Road Safety, Accident Prevention and Traffic Regulations
Candidates must command the traffic rules that govern safe driving and the principles of accident prevention. Core content: speed limits and the duty to adapt speed to conditions; priority rules at intersections and roundabouts; overtaking rules; lane discipline; signalling and indicating; rules on stopping and parking; and the specific obligations near pedestrians, cyclists, and at level crossings. Study following distance (the two-second rule and its wet-weather extension), the physics of stopping distance (perception, reaction, braking), and the effect of load, weather and fatigue on it.
Learn the accident procedure: stop, secure the scene, warn other traffic, give assistance, exchange details, and report to the authorities where required. Understand the driver's duties after a collision and the concept of the presumed cause in accident reconstruction. Know the rules on alcohol, drugs and medication, and on mobile-phone use.
Traps: applying a general speed limit where a lower specific limit applies (built-up areas, near schools); misjudging priority at unmarked junctions; and forgetting that stopping distance grows with the square of speed. Questions often ask the first action after an accident - securing the scene and warning traffic usually precedes paperwork.
Worked rule of thumb: doubling speed roughly quadruples braking distance. At 50 km/h a dry-road stop may be ~25–30 m; at 100 km/h expect four times the braking component, plus reaction distance.