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, June 2025 edition. 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.
The rule behind this one
Safe driving and emergencies in California goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on safe driving and emergencies
- You are 17 and hold a provisional license. When may you use a cell phone while driving?
- You have to run into a shop for a few minutes. Under what condition may you leave your five-year-old in the car?
- Your car stalls on a railroad crossing, a train is coming and the warning lights are flashing. Once you are out of the car, which way should you run?
- An oncoming vehicle's headlights are so bright that you can barely see the road. Where should you look?