A 4-minute lesson from the Montana course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Before you drive, decide whether you're fit to drive and whether the trip is needed. Then make sure the vehicle is safe: a car in bad shape costs more to run and can break down or cause a collision.
Plan trips to drive less
Take public transportation when it's available
Avoid driving in heavy traffic — it wears on you and the vehicle
Use carpools or share rides
Combine errands and take the shortest distance between places
Call ahead to be sure what you need is available or ready
Check turn signals, brake lights, taillights and headlamps from outside the vehicle. If other drivers often flash their headlights at you, have your headlight aim checked.
Exhaust fumes from a leak can kill in a very short time and can make you drowsy. Never run the motor in your garage, and never sit in a running car without opening a window.
Keep packages off the rear shelf and back seat where they could hit someone in a sudden stop, and keep objects off the floor where they could roll under the brake pedal.
Your car pulls to the right and the steering wheel shakes at highway speed. Have a mechanic check it — unbalanced tires or low pressure make a vehicle harder to steer and stop, and wear tires faster.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
What should you do if your brakes make unusual noise or the brake pedal goes to the floor?
Have a mechanic check them
Continue driving carefully
Add brake fluid and keep driving
Pump the brakes before each stop
Answer: Have a mechanic check them
Unusual brake noise or a pedal that goes to the floor means you should have a mechanic inspect the brakes immediately.