Vehicle handling theory test questions

45 questions in this topic

What changes when the road is wet, icy, or covered in loose chippings, and how to drive on a road you cannot see far along. Skids, aquaplaning, and what to do when the car stops doing what you asked.

Also covers driving at night, in fog, and the correct use of lights in each.

Practise vehicle handling

Questions come from the DVSA revision question bank, used under licence. You will not see whether an answer is right until you have committed to one, which is the point. A sample of every topic is free and needs no account.

Start practising

When the road stops cooperating

Most of the time a car does exactly what you ask. Turn the wheel and it turns, press the brake and it slows. This topic is about the times that stops being true: ice, standing water, loose gravel, a steep hill, a road you cannot see the end of. The aim is to recognise those conditions early and drive so that you never ask the car for more grip than the road can give.

Grip is limited

Every tyre has a fixed amount of grip, and it is shared between braking, accelerating and steering. Ask for too much of any one, or a bit of two at once, and something gives. That is why harsh braking halfway round a bend is more dangerous than braking before it, and why gentle, separate inputs are the answer on a slippery surface. Modern cars have anti-lock brakes and stability control, which help, but neither one can create grip that is not there.

Ice, snow and water

In winter, think about whether you need to make the journey at all. If you do, clear every window properly, move off gently, often in second gear, so the wheels do not spin, and leave far more room than feels natural. Black ice is the dangerous one because it looks like a wet road, so be suspicious of shaded corners and bridges on cold mornings.

Deep water is the other trap. A flooded road may be much deeper than it looks, and water drawn into the engine can wreck it in seconds. If you cannot tell how deep it is, find another way round.

Hills, bends and the dark

Going downhill, the car will pick up speed on its own, so choose a lower gear before the descent rather than riding the brakes all the way down. On bends, slow down before you turn in, not halfway round. At night and in fog, your speed has to let you pull up within the stretch of road you can actually make out. Fog lights are for thick fog, and they should go off again once it lifts, because they dazzle whoever is behind you.

In the test

Many questions ask what you should do in a particular condition. Think about grip first, and pick the answer that asks the least of it.

How this topic appears in the real test

The car theory test is 50 multiple choice questions in 57 minutes, and you need 43 correct to pass. The questions are drawn from every topic, so you cannot skip one and hope. There is a hazard perception part as well, and you have to pass both on the same day.

These are revision questions rather than the questions you will be asked on the day.