Unless you are maneuvering, your vehicle should be completely within your lane and centered as much as possible, unless you need to shift to one side or the other for safety purposes.

If you are driving along a narrow roadway, keep your car to the right as much as possible:

• Slow down and be extra alert for oncoming traffic.
• Parked cars on narrow streets can choke off your available space.
• If you doubt that you have enough space to proceed, pull into a gap between parked cars and wait for the oncoming car to pass.
• On a mountainous, narrow roads the car going down the hill should always give the right-of-way to the car going uphill.

Driving along narrow mountain roads can be especially challenging:

• Warn other drivers with your horn when you get within 200 feet of a curve where your view is obstructed.
• Stay to the right.
• Be patient and wait for slow moving vehicles to pull over and stop in a special pull-out area, and then don’t pass until you are absolutely sure that it is safe.

Whenever you approach another vehicle on an unmarked road, you are required to give the other driver at least half of the available space. If there is insufficient space for both of you, pull over and allow the other vehicle to use the space.

You must drive on the right, except:

• When legally passing another vehicle.
• On a one-way street.
• In a construction zone where the traffic flow is controlled by a flagman or by red cones.
• In an accident zone or emergency where traffic flow is controlled by a police officer.

Freeway Driving: Planning a Route in Advance

As you drive along the freeway, green rectangular signs with white lettering which indicate distance and route direction will be posted along the freeway to guide you and your fellow drivers. In the mile before an exit, there will be three signs posted to give drivers enough time to prepare to exit if they wish.

If you are traveling to an unfamiliar area, plan ahead to arrive at the time you would like. It is not safe to arrive in a new place at night, and it is tedious getting stuck in rush hour traffic. Plan your rest stops so that you will arrive at your final destination during daylight hours.

Freeway Driving: Special Situations

Timed entrance lights are posted at the beginning of the entrance lane of some freeways to control the traffic volume on the freeway. Usually, there will be one red and one green light.

Only one car is permitted to enter on each green light: When you come to a timing light, come to a full stop and wait for the light to turn green, when it does, speed up to the rate of the flow of traffic and use your safe merging techniques to join it.

Some freeway on-ramps utilize pairs of lanes which must merge into one before then merging onto the freeway. Be prepared to merge safely. If one or both of these lanes is controlled by a timing light, only one vehicle from each affected lane may proceed at each green signal.

Freeway Driving: Leaving the Freeway

When signs tell you that your exit is less than one mile ahead, change lanes to position your car in the exit lane. Scan ahead for the exit signs: they will provide you with the necessary information including if the exit is on the right or the left, if the lane is exit-only or contains thru traffic as well, and how many exit lanes are available.

If for some reason you missed your exit, drive on to the next exit, exit safely, then cross over (or under) the freeway, and get back on the freeway going the opposite direction. Go back down the freeway to the exit that you missed. Never cross several lanes of freeway traffic at the last minute to "catch" your exit, and never back up on the freeway.

Freeway Driving: Exit Lanes

Deceleration lanes on the way to an exit allow drivers to reduce speed safely to a speed appropriate for a given exit, without endangering traffic to their rear and without affecting the normal flow of traffic on the freeway.

Busy freeways may have multiple deceleration lanes, in which case it is safer to drive in the far right deceleration lane to avoid conflicts with cars merging onto the freeway you are exiting. You should yield to other drivers who may have moved into your lane from deceleration lanes to your left, or who are merging across your lane from the right as they join freeway traffic.

Frequently exits and exit ramps will have their own speed limits based on the design of the exit. Reduce your speed to the speed indicated by one of these yellow and black signs posted along the deceleration lane and on the ramp.

It is especially important to follow these rules on curved ramps. Curved ramps could require you to slow down to a speed as low as 5 mph. If you exceed the posted speed limit, you can lose control of the car, go off the road, hit a wall, or get into a serious collision.

Freeway Driving: Choosing Lanes of Travel

As you merge onto the freeway from a ramp or acceleration lane, you need to adjust your speed to the speed of the freeway and look for a gap in traffic. The gap should be large enough so that your car can fit into it without conflict. The driver of a car on the freeway and the driver of a merging car both need to adjust their speed and position to avoid creating a dangerous situation.

Freeway Driving: Freeway Emergencies

In order to avoid most freeway emergencies, look down the roadway well in advance of your position and keep plenty of open space to maneuver around your vehicle. That way you will be able to both see problems in time and reposition your car to avoid them.

If you have to make an emergency stop on the freeway:

• Warn drivers to your rear by tapping the brake pedal. Your brake lights will flash and attract the attention of drivers behind your car.
• Turn on your hazard lights as soon as possible as a warning signal for other drivers.
• Look in your rear view mirror before applying the brakes.
• Try to move to either shoulder of the road as quickly and safely as possible.
• Once you are on the shoulder, come to a full stop.

No matter how well you maintain your car it may stall due to an empty fuel tank, environmental reasons, or other factors. If your engine stalls:

• Turn on your hazard lights and shift the vehicle into neutral.
• Try once to restart the vehicle while moving by turning the ignition. If the vehicle restarts, simply shift into gear, accelerate, and turn off your hazard lights.
• If your car doesn’t restart, you must control the vehicle’s speed and direction and drive safely out of the stream of traffic.
• Move off the roadway as quickly as possible. Don’t panic. With your hazard lights on, look for the safest direction to move your vehicle off the road. Use your brakes and horn if necessary.
• Get the car as far off the road as possible to get away from traffic.
• Keep your hazard lights on all the time.
• If necessary, use flares to warn other drivers. Flares should be placed on the roadway 50 feet behind the vehicle in a 25mph zone and 500 feet behind in higher speed zones.

