Free Defensive Driving Practice Test: Sharpen Your Road Skills
This defensive driving quiz helps you spot hazards, manage space, and avoid crashes on busy roads. Practice with quick scenarios, get instant feedback, and see where to improve before your next trip. For more study, try our road safety quiz and a driver safety knowledge test, or review road safety questions and answers.
Study Outcomes
- Apply defensive driving strategies -
Use insights from the defensive driving quiz to anticipate hazards and react proactively in realâ€world driving scenarios.
- Analyze common roadside hazards -
Identify environmental and driverâ€related dangers through engaging safe driving trivia questions and answers.
- Calculate safe following distances -
Apply speed, reaction time, and spaceâ€management principles to maintain proper separation and prevent collisions.
- Recall essential defensive driving facts -
Strengthen your accident prevention knowledge by reviewing key concepts covered in the defensive driving facts quiz.
- Evaluate personal driving habits -
Reflect on your quiz performance to identify areas for improvement and boost overall road safety confidence.
Cheat Sheet
- Maintain a Safe Following Distance -
Use the 3-second rule to judge the space between you and the vehicle ahead: pick a fixed point, and if you pass it in less than 3 seconds, you're too close. Increasing to 4 - 6 seconds in poor weather or heavy traffic boosts safety margins. This simple guideline appears often in defensive driving quiz questions and answers to test your grasp of accident prevention.
- Master the SIPDE Hazard Recognition System -
SIPDE stands for Scan, Identify, Predict, Decide, and Execute - a five-step process advised by AAA and NHTSA to spot and react to hazards. For example, predict that a pedestrian near the curb might step into the road, then decide and execute a controlled slow-down. This mnemonic trick is a staple in safe driving trivia and defensive driving facts quizzes.
- Calculate Total Stopping Distance -
Total stopping distance combines reaction distance (speed × reaction time) and braking distance (v² ÷ (2μg)), where μ is the friction coefficient and g is gravity. At 60 mph on dry pavement, expect roughly 264 ft total; wet roads can nearly double that distance. Questions on an accident prevention quiz often probe this physics-based formula.
- Minimize Distractions Inside the Vehicle -
The NHTSA reports that texting multiplies crash risk by 23×, so stow your phone and avoid other distractions like adjusting the radio while driving. Remember the ABCD mnemonic - Alcohol, Bio-rhythms (fatigue), Cell phones, Daydreaming - to recall four major distraction types. Driving safety quiz questions and answers frequently focus on your strategies to keep attention on the road.
- Adapt to Adverse Conditions -
Reduce speed by at least one-third in rain, snow, or fog and increase your following distance to 6 seconds or more to compensate for longer stopping distances. Use your headlights in low-visibility conditions to stay visible, as recommended by IIHS studies. This principle is a common topic in safe driving trivia and defensive driving quiz challenges.