A 3-minute lesson from the Rhode Island course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
When a crash is coming, what you do in the last few seconds changes how bad it is. Head-on collisions cause more serious injuries and deaths than any other type, so the handbook's advice is to steer right, never left.
Know the rule
Head-on collisions may cause more serious injury, and are more likely to result in death, than any other type of crash.
An oncoming car drifts across the center line toward you. Brake hard, sound the horn and flash your lights. If it keeps coming, steer right toward the shoulder—even off the road—rather than swerving left into the lane it may return to.
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.
If you're threatened with a head-on collision, which direction should you steer?
Right, toward the shoulder or curb-line
Left, into the oncoming driver's original lane
Straight, and brake as hard as possible
It doesn't matter as long as you brake
Answer: Right, toward the shoulder or curb-line
Steer right toward the shoulder or curb-line; never steer left, since the other driver will likely try to correct back into their lane.