Safe Driving Behaviour and Hazard Awareness
Scanning and space
Safe driving is mostly about what you do before something happens. Use a far-ahead scan, check mirrors regularly, and keep a crash-avoidance space around the car. In good conditions, a following distance of at least two seconds is the minimum; double it in rain, at night, on gravel, or when towing, and use the four-second rule in poor conditions. The NT adds long open-road distances, wildlife, road trains and flooding, so space and speed choice matter more than reaction time alone.
Fatigue and impairment
Fatigue is a major killer on long NT trips. Plan breaks, share driving, and stop at the first signs of tiredness - yawning, drifting, heavy eyes, missing signs. Alcohol, drugs (including some medicines) and distraction all lengthen reaction time and narrow attention. Mobile phone use while driving is illegal unless in a permitted hands-free arrangement, and even hands-free conversation reduces attention.
Hazard perception
A hazard is anything that may force you to change speed or direction. Look for cues: brake lights two cars ahead, pedestrians near a crossing, a ball rolling into the road, dust or headlights over a crest, animals at the roadside at dawn and dusk. Cover the brake rather than swerving. In wet or flooded conditions, never drive into water of unknown depth - turn around.
Traps in questions
Questions often offer a "polite" but unsafe answer (wave someone through when you have right of way, or speed up to beat a light). Others test whether you know that the two-second gap is a minimum in ideal conditions, not a target in rain. Watch for options that say you should sound the horn or flash lights as a first response; the correct answer is usually to slow, increase space and be prepared to stop.
Worked example
You are following a truck on a wet highway at 100 km/h with a two-second gap. Rain doubles stopping distance, so increase to at least four seconds: pick a fixed object, and when the truck passes it, count - you should not reach it for four seconds. If not, drop speed until the gap is right.