After you have corrected the problem which forced you to make an emergency stop on the shoulder of the road, be very careful pulling back on the freeway:

• Turn off your emergency lights and turn on your left signal.
• Accelerate to the rate of traffic flow while you are on the shoulder of the road.
• Looking in the left side mirror and over your left shoulder, try to find a gap in traffic large enough for your car to move safely into the flow
.
• Match the speed of traffic, but do not drive faster than the speed limit.
• Constantly check for hazards and when it is safe, move your car onto the freeway.

Freeway Driving: Special Freeway Problems

When you have been on the freeway for an extended period of time, your ability to judge your own speed will frequently be compromised and you will get the feeling that you are going more slowly than you truly are.

This will very likely cause you to unconsciously drive too fast, and is especially hazardous as you exit from an expressway.

To correct for this condition, check the speedometer often when exiting and after joining other traffic off of the expressway. Give yourself some time to readjust to the slower speed of street traffic. You may want to stop at a gas station or rest area for a few minutes to acclimate before continuing with your trip.

Freeway Driving: Farming Areas

Driving long distances on the open highways can become very dull and monotonous. When you are driving through agricultural areas, there are a number of special hazards worthy of paying extra attention to. You should check your speed frequently and scan the road far ahead of your intended path of travel for:

• Unmarked farm and field driveways. Rural drivers sometimes move onto the highway fairly slowly, not paying attention to the speed of traffic. Make sure you reduce your speed if your visibility is limited by a curve, hill or other obstructions.
• Livestock crossing areas.
• Rough road conditions. Check the road surface ahead for rough road conditions: gravel, sand, dry earth and potholes. If you think that road conditions will affect traction, slow down or drive around the dangerous area on the road, if you can do so safely.
• Roadside stands or gas stations. Drivers can forget to turn on their lights at night or look in the proper direction as they pull out from a gas station. They may suddenly brake to enter a roadside stand or a gas station.
• Unmarked shoulders or no shoulders at all. You will have less room to maneuver without road shoulders. Reduce your speed accordingly.

There may or may not be signs or warnings of any of these hazards. Look ahead for them and slow down when appropriate.

Animals can wander onto the roadway, often seeming to appear suddenly from nowhere, particularly at night. If an animal is in the road in front of you, try to drive around the animal or stop the vehicle, but do not risk the lives of people to avoid hitting a small animal. You should do everything possible to avoid a collision with a big animal such as a horse, deer, or cow. Hundreds of people are killed and many more thousands are injured in collisions with animals every year.

Freeway Driving: Signage

Look for horizontal rectangular guidance signs to inform you of potential tourist destinations, if they are brown, or of travelers, services available in the vicinity if they are blue.

Freeway Driving: More Environmental Hazards

As you approach a curve, you should slow down, downshift if you are driving a manual transmission, and smoothly steer around the curve. Once you have returned to safe road, accelerate again to the appropriate speed.

If there are no speed limit signs posted for the curve, the decision of what speed is appropriate is up to you. Many factors should affect your decision: the condition of the road, the sharpness of the curve, visibility, and the condition of the car you are driving.

You should recognize the curve and adjust your position and speed ahead of time, rather than trying to deal with it in the curve. Braking in a curve can be dangerous and result in a tire blowout or loss of control of your car.

If you are on a two-way road, be very wary of oncoming traffic. Oncoming drivers could cross the center line and cause a head-on collision. You need to be prepared to avoid this.

Freeway Driving: Hills and Mountains

Driving in hilly or mountainous terrain presents a special set of hazards.

When you are driving downhill, you can shift into a lower gear to control your speed. The engine will help you to slow down the car without your having to push the brake pedal constantly. You can use this technique on both a manual and an automatic transmission.

Using your brakes constantly can cause brake failure or overheating. You should try to use the downshifting technique and check your brakes by tapping the brake pedal.

When you drive uphill, use a lower gear to make climbing the hill easier for your car.

Your car can also overheat when the engine and transmission have to work harder than usual pushing your vehicle uphill. To prevent overheating, use frequent stops, drive in a low gear, and maintain proper coolant level in the car’s cooling system.

Visibility and Speed

As you come to the top of a hill, your vision will be briefly limited. The steeper the grade of the hill, the less you will be able to see. To be better prepared, select a speed and position that will let you respond to hazards that may lie unseen over the crest. Reduce your speed and keep to the right side of the road as much as possible.

If you are going to do a lot of driving in the mountains, you should visit a mechanic and have your engine and cooling system adjusted to mountain driving.

If you are going more slowly than traffic behind you in the mountains, look for a pull-out area or wide shoulder to pull into to allow other vehicles to pass.

If you are doing the passing, you need to first think carefully and make sure that it is safe. In the mountains, you have to account for the slope of the road and its affect on your acceleration and control of the vehicle, especially when passing. Curves and slopes may limit visibility, and the performance of your engine may be very different than on flat roads.

Pass a slow moving vehicle only if you are absolutely sure that it is safe.

If you are forced to share a narrow mountain road with oncoming traffic, always allow the uphill driver to proceed first.

Thin mountain air can affect your car’s engine and diminish your acceleration and climbing power.

Liquids boil and change to vapor more quickly at high altitude. If the temperature light comes on or the gauge registers "hot," stop and let the engine cool down. Another way to cool the engine is to turn on the heater inside the car, to draw some heat out of the engine compartment.