Safe Driving, Hazard Perception and Defensive Driving
What this domain tests
Safe driving, hazard perception and defensive driving examines whether you see a hazard before it becomes an emergency, on roads where motorcycles, pedestrians, livestock and mixed traffic share the lane.
Following distance and scanning
- Minimum two seconds behind the vehicle in front when dry; four seconds when wet, loaded or tired, and more at night.
- Look 12–15 seconds ahead, not at the bumper in front. Sweep the mirrors every five to eight seconds.
- A heavy vehicle cannot stop or swerve like a car; the gap you leave is your only steering wheel.
Reading the road
- Motorcycles filter on both sides and pull out of side roads without stopping: check mirrors and blind spots before every lane change or turn.
- Children, cyclists and street vendors near schools and markets are unpredictable; cover the brake.
- Livestock and dogs on rural national roads: slow early, do not swerve into oncoming traffic.
- In the monsoon, visibility drops and the surface holds water. Ease off, increase the gap, and never drive into floodwater of unknown depth - the road may be gone underneath.
- At a railway crossing, stop, look and listen; a loaded truck cannot outrun a train.
- Overtake only with a clear line of sight, never on a solid line, crest, bridge or bend.
Worked example
You are doing 50 km/h on a wet national road. That is about 14 m/s, so a four-second gap is roughly 56 m. Pick a roadside marker, count four seconds to reach it, and adjust.
Traps
Believing right of way protects you - it does not; the defensive answer is always to give way to the hazard. Also: assuming an indicator means the other driver has seen you.