Emergency Stop

A driver should always anticipate the road ahead avoiding the need to brake harshly. However, as a learner driver you will need to do an emergency stop in your practical driving test and here we will assist you so that you understand the routine involved. An emergency is a situation that happens suddenly, for example a child runs into the road in front of you. Bear in mind that stopping in an emergency increases the risk of skidding and therefore it is a good idea to know the basic of how to control a skid.

Practice the following with your instructor:

• Avoid emergencies by adjusting your speed to fit the road and traffic condition that you are driving in, always maintain a safe distance.

• When doing an emergency stop do not give a signal as you need to keep both hands on the steering wheel.

• Do not make any special point to look at your mirrors as you should be aware of what is behind you.

• Avoid braking so hard that you lock any of the wheels, this could cause a sideway skid resulting in serious loss of car control.

• Don’t touch the clutch pedal until just before you stop, the engine also assists in braking and having the clutch down straight away could make the car travel a touch faster.

• Do not apply the parking brake until you car has stopped completely. Most parking brake works on the back wheels only.  Any extra braking at the rear could actually cause a skid.

• Unless you plan to move off straight away apply the parking brake and put your gear level to neutral

• Before moving off look all around and check your blind spot and if a signal will benefit another road user than give one.

Remember to practice the emergency stop with your Echo driving school instructor and ask any questions that you are not sure about. Our instructors are trained to the highest standard so they will make sure that the road is suitable to do an emergency stop. Why not earn yourself a free lesson by recommend a friend and spread the word.