Driving Hazards and Emergencies: Distraction, Teen Risks, Avoiding Collisions, Rollovers, Skids, Vehicle Failures, Breakdowns, Floods, Submersion, Crashes and Emergency Vehicles: Visual, Manual and Cognitive Distraction, the Under-17 Phone Ban, Eleven Ways to Avoid Distraction, Why Teens Crash, the Four Crash Factors and the 95 Percent, Pumping Versus ABS, Turning and Speeding Up to Escape, an Oncoming Car in Your Lane, Helping a Passing Driver, Bracing for Rear and Side Hits, Rollovers and Overcorrection, Steering Out of a Skid, ESP, Wheels Off the Pavement, Stalling on the Tracks, Blowouts, a Stuck Pedal, Brake Failure, Overheating, Fire, Jump-Starting, Breakdowns, Carbon Monoxide, Six Inches and Two Feet of Water, POGO, Duties After a Crash, Steer It Clear and the Move Over Law

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

Source: Louisiana Class D & E Driver's Guide (OMV, R08/25 edition), Chapter 8 "Driving Hazards and Emergencies" (pages 110–121).

Distracted driving

Things happen fast, so know how to handle emergencies; the worst hazards are phone use, weather, alcohol, drowsiness, aggression, unintended acceleration and eating or drinking. Before starting, never drive impaired, scan around, under and behind the parked car, adjust seat and mirrors, belt everyone and remove distractions. Distraction is any non-driving activity that raises crash risk, and drivers may be distracted half the time. The three types are visual (eyes off the road), manual (hands off the wheel) and cognitive (mind elsewhere); texting is the most alarming because it involves all three. Other distractions include phone calls, eating, passengers, grooming, reading including phone maps, navigation, video and the radio. Remember that distractions differ in risk, that cognitive distraction is real and hands-free phones do not remove it, that texting is very high risk with teens the highest risk group, and that phone use is the number-one distraction in crashes; under Louisiana law no one 17 or younger may use any wireless device to call, text or read while driving. Concentrate: no daydreaming, intense conversation or scenery-gazing. To avoid distraction, turn the phone off or silent, leave a message saying you cannot answer, pull over to call, let a passenger call, never text, surf or read email, plan and study directions before leaving, secure pets, pull over to deal with a child, use a passenger as co-pilot, groom at home, and never reach for dropped items.

Teenage risk

Teens crash and die more than any other group and are 50 percent likelier to crash in their first month driving alone; inexperience, risk-taking, immaturity, exposure, late-night drowsiness and peer pressure all contribute, teens lead in single-vehicle crashes, one in three teen deaths is a crash, and 53 percent of teen crashes happen on weekends. Teens name alcohol and texting as the top unsafe behaviors, but the top factors in fatal teen crashes are unsafe speed and not wearing seat belts. Over two-thirds admit near misses, half of them repeatedly, yet few connect bad habits to close calls; teens master the basics quickly but struggle to stay focused, are distracted by the radio, phones and other teens, and only one in five reports parents coaching safe habits. Risk rises with each teen passenger; in 2016, 818 teen drivers and 569 passengers died in teen-driven vehicles, 58 percent of the passengers unbelted, and drivers 16 to 19 die at four times the rate of those 25 to 29. Teen crashes are different: more speeding, single-vehicle crashes, driver error and passengers, hence graduated licensing.

