Hazard Awareness
Hazard Awareness tests whether you spot trouble developing before it reaches you. Questions describe everyday scenes and ask what you should do next: which hazard is developing, what you should anticipate, and how you should adjust speed and position. The winning habit is to look far ahead, read the clues and have a plan before you need it.
Scanning and anticipation
Look well beyond the vehicle in front - roughly the distance you would cover in 12 to 15 seconds - and use mirrors to keep the picture behind you. Watch side roads, driveways, pavements and gaps between parked vehicles. Ease off the accelerator and cover the brake when something might develop, and always keep an escape route in mind, such as the gap beside an obstacle.
Where hazards come from
Parked cars hide doors opening, children, pedestrians and balls. Junction traffic edges out; never enter a junction you cannot clear. Queues ripple brake lights back towards you. Cyclists swerve round drains, riders need extra room, and children near schools or crossings act without warning.
Gibraltar has hazards of its own. Barbary macaques near the Upper Rock may sit on the road: slow down, expect more of them, never feed them and never drive round a bend assuming the road is clear. Where the road crosses the airport runway at Winston Churchill Avenue, barriers and red lights mean stop and wait - never cross while the lights show or the barriers are moving, and never stop on the crossing itself.
Conditions
In rain or Levanter cloud, switch on dipped headlights, slow down and increase the gap. Low sun can dazzle: slow and look towards the edge of your lane rather than into the glare. Crosswinds affect cyclists, motorcyclists and high-sided vans most.
Worked example
A ball bounces out from between parked cars. Reasoning: a child is likely to follow it, so brake now and prepare to stop - do not swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid the ball. Sound the horn only if it helps warn someone. Once the child appears, you are already at a speed that lets you stop.
Traps that cost marks
- Fixating on the first hazard and missing the second.
- Assuming an indicator means the driver will actually turn.
- Swerving instead of slowing when something enters the road.
- Speeding up again the moment you have passed a hazard.