Safe Driving Practices and Defensive Driving
Safe Driving Practices and Defensive Driving tests whether you drive to avoid collisions rather than merely to obey rules. Dominica's terrain makes this the most practical domain on the paper: steep gradients, narrow verges, heavy rain, landslides and pedestrians walking with the traffic. Questions ask you to spot the developing hazard first and to choose the response that leaves you room.
Build a space cushion
- Keep a two-second gap in dry conditions and at least four seconds in rain or on wet leaves.
- Stopping distance is thinking distance plus braking distance. At 30 mph that is roughly 23 metres on a dry road with good tyres, and it can double in heavy rain.
- Look about twelve seconds ahead, not at the bonnet, so you see the bend, the bus stop and the child before they become an emergency.
Read Dominica's hazards
Watch for rockfall and landslips after heavy rain, potholes filled with water that hide their depth, blind bends where another driver may be overtaking, livestock, pedestrians on road edges where there is no pavement, and minibuses stopping without warning.
Defensive habits
Assume other road users have not seen you. Use your horn briefly on blind bends. Keep an escape route to the side. Do not follow large vehicles so closely that you cannot see the road ahead. Never coast: you lose engine braking exactly when you need it. Keep the windscreen demisted so your view is complete, not partial.
Worked example
You are descending a wet road behind a loaded truck that is braking repeatedly. The defensive answer is not to overtake into the unknown. Drop back to at least four seconds, which restores your view of the road past the truck, and wait until you reach a straight section where you can see the whole overtaking space and no side road or driveway feeds into it. Only then consider a pass.
Traps
Tailgating to prevent others pulling in; carrying too much speed into a bend and braking halfway round; overtaking on a blind crest; keeping the two-second gap in pouring rain; and driving on when tired because the trip is short.