Safe Riding Practices and Hazard Awareness
Safe riding practices and hazard awareness
This domain tests defensive riding: seeing hazards early, being seen, braking correctly, and handling poor surfaces, corners and other road users. The exam rewards riders who plan ahead rather than react late.
Be seen and be predictable
Ride with your headlight on, wear bright or reflective clothing, and avoid sitting in a driver's blind spot. Signal early, check before every manoeuvre, and hold a steady line. Do not weave through traffic.
Braking and surfaces
Use both brakes together, with the front brake providing most of the stopping power; apply them progressively. On wet roads, gravel, sand, painted lines and manhole covers, grip is reduced. Slow down before these hazards and avoid braking or turning sharply on them. Increase your following gap to at least four seconds in rain.
Corners and hills
Slow down before a bend, look through the curve, and accelerate gently on the way out. Do not brake hard mid-corner. On hills, choose a gear that keeps control; do not coast.
Sharing the road
Expect buses to stop suddenly, three-wheelers to change direction, pedestrians to step out, and animals on rural roads. Give cyclists and pedestrians room. Never ride in the blind spot of a lorry.
Worked example
You are riding in rain and see a bus stop ahead with a child standing near the edge. Correct response: reduce speed early, cover the brakes, increase your gap from the vehicle ahead, and be ready to stop. The child may step out; wet roads lengthen stopping distance.
Traps
- Using only the rear brake.
- Overtaking on a bend.
- Following too closely in rain.
- Assuming a driver has seen you.