives it a clean path over. Make the adjustment before the crossing begins, never while you are on it.

Why the other options are wrong

B. Shift down a gear immediately before reaching the rails

Changing gear while traversing the rails risks stalling or losing momentum over the crossing itself. Any gear change belongs before the rails, not on them.

C. Cross at whatever angle the lane naturally offers

The angle the lane happens to offer is the problem rather than the solution. Shallow crossings are precisely where dropped wheels and lost steering occur.

D. Accelerate so the wheels do not catch

Added speed does nothing to improve the geometry and everything to worsen the consequences. A wheel caught in the channel at higher speed is far less recoverable.

On the road

A motorcyclist meets a shallow set of rails at a shallow angle, and the front tyre tracks the rail instead of crossing it with no steering available to correct. The same rails taken square give the tyre a clean path and nothing to follow.

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