Driving Safety: Stopping, Following, Intersections, Highways, Parking and Passing

Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Florida Class E knowledge exam. The facts follow the official handbook; the wording is ours.

Source: Florida Class E Driver License Handbook, rev. 08/2023, chapter "Driving Safety" (pp. 59–70).

Before you start the engine

Check the brakes (the pedal must stay well above the floor; pulling to one side or scraping and squealing means repair), lights, tire pressure and tread, and clean the glass. If the rear window is covered so you cannot see through it, the vehicle needs side mirrors on both sides showing at least 200 feet back. Then, before turning the key: vehicle in park or neutral, seat adjusted so you reach every control, mirrors adjusted so you use them without leaning, nothing blocking your view, doors locked, and everyone belted.

Backing up

Walk around and check behind the vehicle before you get in; children and small objects are invisible from the seat. Put your right arm on the back of the passenger seat and turn to look straight through the rear window. Mirrors cannot show what is directly behind you, and cameras and alarms do not always detect small children or animals. Back slowly, since the vehicle is harder to steer in reverse, and use a helper outside when you can.

Blind spots and stopping distance

Blind spots are the areas near the left and right rear corners that neither the mirrors nor your peripheral vision show. Before changing lanes, passing or turning, turn your head to check them. Do not linger in another driver's blind spot: move ahead or drop back. The bigger the vehicle, the bigger the blind spots; trucks and SUVs cannot see close behind them at all.

Stopping is three distances added together, all measured in good weather:

• Perception distance: how far you travel between seeing a hazard and recognizing it. An alert driver takes ¾ second to 1 second.
• Reaction distance: how far you travel between recognizing the hazard and hitting the brake, another ¾ to 1 second. At 50 mph that is 55 feet.
• Braking distance: how far you travel while braking. At 50 mph on dry pavement with good brakes, about 158 feet.

At 50 mph the total stopping distance is at least 268 feet, nearly a football field. Speed multiplies everything: double the speed and braking distance and force of impact are four times greater; triple it and they are nine times greater; quadruple it, sixteen times.

Following distance

Rear-end collisions almost always come from following too closely. Keep at least a four-second gap in good conditions, and more in bad ones. To measure it, watch the vehicle ahead pass a fixed marker such as a sign or pole, then count "one-thousand-one … one-thousand-four"; if you reach the marker before the count ends, drop back and count again.

Increase the gap in rain or on wet roads; in low visibility such as dusk, dawn, night or fog; when being passed, so the pass can be completed; when carrying a heavy load or towing; when stopped behind a vehicle on a hill that may roll back; and when following motorcycles (more likely to fall on wet, gravel or metal surfaces), emergency vehicles (it is illegal to follow a fire truck answering a call closer than 500 feet), vehicles that must stop at railroad crossings such as buses and hazmat trucks, and vehicles whose drivers cannot see behind them. If someone tailgates you, slow down and keep right.

A truck, or any vehicle towing another, must not follow within 300 feet of another truck or towed vehicle, except when passing or inside cities and towns.

Intersections and right-of-way

Right-of-way rules say who goes first and who waits; the law says who must yield. Everyone, including pedestrians and cyclists, must do everything possible to avoid a crash.

• At a stop line, stop completely, then yield to traffic already in the intersection and to pedestrians and bicyclists. Look both ways, and look right before a right turn.
• At an all-way stop, vehicles go in order of arrival; when two arrive together, each yields to the driver on the right. At a two-way stop, a turning vehicle yields to one going straight.
• Leaving a driveway, alley or roadside, yield to traffic on the road and to pedestrians and cyclists on the sidewalk or in bike lanes.
• At an open intersection (no signs or signals), yield when a vehicle is already in it, when you enter or cross a state highway from a secondary road, when you enter a paved road from an unpaved one, and when you are turning left and a vehicle is coming the other way.

Roundabouts

Traffic circulates counter-clockwise. Entering drivers yield to traffic already in the circle; with no traffic you may enter without yielding. Do not change lanes or stop inside the roundabout, and signal before you exit. In a multi-lane roundabout choose your lane before entering: the right lane to go straight or right; the left lane to go straight, left or make a U-turn. Yield to pedestrians in the crosswalks on the way in and out; bicyclists may take the lane or use the sidewalk.

Limited access highways

Expressways, interstates, turnpikes, toll roads and freeways have no stop signs, signals or railroad crossings. Pedestrians, hitchhikers, bicycles, animal-drawn vehicles and motor scooters of 150 cc or less are not allowed on them.

Entering: every entrance has a ramp, an acceleration lane and a merging area. On the ramp, look for a gap and signal; speed up as the ramp straightens into the acceleration lane; match traffic speed by its end; merge when safe. You must yield to traffic already on the highway. Do not stop in the acceleration lane unless traffic is so heavy there is no safe gap.

Leaving: get into the exit lane early (most exits are on the right), signal, slow down in the deceleration lane, and respect the posted ramp speed. Never make a last-minute swerve for an exit; if you miss your exit, go on to the next one.

Reminders: plan ahead, since Florida exit numbers match the mile markers; drive in the right lane and pass on the left, and make room for vehicles entering; never cross or park on the median; never stop on the pavement, shoulder or a ramp except in an emergency, and a broken-down vehicle must be moved completely off the pavement (and not left more than six hours); do not tailgate, since rear-end crashes are the greatest danger on these roads; never back up on a ramp, with one exception: if you see a WRONG WAY or DO NOT ENTER sign or red reflectors on the lane lines, you must back up or turn around; stop driving when tired; and obey the Move Over law.

