Vehicle Operation, Control, and Pre-Trip Inspection
Inspection before movement
A pre-trip inspection is a checklist, and candidates should be able to recite it in order: walk-around for tires (tread depth, sidewall damage, correct pressure), fluid leaks, lights and lenses, mirrors, body damage, and obstructions; then the driver's station - seat position, head-restraint height (top at or above ear level), mirror adjustment, belt, gauges, warning lights, horn, wipers and washers, brake feel and pedal reserve. Verify child restraints and check that the parking brake releases fully. A defect that affects safety grounds the vehicle.
Control fundamentals
Teach the 9-and-3 or 8-and-4 steering grip, push-pull and hand-over-hand methods, and hand position discipline around airbags. Lane changes follow mirror-signal-shoulder-check-head; backing uses the GOAL habit (Get Out And Look) plus mirror reference points and a spotter when available. Hill parking: with a curb, turn the front wheels away from the curb facing uphill (so the tire rolls back into the curb), toward the curb facing downhill; without a curb, turn toward the edge of the road in both cases. Set the parking brake and place the transmission in Park or the appropriate gear.
Braking: with ABS, apply firm, continuous pressure and steer - do not pump. Without ABS, threshold braking or cadence braking applies. Know the signs of brake fade, tire blowout (hold the wheel, ease off the accelerator, avoid hard braking), and loss of power steering.
Trap
The hill-parking direction is the single most commonly reversed fact on exams: uphill with a curb = wheels away from the curb.
Worked example
A student parks facing downhill against a curb and turns the wheels away from it. Demonstrate with a wheel model that gravity would roll the vehicle into traffic; reversing the wheels directs any roll into the curb.