Another driver is tailgating you. What does the manual instruct you to do?
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A.
Move to another lane or slowly pull off the road and let them pass. Correct
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B.
Speed up until you have opened a wide gap behind you.
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C.
Flash your brake lights until they stop following closely.
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D.
Brake firmly to warn the driver behind to back off.
The answer is "Move to another lane or slowly pull off the road and let them pass."
The manual's response to being tailgated is to remove yourself from in front of the driver, either by changing lanes or slowly pulling off the road and allowing the tailgater to pass. Choice D is the reflex, because tapping the brake at a close follower feels like a warning message, but the manual treats it as the exact move that causes the rear-end crash it's trying to prevent.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. Speed up until you have opened a wide gap behind you.
Speeding away raises your own crash risk and rarely shakes the driver behind you. This answer applies the instinct to outrun the tailgater rather than let them pass, a highway-aggression habit the manual replaces with moving aside.
C. Flash your brake lights until they stop following closely.
Flashing brake lights is not among the responses the manual lists for a tailgater. This answer substitutes an informal driver-to-driver light signal for the manual's specific direction to change lanes or slowly pull off the road.
D. Brake firmly to warn the driver behind to back off.
Firm braking in front of a close follower is the move most likely to cause the rear-end crash it is meant to prevent. This answer treats brake pressure as a way to signal the driver behind, a habit picked up from driver-to-driver aggression that the manual never sanctions.
This question tests your knowledge of Defensive Driving in Illinois. Source: Illinois Rules of the Road, "Chapter 11: Safe Driving Tips, Following Distances," p.83..
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