Zimbabwe road rules covering defensive driving tips, 3 rules. Ready to test yourself? Try Defensive Driving Tips practice questions.
Defensive driving is driving on the assumption that somebody else is about to make a mistake, and leaving yourself the room and the time to survive it. It means reading the road far enough ahead to see trouble forming, allowing for the weather, the light, the surface and the state of your vehicle, and never relying on another driver doing the correct thing.
- Be prepared for anything. Expect the other driver to speed up, slow down, pull out or cut across a lane. - Keep your mind on the driving. Eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel. You may not hold a communication device while driving. - Look well ahead for changes in the traffic and the road surface. A row of brake lights in the distance is a reason to slow down now. - Keep checking your rear view and side mirrors, so you know what is behind you before you need to. - Learn where your mirrors do not see. Turn your head and check the blind spot before changing lane, particularly for motorcycles. - Keep a following distance of one vehicle length for every 15 km/h you are doing, and stretch it in rain, dust and darkness. - Give way to the driver who is determined to get there first. Being in the right is no protection. - Watch the edges of the road for sudden movement: pedestrians, cyclists, dogs and stray livestock. - Keep to the left, and move right only to overtake or to turn right. - Obey the limit. It is 60 km/h in an urban area, and on the open road 120 km/h for a light motor vehicle and 80 km/h for a heavy one. A limit is a maximum, not a safe speed in every condition. - Obey the signs, the road markings and the robots. A police officer directing traffic overrides all of them. - Signal early and clearly, at least 50 m before a turn in town and 100 m on a main road. - Do not drive under the influence of alcohol, drugs or fatigue, and read the label on any medicine you have taken. - Match your speed to the weather, the light and the traffic, not to the sign alone. - Walk round the vehicle and look underneath it before you move off, and behind it before you reverse. - Carry the kit: a jack and its accessories, an inflated spare wheel, a first aid kit, a reflective jacket and warning triangles. - Lock the vehicle and take the keys with you when you leave it. - Use the hooter only for safety, never to hurry somebody or express an opinion.
The formula is short: recognising the hazard, plus the decision to act on the defensive, equals safety. Three things can be the hazard, and the first of them is usually the driver.
The VID questions set on these rules, each with the reason its answer is right.
