Safe Driving Behaviour and Hazard Awareness
Hazard-awareness questions present a scene and ask what you should do next. The exam is testing observation, anticipation and restraint - whether you spot the herder, the unlit truck, the child between parked cars or the sand drift before it becomes an emergency.
Observation
Scan far ahead, then middle distance, then near; check mirrors every few seconds and always before braking or changing lane. Check the blind spot by turning your head, not just by trusting the mirror. On approach to a market, a school or a village, assume pedestrians and animals will enter the road without looking.
Reading the hazard
- Livestock and herders: slow early, expect sudden movement, never sound the horn close behind animals.
- Unlit vehicles and donkey carts at night: reduce speed so your stopping distance stays inside your lit view.
- Dust storms and blowing sand: dipped headlights, no full beam, big gaps, and if visibility falls below what you can stop in, leave the carriageway and stop with lights off the road.
- Sand on tarmac, potholes and soft edges: hold the wheel, ease off the throttle, avoid sudden braking or swerving.
- Fatigue on long desert runs: heat plus monotony is as dangerous as alcohol. Stop, walk, drink water, sleep before continuing.
Worked example
A dust cloud reduces visibility to about 30 m on a two-lane road and a truck is close behind. Reasoning: at 30 m of visibility you cannot stop from 90 km/h, so speed must fall until your stopping distance fits inside what you can see. You brake gently, switch to dipped beams, do not use full beam because it reflects off the dust, and if the cloud thickens you indicate, leave the road, and stop well clear of the carriageway.
Traps that cost marks
Using full beam in fog or dust; swerving instead of slowing for a sand patch; and assuming the other driver has seen you when you have not made eye contact.