What action should be taken when your brakes fail?
- Pump the brakes rapidly and shift into a lower gear ✓
- Wave down the nearest police officer and shout for help
- Firmly press down on your brakes until they re-engage
- Use your emergency brake and sound your horn to warn other drivers while looking for a soft collision point
Answer: A. Pump the brakes rapidly and shift into a lower gear
Pump the brake pedal hard and fast, and shift into a lower gear to help slow the car.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's brake-failure section says not to panic, to keep watching the hazards ahead, and to look for an escape route or something that will slow you down, such as a side road or an open field. It then tells you to pump the brakes hard and fast, because that may give you enough braking action to stop. Shifting to a lower gear fits the same goal of slowing the vehicle, though the handbook passage here does not spell out the gear change itself.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Wave down the nearest police officer and shout for help — The handbook tells you to keep thinking about the hazards ahead and find an escape route; it never suggests flagging down an officer or shouting for help.
- C. Firmly press down on your brakes until they re-engage — Holding the pedal down hard is the ABS technique for normal emergency braking, not for failed brakes, where the handbook says to pump hard and fast.
- D. Use your emergency brake and sound your horn to warn other drivers while looking for a soft collision point — Using the emergency brake, sounding the horn and hunting for a soft collision point is not part of the brake-failure steps the handbook gives.
Remember it
When the pedal goes flat, treat it like a pump: short hard pushes, not one long hold.