If you take care of your car, check tire pressure frequently, replace the tires when they are worn out and visit your mechanic for regular - the chance of one of you having a blowout are close to zero. However, you must still know what to do should you have one and how to maintain control of your vehicle in this situation. The permit test in Arizona has a number of questions on defensive driving techniques and this is why we tried to include as many of them as possible into our Arizona practice permit test, make sure to check it out once you are done with this question!
Sample Question
“IF YOU HAVE A TIRE BLOWOUT, YOU SHOULD:"
A. Allow the steering wheel to move freely
B. Let the car slow to a stop
C. Continue driving until you reach a garage
D. Brake hard to stop the car immediately
Remember: if you are not sure what the answer to this question is, you can always look it up in the official Arizona drivers handbook, the best source of information when it comes to learning the state driving rules!
Permit Test Answers
Answer A states that we should allow the steering wheel to move freely if we have a tire blowout. NEVER DO THIS! If one of your tires blows out, your control over the vehicle will diminish significantly and you will need to hold on to the steering wheel to make sure your vehicle is not thrown into a skid.
Answer B suggests that we should let the car slow down to a stop. Wise decision, since we cannot drive with a blown out tire anyway, but let's see what other options we have.
Answer C suggests that you should continue driving until you reach a garage. This is one of the unrealistic answers that will not work in most cases. If one of your tires blows out, you will not be able to drive faster than a few miles an hour, without risking damaging your vehicle or crashing into someone. What if you have a blow out in the middle of a desert, hundreds of miles away from a garage? Changing the tire right there is much more convenient and logical.
Answer D states that you should brake hard to stop the car immediately. While this answer has the right idea, you do need to slow down as quickly as possibly, this is not the way to execute the maneuver. We already know that having a blown out tire diminishes our control over the vehicle. If we start braking hard, it will reduce traction even further, thus increasing the chance of crashing.
Correct Answer
The correct answer to this Arizona permit test question is B:
“IF YOU HAVE A TIRE BLOWOUT, YOU SHOULD LET THE CAR SLOW TO A STOP”
It is important to learn these steps well as most of blowouts happen unexpectedly and you will not have time to sit down and go through your options. Sometimes you are warned by a thumping sound before the tire blows out, but this is more of an exception.
The way your vehicle will behave depends on whether the blowout occurs to one of the rear or the back tires. If it's your rear tire, your vehicle will start pulling to the side and the steering wheel may vibrate (holding it straight should not be a problem with power steering). When a rear tire blows out, you will experience some wobbling in the read of the vehicle. Braking hard is especially dangerous when the blowout occurred to one of the rear tires as it may send the rear of the vehicle into a skid!
If one of your tires blew up, stay off the brakes! Firmly hold the steering wheel and slowly remove your foot of the gas pedal. Be prepared to gently press it again if you feel that the vehicle is losing traction. Steer towards the side of the road, let the vehicle come to a stop, turn your emergency lights on. The key here is to avoid slamming on the brake or the accelerator, everything has to be done smoothly!
If you still have not taken our Arizona permit practice test - now is the time to do so! The practice test has hundreds of questions similar to the ones on the real exam that will help you nail the DMV test the first time you take it!
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