You realize you are driving in a truck's blind spot when the truck begins to move over into your lane. What does the manual tell you to do?
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A.
Hold your position and flash your headlights three times.
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B.
Brake hard to drop behind the truck as fast as possible.
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C.
Sound your horn until the truck driver moves back over.
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D.
Decide whether to speed up or slow down to avoid a collision. Correct
The answer is "Decide whether to speed up or slow down to avoid a collision."
The manual has you note your position relative to the front of the truck and decide whether accelerating or slowing puts you out of its path fastest, with the shoulder as a last-resort escape. Horns, headlight flashes, and reflexive hard braking do not resolve the geometry of the blind spot. Choice B treats slamming the brakes as the default emergency response, when the manual weighs braking against acceleration based on where you sit next to the truck.
The traps in the wrong answers
A. Hold your position and flash your headlights three times.
The manual does not describe a signal-and-hold response to a truck entering your lane. This answer substitutes a courtesy flashing signal for the escape maneuver the manual actually describes.
B. Brake hard to drop behind the truck as fast as possible.
Hard braking exposes you to following drivers and does not always clear the truck's path. This answer treats slamming the brakes as the default emergency response, when the manual weighs braking against acceleration based on where you sit next to the truck.
C. Sound your horn until the truck driver moves back over.
A horn does not solve the geometry of a blind spot the driver cannot see out of. This answer falls back on the horn as a universal warning, ignoring that a driver whose blind spot you occupy cannot locate the sound in time.
This question tests your knowledge of Sharing the Road in Pennsylvania. Source: Pennsylvania Driver Manual, "Sharing the Road With Trucks and Buses - Truck Passing," p.57..
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