Safety Margins Flashcards
When going downhill, how do you control your speed?
- Lower gear
- Braking gently
What is coasting?
- Travelling in neutral
- Travelling with clutch pressed down
Why shouldnt you coast?
Reduces your control
What is the overall stopping distance made up of?
Thinking distance and braking distance
What distance between you and another car should there be when it’s raining?
Double the distance
What distance between you and another car should there be when it’s icy?
10x the distance
How should you drive when it’s icy?
- Highest gear
- Brake gently in plenty of time
How should you drive when it’s foggy?
- Allow more time for your journey
- Slow down
- Increase gap between your vehicle and the one in front
- Use dipped headlights
- Use fog lights when visibility falls below 100m
What is aquaplaning?
- May happen in heavy rain
- Tyres lift off the road surface and shake on a film of water
- Steering becomes light
- On ice, the tyres hardly make any noise
What do you do if aquaplaning happens?
- Ease off accelerator
- Don’t brake until steering feels normal again
Who causes skidding?
Driver
How do you reduce the risk of skidding?
- Drive at a low speed
- In as high a gear as possible
What should you do if you start to skid?
- Release the footbrake and reapply it gently
- Steer smoothly in the direction of the skid
How should you use anti-lock brakes when you need to stop in an emergency?
Brake promptly and firmly until you’ve stopped
How can you use your vehicles engine as a brake?
By changing to a lower gear