Avoiding collisions

Four factors cause most collisions: equipment failure (brakes, tires, steering, suspension), roadway design, poor maintenance (debris, potholes, construction) and driver behavior (speeding, tailgating, aggression, unsafe lane changes, no signal, no yielding); driver behavior combines with another factor in 95 percent of collisions. Do not panic in the seconds before a possible crash. Keep loose items in the trunk and carry a collision kit with paper, pen, insurance and medical information and supplies. Know your brakes: with a manual (non-ABS) system, hard sustained braking locks the wheels and skids, so pump: push hard, ease off as the car begins to skid, push again, repeating until stopped; with ABS, hard pressure lets the system pump up to 30 times a second, keeping the car straight and steerable, and ABS does not stop faster but lets you steer to safety; the ABS light glows at startup and dims, and a light that stays on means it is not working. Turning quickly may be your only escape from a frontal collision: turn away even off the road, drive rather than skid off, hit something that gives such as brush rather than something hard, make any impact a glancing blow, and never cross into the oncoming lane. Speeding up may avoid a hit from the side or behind; with a manual, downshift and floor it. For an oncoming car in your lane, honk and flash if there is time, brake fast without locking the wheels, and if it keeps coming steer off to the right shoulder or ditch, never the left lane. For an overtaking vehicle in danger, slow and move right if the driver keeps trying to pass, speed up to make room behind you if the driver must drop back, and if a crash is nearly certain and the shoulder is safe move onto it, in every case being sure of the passer's intention before changing speed.

Protecting yourself in a crash

Belt up before every trip. About to be hit from the rear, be ready to brake so you are not pushed into the car ahead, brace between the wheel and seat back and press your head against the headrest. Hit from the side, grip the wheel tightly and be ready to steer if you spin. Rollovers cause a third of occupant deaths although only one crash in forty is a rollover; most happen in ordinary driving when a driver swerves for an obstacle or veers off the road, slides sideways and is tripped by a curb, guardrail, stump or soft ground, or turns too sharply at speed; SUVs, vans, pickups and small trucks roll more because of their high center of gravity, raised further by cargo and passengers. Reduce the risk by obeying the limit and using extra caution in bad weather, avoiding overcorrection, slowing gradually without jerking the wheel if you leave the pavement, wearing belts (unbelted occupants are ejected) and relying on side air bags with rollover sensors.

Skids, hydroplaning and stability control

Most skids come from sudden turns or stops on slippery pavement. If the rear slides, do not brake; steer in the direction the rear is skidding: foot off the gas, turn the front wheels just enough to keep them pointed down the road (right for a rear skid to the right, left for a left skid), avoid oversteering or the car skids the other way, and straighten when control returns. Prevent skids by driving slowly on curves and steering and braking lightly; in a skid stay calm, ease off the gas and steer where you want the front to go, turning again and again until straight, avoiding the brakes without ABS and braking firmly while steering with ABS. Avoid hydroplaning with proper inflation, good tread, timely tire replacement, lower speed on wet roads, avoiding puddles and following the tracks of cars ahead; if hydroplaning, do not brake or turn suddenly, ease off the gas until you feel the road, brake gently with light pumping if needed, or normally with ABS. Braking, steering, four-wheel and front-wheel drive systems all respond differently, but in a wet or icy skid let off the gas, do not brake, look and steer where you want to go, counter-steer after the first correction and pump lightly if you must brake. ESP (Electronic Stability Program) works with ABS, comparing where you steer with where the car goes and braking individual wheels to prevent a skid; with ESP, steer toward where you are looking and avoid abrupt steering.

Off the pavement, tracks, blowouts and pedals

If your wheels drop off the pavement, do not turn back at once, which can swerve you into oncoming traffic: stay on the shoulder, slow with gentle braking, steer gently back if there is no drop-off, and if the shoulder is much lower slow to about 10 mph, check traffic both ways and turn sharply back. Stalled on tracks with a train coming, attempt no heroics: get everyone out and walk quickly alongside the tracks toward the train so debris misses you; only with certain time may you move the car. In a blowout do not panic or slam the brakes: hold the wheel firmly against a strong pull, stay in your lane, let the car slow without brakes until about 30 mph, then brake gently and pull off. With a stuck gas pedal keep your eyes on the road, shift to neutral, try to free the pedal (or have a passenger try), turn off the ignition without locking the steering (power steering and brakes will need much more effort), brake and pull off.

