You are following a tractor-trailer that begins to signal. Before you try to pass, the manual says you should:
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A.
Pull onto the shoulder to see around the trailer.
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B.
Assume the truck is signaling a lane change and speed up on its left.
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C.
Check which way the driver is signaling before you attempt to pass. Correct
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D.
Sound your horn once so the truck driver knows you are passing.
The answer is "Check which way the driver is signaling before you attempt to pass."
The manual tells drivers to check which way the truck driver is signaling before attempting to pass, because trucks swing wide and a left turn from a truck can cut across the very lane a car would use to pass. Choice B is the trap for drivers who assume any signal from a big truck is a lane change, since that is what a signal from a passenger car most often means.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Pull onto the shoulder to see around the trailer.
Driving on the shoulder to pass is not what the manual asks for. This answer confuses the shoulder's emergency purpose with a passing lane the manual does not create.
B. Assume the truck is signaling a lane change and speed up on its left.
The signal may be a left turn, and passing on the left into a left-turning truck is exactly what the manual warns against. This answer reads a truck's signal like a car's, where a blinker usually means a lane shift rather than a wide turn.
D. Sound your horn once so the truck driver knows you are passing.
The manual sets no horn courtesy for passing a truck. This answer confuses a habit for signaling intent to a distracted driver with the manual's rule to verify the truck's own signal first.
This question tests your knowledge of Lane Changes & Merging in North Carolina. Source: North Carolina Driver Handbook, "Trucks and Other Vehicles," p.91..
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