Topic 4 · Defensive Driving and Safe Driving Practices
Defensive driving is best described as:
- Driving at the maximum legal speed limit at all times
- Assuming other drivers will always follow traffic rules
- Driving cautiously and anticipating potential hazards and mistakes by others — correct answer
Why
Defensive driving means assuming others will make mistakes and leaving yourself the time and space to absorb them.
Practise this in the real format
Reading one answer is not the same as sitting the test. The simulator runs the first-time adult form: 36 questions, 6 mistakes allowed, 83% to pass.
Source: California Driver's Handbook (DL 600, rev. 6/2025), the document the DMV writes the real test from. Edited by Fernando Aguilera. Aprobify is not affiliated with the California DMV.
More from Defensive Driving and Safe Driving Practices
- If your vehicle is hit by a strong gust of wind, having reduced your speed gives you:
- Fatigue while driving can be as dangerous as:
- A patrol car ahead turns on its emergency lights and slowly weaves across the lanes. This is:
- In rain you should turn on:
- When approaching a sharp corner or blind turn, the safest action is to:
- Leaving a child or an animal in a parked car in the sun is dangerous because: