Safe Driving and Traffic Behaviour: Anticipation and Restraint
Defensive driving as a mindset
The safe-driving domain rewards anticipation. A candidate should understand following distance, reaction time, braking distance, and the way speed multiplies both. The central idea is the two-second rule: choose a fixed object, count two seconds after the vehicle ahead passes it, and adjust. In rain, fog, or darkness, double the gap; on ice, multiply it several times.
Vulnerable road users
Pedestrians, cyclists, and children are protected by specific rules. A driver must give way to pedestrians already on a crossing and must not overtake a vehicle stopped at a crossing. The trap is a question where the pedestrian has not yet stepped onto the crossing but clearly intends to: the safe and legally expected answer is to slow down and give way.
Alcohol, fatigue and distraction
Alcohol, fatigue, and mobile-phone use are the three classic causes of crashes tested here. Know that even a small amount of alcohol slows reaction and narrows attention, and that fatigue cannot be overcome by willpower, only by stopping and resting.
Worked example
You drive at 50 km/h on a wet road and the car ahead brakes suddenly. At 50 km/h you travel about 14 metres per second. With a one-second reaction time you cover 14 metres before braking begins, and wet-road braking adds more. That is why the two-second gap becomes four seconds in rain: the gap is measured in time, not in car lengths.