Driving in Hazardous Conditions Flashcards
6 cards from real New Zealand Car Driving Test practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Driving in Hazardous Conditions flashcards as text
You are driving on a motorway during a heavy downpour and your car begins to hydroplane, losing contact with the road surface. What is the most appropriate immediate action to take?
Answer: Ease your foot off the accelerator and steer gently where you want to go.
When hydroplaning, sudden actions like hard braking or sharp steering can cause a complete loss of control. The correct procedure is to ease off the accelerator to allow the car to slow down naturally and for the tyres to regain contact with the road, while making only small, gentle steering corrections.
The standard two-second following distance is recommended for good conditions. According to the NZ Road Code, what is the MINIMUM following distance you should use when driving in heavy rain or on a frosty morning?
Answer: It should be increased to at least a four-second rule.
In hazardous conditions like rain or frost, stopping distances are significantly longer. The NZTA Road Code explicitly recommends doubling the following distance from two seconds to at least four seconds to provide a safe buffer for reacting and braking.
You are driving on a cold, clear winter morning. Which of the following locations is most likely to have hazardous black ice?
Answer: The surface of a bridge or an overpass.
Black ice is a thin, transparent layer of ice that forms on road surfaces. Bridges and overpasses are particularly prone to black ice because cold air circulates both above and below the road surface, causing it to freeze faster and stay frozen longer than the ground-level road.
When driving in dense fog during the daytime, which lights should you use to ensure you can be seen by other drivers without reducing your own vision?
Answer: Headlights on dipped (low) beam.
In foggy conditions, high-beam headlights will reflect off the water droplets in the air, creating glare and severely reducing your visibility. Dipped (low) beam headlights are aimed downwards, illuminating the road ahead and making you visible to others without causing this reflection.
You are driving at sunrise and are suddenly affected by severe sunstrike, making it almost impossible to see the road ahead. What is the safest course of action?
Answer: Signal, pull over to a safe position on the left, and stop until your vision improves.
If you are blinded by sunstrike and cannot see the road, continuing to drive is extremely dangerous. The safest action is to slow down, signal, and pull over to a safe place to stop until your vision clears or you can use your sun visor and sunglasses to mitigate the glare.
When driving on a loose gravel (unsealed) road, how should you approach a sharp corner?
Answer: Slow down to a safe speed in a straight line before entering the corner.
On unsealed surfaces, traction is greatly reduced. All braking and speed reduction should be done smoothly and in a straight line before you reach the corner. Braking or accelerating while turning on gravel can easily cause the tyres to lose their grip, leading to a skid.