Before putting your vehicle in reverse gear, what should you do?
- Step out of your truck to visually inspect the route your vehicle is about to take ✓
- Try reversing slowly while watching out for objects via your mirrors
- Ask a passenger to guide you
- Honk before reversing
Answer: A. Step out of your truck to visually inspect the route your vehicle is about to take
Get out of the truck and look over the path the vehicle is about to take before you reverse.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's coupling steps say that before reversing you should exit the vehicle if required, check the vehicle path and look at what is around the truck, then switch on the four-way flashers and sound the horn, and only after that back up slowly at a walking pace. The walk-around look comes first because you need to see the ground and the space around the truck with your own eyes before any wheel turns. The horn and flashers are warnings you add after that check, not a substitute for it.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Try reversing slowly while watching out for objects via your mirrors — Mirrors leave blind spots on a large vehicle, and the handbook has you check the path from outside before you start reversing, not just watch the mirrors as you go.
- C. Ask a passenger to guide you — The handbook does not call for a passenger to direct you; it tells the driver to get out and check the path personally.
- D. Honk before reversing — Sounding the horn is part of the reversing steps in the handbook, but it comes alongside checking the path and flashers, so honking by itself does not cover what you must do first.
Remember it
Look first, then warn: eyes on the path from the ground, then flashers and horn, then back up at walking pace.