Safe Driving Practices and Defensive Driving
What the exam tests
Defensive-driving questions ask you to choose the safest response to weather, traffic, distraction, and fatigue. Georgia adds its hands-free law and work-zone rules, so know both general principles and state-specific limits.
Core rules
- Following distance: use at least three seconds in good conditions. Add a second or more in rain, and much more on ice or in heavy fog. The three-second rule is a minimum, not a target. Keep a space cushion on all sides and avoid riding in another driver's blind spot.
- Speed: the posted limit is a maximum for ideal conditions; Georgia's basic speed law requires a speed reasonable for traffic, visibility, and road surface. Slow down in work zones, where fines can double when workers are present.
- Distraction: Georgia's hands-free law bars holding or supporting a phone while driving. Drivers 18 and over may use voice commands and one earbud; drivers under 18 may not use a phone at all. Texting is banned for all.
- Bad weather: use low beams in fog, not high beams; ease off the accelerator if you hydroplane and avoid hard braking; do not use cruise control on wet roads.
- Skids and fatigue: steer into a skid and ease off the gas; stop for rest rather than relying on caffeine.
Worked example
You are driving 55 mph on a wet two-lane road and the car ahead is two seconds away. Its brake lights come on. Reasoning: rain increases stopping distance, and two seconds leaves no margin. You should have been at four or more seconds; now you brake firmly but smoothly, avoid swerving into oncoming traffic, and increase space once the car moves. The correct exam answer is not to honk and stay close.
Traps that cost marks
- Thinking hands-free means risk-free; manipulating a mounted phone still distracts.
- Using high beams in fog, which reflect glare back.
- Braking hard while hydroplaning, which can cause a spin.
- Treating the posted speed as automatically safe in rain or a work zone.