Choosing Safety First: Vehicle Checks, Distraction, Fatigue, Health, Alcohol and Drugs
Written for aiforu2 as the source for a practice-test bank and the on-device tutor for the Pennsylvania non-commercial Class C knowledge test. The facts follow the official manual; the wording is ours.
Source: Pennsylvania Driver's Manual (PUB 95), Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, chapter 3 "Learning to Drive", sections "Choosing Safety First" and "Driver Factors" (pp. 31–34).
Vehicle checks before you drive
1. Tires: check pressure cold (before driving or at least three hours after) against the psi in the owner's manual or the driver's door jamb, letting air out or adding as needed. Check tread monthly and before long trips with the penny test: put Lincoln's head into the shallowest groove, and if any part of his head is covered the tread is safe. Carry a spare, lug wrench, jack, flashlight, flares and reflective triangles, wheel wedges, a repair kit and gloves. 2. Fluids: oil, washer fluid and fuel. 3. Seat: reach the pedals and controls easily with a clear view. 4. Seat belt: lap and shoulder on every trip. Wearing it is the single most effective way to cut the risk of death or injury; in 2017 drivers aged 16 to 24 had the most unbuckled injuries and deaths and the lowest belt use. 5. Loose items: in a crash they keep moving at the vehicle's speed; put heavy items in the trunk or belt them in, and never on the rear window deck. 6. Mirrors: set after the seat. The rearview shows traffic directly behind; each side mirror is set so you can just barely see the side of your vehicle when you lean toward it. It is illegal to have anything hanging from the rearview mirror while moving; tags, permits and placards may hang there only when parked. 7. Windshield: nothing may be placed on it that blocks the view. 8. Ventilation: fresh air keeps you alert and guards against carbon monoxide. 9. Head restraint: top at least as high as the top of your ears to reduce neck injuries. 10. Corrective lenses: wear them whenever you drive; no sunglasses or tinted contacts at night. 11. Lock the doors: with the belt, this keeps you from being thrown out, which raises the chance of death by 75 percent, and deters carjacking.
Inattention
Distraction and inattention cause 25 to 30 percent of police-reported crashes, about 1.2 million a year. A distraction is anything that takes your attention, your eyes or your hands from driving: eating, drinking and smoking; adjusting audio (headphones or earpieces may be worn in one ear only, for communication); talking on a phone, hands-free or not; interacting with passengers, which is worse for teens driving other teens; reaching for objects; reading, writing or texting; grooming; rubbernecking at crashes and work zones; and looking at things off the road. An undistracted driver misses an important road event about 3 percent of the time; an adult dialing a phone misses it 13 percent, and a teenager dialing 53 percent of the time.
Lack of sleep
Fatigue slows reactions and impairs judgment, vision, understanding and memory, much like alcohol: 18 hours awake impairs you like a .05 BAC, 24 hours like .10. You can fall asleep without knowing it, and a few seconds is enough to kill. Teens sleeping under eight hours are at higher risk. Drowsy driving causes at least 100,000 crashes a year in the U.S., killing 1,500 and injuring 40,000; almost half involve drivers aged 15 to 24. If you feel tired, stop driving.
Health
Have your vision checked every one or two years: peripheral vision, distance judgment and low-light sight fade with disease and age without you noticing. Hearing warns of what you cannot see, including emergency vehicles and trains. Even small ailments affect control; the most dangerous are seizure disorders, diabetes and heart conditions, and Pennsylvania physicians must report patients with conditions that could impair safe driving.
Alcohol and driving
About 40 percent of traffic deaths involve drinking drivers; in the U.S. someone dies every half hour and is injured every two minutes because of it. In Pennsylvania 30 percent of drivers aged 16 to 20 killed in crashes had been drinking, despite zero tolerance: no drinking under 21, and a driver under 21 with a BAC of .02 percent or more is driving under the influence. Even the smallest amount reduces concentration, perception, judgment and memory; as BAC rises, errors rise while alcohol makes you feel dangerously confident. At .04, half the adult legal limit of .08, a driver is two to seven times more likely to crash. The only safe amount is zero.
BAC depends on age, weight, gender, physical condition, food and any drugs or medicine, and drinks differ: count 1.5 oz of 80-proof liquor, 12 oz of regular beer or 5 oz of wine as one drink. A 110-pound woman reaches .03 after 8 oz of light beer; a 140-pound man reaches .025 after a 12-oz bottle. Someone of average weight needs at least one hour to process each drink, so more than one drink an hour is likely to exceed the limit, and smaller people and women reach higher levels on the same amount. Only time sobers you; coffee, caffeine and cold showers do not. Do not drive after drinking any amount, and keep drinkers from driving.
Drugs and driving
Illegal, prescription and over-the-counter drugs impair driving; drugs other than alcohol figure in about 20 percent of motorist deaths, and combining them with alcohol multiplies the effects. Marijuana slows reaction time, distorts judgment of time and distance and reduces coordination; cocaine and methamphetamine make drivers aggressive and reckless; sedatives cause dizziness and drowsiness; opioids cause drowsiness and slow reactions; sleeping pills, cough medicines, antihistamines and decongestants all affect driving. Read the warning labels and ask a doctor or pharmacist: a label that says not to operate heavy machinery means your vehicle. In a national roadside survey nearly one in four drivers tested positive for a drug that could affect driving; 43 percent of drivers killed in crashes tested positive for drugs and 37 percent for alcohol. Help is available at PA Get Help Now, 1-800-662-HELP.
Practise this with Pennsylvania Driver License questions
More of this guide
The DL-180 application, the 65 supervised hours, junior permit and junior license restrictions, license classes A, B, C and M, the 18-question knowledge test with 15 to pass, and the road test with its parallel parking space.
Every light and arrow, ramp meters, lane-use signals, school zone and railroad signals, regulatory, warning, work zone and guide signs, interstate numbering, route markers, and yellow and white line rules.
The 4-second rule and the six areas of space, the 70 mph maximum and 15 mph school zones, headlight laws, hydroplaning, black ice and snow squalls, signaling distances, center turn lanes, U-turns and when you may not pass.
Who yields, the gaps you need to cross and turn, divided-highway left turns and jughandles, how to use a roundabout, curve physics, entering and leaving highways, and the full list of where you may not park.
Doubled work-zone fines and headlight rules, crossing tracks safely, truck No-Zones and stopping distance, stopping 10 feet from a school bus, the Move Over law penalties, road rage, and every emergency from skids to floods to blowouts.
How points accumulate and come off, what suspends a license, the three-month insurance suspension, what to do when police stop you or after a crash, implied consent, the three DUI penalty tables, ARD and the Driver's License Compact.
Who must buckle up, child seats and boosters by age, heatstroke and winter coats, air bag distance, the four-foot bicycle passing law and the Dutch Reach, the $50 texting fine, closed-road penalties and carbon monoxide.