A train is approaching and your car has stalled on the tracks. What is the first thing you should do?
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A.
Release your seat belt and get out of the vehicle. Correct
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B.
Try again to restart the engine.
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C.
Shift into neutral and try to push the car clear.
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D.
Stay in the vehicle and wait for the train to pass.
The answer is "Release your seat belt and get out of the vehicle."
With a train approaching, the manual's first step is to release your seat belt and get out of the vehicle. Choice C tempts readers who remember the separate step allowing you to push the car off the tracks, but that step in the same paragraph applies only when you are completely sure no trains are coming.
The traps in the wrong answers
B. Try again to restart the engine.
Trying to restart wastes the seconds you need to escape on foot. This answer applies the everyday reflex to fix the car first before leaving it.
C. Shift into neutral and try to push the car clear.
Pushing the car off is allowed only when you are sure no trains are coming. This answer pulls the push-the-car step from the same paragraph and skips the no-train condition attached to it.
D. Stay in the vehicle and wait for the train to pass.
The manual says to leave the vehicle, not stay inside. This answer assumes the steel body offers protection, missing the debris and displacement risk from the impact.
This question tests your knowledge of Crash Procedures in New York. Source: New York State Driver's Manual, "Driving Emergencies: Stalling on Railroad Tracks," p.66..
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