Safety, accident prevention and behaviour in hazardous situations
This domain is about avoiding trouble and managing it when it arrives: pre-trip checks, hazard perception, driving to the conditions, and the correct sequence after a breakdown or blowout with passengers on board.
Before you move
- Walk around the combination: coupling and breakaway cable, all lights, tyre condition and pressure, load security, doors and emergency exits, mirrors, fluids.
- Adjust speed and gap to load, weather, visibility and road surface - the legal limit is a ceiling, not a target.
Space and hazard perception
- Scan 12–15 seconds ahead and keep a following distance that leaves room for the trailer's extra stopping distance.
- Expect the specific hazards of minibus work: cyclists and mopeds at junctions, children near stops and schools, passengers standing up before the vehicle has stopped, farm machinery on rural roads.
- In rain, fog or spray use dipped headlights. Rear fog lights only when visibility is seriously reduced (around 50 m or less), and switch them off as soon as it improves to avoid dazzling following traffic.
When something fails
- Tyre blowout: hold the wheel firmly, release the accelerator, brake gently once the car is straight, indicate and steer gradually to a safe stop.
- Aquaplaning: ease off, keep the steering still, no sudden braking.
- Brake or engine failure: shift down, use the handbrake progressively, look for an escape route rather than a perfect one.
- Motorway breakdown: hazard lights, warning triangle placed well behind the vehicle (about 100 m on a motorway), passengers out on the safe side and behind the barrier, 112 or an emergency phone.
At an accident
- Secure the scene, call 112, give first aid within your competence, do not move casualties unless they are in immediate danger, note what happened and give way to emergency vehicles.
Worked example
A front tyre blows at 80 km/h with a loaded trailer. Correct sequence: grip the wheel with both hands, release the accelerator, avoid hard braking because weight transfer plus the trailer's push will pull you off line, keep the combination straight, indicate, let the speed fall, steer gently onto the hard shoulder, hazard lights on, triangle out, passengers out on the traffic-free side behind the barrier, then call 112.
Traps that cost marks
- Slamming the brakes after a blowout.
- Stopping in a live lane instead of reaching the hard shoulder.
- Letting passengers stand on the traffic side of the vehicle.
- Forgetting the trailer when changing lanes or rejoining traffic.