The Move Over law

It protects police, emergency workers, tow trucks, sanitation and utility workers, and road maintenance or construction vehicles stopped with warning lights on, and also disabled vehicles showing hazard lights, flares or signs, or with people visibly present. On a multi-lane road, leave the lane next to the stopped vehicle, signaling the change; if you cannot move over safely, slow to 20 mph below the limit. Drivers in the other lanes should let those moving over in. On a two-lane road, slow to 20 mph below the limit, or to 5 mph when the limit is 20 or less.

Speed

Speed limits are the fastest you may drive in good conditions; in a storm you should drive slower. Florida's standard limits, unless posted otherwise: school zones 20 mph; municipal, business and residential areas 30 mph; other streets and highways 55 mph; limited access highways 70 mph, which is the highest limit in the state. There is no "buffer": driving even a little over the limit is a citable offense. Driving too slowly is also illegal when it blocks or delays normal traffic; keep right when slower than the flow, and where the limit is 70 mph the minimum is 50 mph.

Stopping smoothly

Sudden stops cause rear-end crashes. Check mirrors and blind spots for traffic behind, ease off the accelerator, then press the brake with steady pressure so the brake lights warn following drivers.

Lanes and turning

• On a two-lane road, drive in the right lane except when passing where permitted. With four or more lanes and two-way traffic, use the right lanes except to pass.
• The center lane of a three- or five-lane road is for left turns only.
• Signals are required by law for turns, lane changes and passing, and must be given at least 100 feet before the turn. Hand signals are given from the left side of the vehicle: arm straight out for a left turn, bent up for a right turn, bent down for slow or stop. It is illegal to use your turn signals to wave a following driver past you.
• HOV lanes, marked by signs and diamond symbols and separated by a striped buffer, are reserved for vehicles with two or more occupants or for low-emission vehicles carrying the FLHSMV decal; enter and leave only at designated points.
• Red reflectors facing you on the lane lines mean you are on the wrong side of the road: get into the proper lane or turn around at once. Red reflectors on the edge lines mean you are going the wrong way on a ramp: pull over immediately and turn around when safe.

Making a turn

Slow to a safe speed, move into the correct lane as you approach, signal at least 100 feet ahead and give others time to see it, obey any NO TURN ON RED or STOP HERE sign, yield to bicyclists when crossing a bike lane and to pedestrians crossing your path, stay in your lane through the turn while yielding to oncoming vehicles and bicycles, and finish in the proper lane: a right turn ends in the right lane of the new road; a left turn may end in any lane lawfully available for your direction. If you are not in the proper lane when you reach the intersection, go on to the next one and turn from the right lane there.

Three-point turns

Use one only when the road is too narrow for a U-turn and you cannot go around the block. Move far right, check traffic, signal left, turn the wheel sharply left and move slowly forward to the far curb; shift to reverse, turn the wheel sharply right, check traffic, and back to the near curb; shift to drive and pull away. Never make a three-point turn or U-turn on a curve, on a hill, on the highway, or where a sign prohibits U-turns.

Parking

Park as far from traffic as you can, on the shoulder if there is one, on the right side of the road (except on a one-way street), parallel to the curb in the direction of traffic with the right wheels within 12 inches of the curb. Set the parking brake, shift to Park (automatic) or Reverse (manual), turn off the engine, take the keys, and lock up. Check for bicyclists and traffic before opening the door, and before pulling out, check the road, signal and yield.

Parking on hills

Turn the wheels so a rolling car goes away from traffic or into the curb:

• Downhill: wheels toward the curb.
• Uphill with a curb: wheels away from the curb.
• Uphill without a curb: wheels to the right, toward the roadside.

Set the parking brake; a manual transmission goes into Reverse downhill and First uphill, an automatic into Park; then switch off.

Where you may not park

On crosswalks, sidewalks, bike lanes, intersections, bridges, overpasses, in tunnels, in front of driveways, at yellow curbs, on highway pavement not marked for parking, anywhere that blocks or endangers others, in NO PARKING or disabled-permit zones, or beside another parked vehicle (double parking). Nor within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, 20 feet of an intersection, 20 feet of a fire, ambulance or rescue station entrance, 30 feet of a flashing signal, stop sign or traffic signal, 30 feet of a rural mailbox on a state highway between 8 am and 6 pm, or 50 feet of a railroad crossing. A properly parked vehicle in a space is centered, with no part in the traffic lane.

Passing

1. Stay well back from the vehicle you want to pass; the closer you are, the less you can see ahead. 2. Signal before moving into the left lane. 3. Check your blind spots and be sure you have time and room. 4. Tap the horn by day, or flash the headlights at night, to warn the driver you are passing. 5. Do not move back right until you see the passed vehicle's tires in your rear-view mirror, and signal the return. 6. Be back on the right side before coming within 200 feet of any oncoming vehicle.

Pass one vehicle at a time, and never exceed the speed limit to pass. You must not pass where a solid line divides the lanes, where the double yellow is solid on your side, in Do Not Pass or No Passing zones, on hills or curves where you cannot see 500 feet ahead, within 100 feet of an intersection, bridge, viaduct, tunnel or railroad crossing, when a school bus is stopped with flashers and stop arm out, or at a crosswalk where a vehicle has stopped for a pedestrian.

Being passed: do not speed up; keep to the right of your lane to give the passer room and a view. Florida law requires a driver to move out of the left lane when overtaken from behind by a faster vehicle.

Passing on the right is legal only where two or more lanes move in the same direction, or when the vehicle ahead is turning left.

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