Your vehicle stalls in rising flood water on a Nevada road and it is safe to get out. What does the manual say to do?
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A.
Stay inside the vehicle where you are shielded from the water.
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B.
Try to restart the engine and drive slowly through the water.
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C.
Abandon the vehicle immediately and seek higher ground. Correct
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D.
Roll down all windows and wait for the water to drain out.
The answer is "Abandon the vehicle immediately and seek higher ground."
The manual is blunt: rising water can engulf the vehicle and sweep it into deeper, faster-moving water where escape is even more dangerous, so if you can safely get out, do it now and head for higher ground. Staying inside for 'protection' is exactly the mistake the manual calls out. Restarting to try to power through worsens the situation, and the manual warns not to attempt to drive through flood water in the first place.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Stay inside the vehicle where you are shielded from the water.
Staying inside is dangerous because rising water can engulf the vehicle and sweep it into deeper, faster water. This answer repeats the common but wrong belief that a stalled vehicle shields occupants from rising water.
B. Try to restart the engine and drive slowly through the water.
The manual instructs you never to drive through flooded roadways; restarting to push through worsens the situation. This answer ignores the manual's warning against attempting to drive through flood water.
D. Roll down all windows and wait for the water to drain out.
Because the question says you can safely get out, waiting inside is not the manual's instruction; in that case, abandon the vehicle immediately and seek higher ground. This answer borrows the sinking-car escape rule of lowering the windows before electrics fail, misapplying an underwater-escape technique to a stall you can still walk away from.
This question tests your knowledge of Adverse Conditions in Nevada. Source: Nevada Driver Manual, "Chapter 5 - Special Driving Conditions: Tips for Driving in a Flash Flood," p.59..
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