Safe Riding Practices and Defensive Riding
What this domain tests
Defensive riding is about seeing hazards early and leaving yourself an escape. The DOTM paper tests scanning, following distance, braking, and riding in poor visibility.
Core habits
- Scan far ahead, not just the vehicle in front. Look for brake lights, pedestrians between parked vehicles, and animals.
- Keep a two-second gap in dry conditions and at least four seconds in rain, gravel, or poor light.
- Ride where you can be seen and where you have an escape path: avoid blind spots beside buses and trucks.
- Cover the brakes when approaching a hazard, but brake progressively. Use both brakes; the front brake provides most stopping power on good surfaces.
- On wet or gravel roads, reduce speed, avoid sudden steering, and brake earlier.
- Use your headlight in rain, fog, and at dusk.
Worked example
A bus stops ahead on a narrow road. You see passengers standing near the front. The defensive response is to slow, cover the brakes, and prepare to stop. Reasoning: a passenger may step out from in front of the bus, and your sight line is blocked. Overtaking the stopped bus at speed is a trap.
Traps that cost marks
Target fixation, grabbing the front brake on gravel, and relying on the horn instead of reducing speed are common. Assuming a driver has seen you because you are in front is another error.