Safe driving and emergencies
A front tire blows out while you are driving at highway speed. What should you do?
- Hold the wheel firmly with both hands, ease off the accelerator gradually, and steer to keep the vehicle straight before slowing and pulling off the road. Correct answer
- Brake hard immediately to stop as fast as you can.
- Take your foot off the accelerator abruptly and steer toward the shoulder right away.
Why
A blowout pulls the vehicle sideways, and the handbook, citing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is explicit that the two panic moves are the dangerous ones: braking suddenly or snatching your foot off the accelerator can cause a loss of control. Instead, grip the wheel with both hands, keep your speed if it is possible and safe, release the accelerator gradually, correct the steering to stabilize the vehicle, and look and steer where you want to go. Only once the vehicle is stable do you continue slowing and pull off the road when and where it is safe. Heading for the shoulder before the vehicle is stable is exactly the abrupt maneuver the handbook warns against.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, DL 600 ENGLISH (REV. 6/2025). The correct answer is Hold the wheel firmly with both hands, ease off the accelerator gradually, and steer to keep the vehicle straight before slowing and pulling off the road..