Brake failure, wheel loss, overheating, fire and batteries

If the brakes fail, do not panic and do not yank the parking brake, which can cost control; work into the right lane toward the shoulder or an exit, let the car slow with your foot off the gas, shift to a lower gear, then shift to neutral and apply the hand brake gradually; if that fails too, use a soft shoulder or rub the wheels against a curb; never drive without brakes, and call for help. A lost wheel is handled like a blowout, warned by thumping or pulling, and the car must then be towed. If steam rises from the hood, pull over, turn off the engine, never open the radiator cap and wait for it to cool. Fires come from overheating, electrical shorts and fuel or oil leaks, so investigate any burning smell; with smoke from the hood, drive clear of traffic and stop, turn off the engine and all switches, get everyone out and away from the fumes, smother a small fire with an extinguisher, dirt, mud, sand or clothing but never water on gasoline, oil or electrical fires, and do not fight a large fire. Jump-starting can explode a battery: remove the vent caps and cover the wells with a cloth, turn off lights, heater and radio, connect positive to positive, then the live battery's negative to the dead battery's negative or to the engine block or frame, keep the cars apart, start the donor first, then the other, remove cables in reverse order, wash acid off with water, and never smoke or light a match near a battery.

Breakdowns and carbon monoxide

At the first sign of trouble, ease off the gas without hard braking, work toward the roadside or an exit and signal. Off the road, set reflective triangles or flashers, turn on the dome light at night, put flares at least 100 feet behind, raise the hood and tie a white cloth to the antenna or hang it from a window rather than flagging down traffic; do not stand behind or beside the car, wait inside with the doors locked if it is clear of traffic, call for help, open the window only slightly for strangers, watch for officers, use highway call boxes, and avoid walking on an interstate unless help is reachable safely. Carbon monoxide from exhaust seeps in through holes in the system, from traffic jams or from a running engine in a garage; it is odorless, makes you sleepy, and yawning, dizziness and an upset stomach are early symptoms demanding fresh air at once.

Floods and submersion

Floods come from overflowing streams, broken dams and levees, snowmelt and rain, and flash floods within minutes or hours; never drive through flooded areas, turn around, be cautious at night and in storm seasons, remember six inches of water reaches most car bottoms and can stall or steal control while two feet of rushing water carries away most vehicles, distrust shallow-looking water that hides dips and washouts, and wait on higher ground when there is no other route. About 400 people a year die in submerged cars; a vehicle floats only 30 to 60 seconds, so unbuckle at once and roll down a window (electric windows work for a few seconds), climb onto the roof if the car is not fully under, and judge the current before swimming. If sinking too fast, wait for pressure to equalize, shed heavy clothing but keep shoes on to kick, kick out a side window rather than the shatterproof windshield, try the door when the water reaches your shoulder and keep working out through the rush, or breathe from the air pocket at the highest point, then escape. Passengers may need to leave through the front, and unbuckle the oldest child first. Remember POGO: Pop the belt, Open a window, Get Out.

Traffic crashes, Steer It Clear and emergency vehicles

One driver in eight will crash this year. In a crash with injury, death or property damage you must stop immediately when safe, never leave without identifying yourself, have someone warn traffic and turn off the ignitions; check everyone for injuries, call police and an ambulance if in doubt; gather the names of occupants and witnesses, and give your name, address and plate number and show your license on request; for an unattended vehicle or property, notify police, try to find the owner and leave a note with your name, address and phone number; sketch where occupants sat, directions and lanes, and note date, time and weather; notify your insurer promptly and see a doctor if hurt; and give what first aid you can, keeping the injured warm, covering bleeding with a clean cloth, not moving anyone unless in immediate danger, seating or laying down the walking injured (on the side if bleeding from the lower face), giving no fluids and not driving the seriously injured to a hospital yourself. Louisiana's "Move It, Move It, Move It — Steer It Clear" law requires moving vehicles from the roadway to the nearest soft shoulder to cut congestion and secondary crashes, and no vehicle may be left unattended without stopping the motor, locking the ignition, removing the key and setting the brake. When an emergency vehicle approaches with lights or sirens, yield and immediately pull parallel to the right edge and stay stopped until it passes; approaching one parked with lights on a road with two or more lanes in your direction, move into a lane not adjacent to it if safe, or slow to a reasonably safe speed, and on a two-lane road maintain a safe speed for conditions.

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