What should you do when exiting a freeway?
- Signal, move into the deceleration lane, reduce speed gradually and obey exit signs ✓
- Do what the vehicle ahead of you does
- Signal, and then accelerate while merging smoothly into traffic and then proceed to the exit lane
- Signal and then stop to wait for an opening in traffic
Answer: A. Signal, move into the deceleration lane, reduce speed gradually and obey exit signs
When exiting a freeway, signal, move into the deceleration lane, reduce your speed gradually, and obey the exit signs.
Why this is the answer
The handbook describes a freeway exit as having a deceleration lane that takes you out of the main traffic flow, then an exit ramp. Signal before moving into that lane, but do not slow down until you are in it; after that, ease down gradually to the ramp's shown speed. Check your speedometer, because speed adaptation can make you misjudge how fast you are going. Exit signs help you choose the correct lane. That sequence matches signalling, using the deceleration lane, slowing gradually and obeying exit signs.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Do what the vehicle ahead of you does — Copying the vehicle ahead does not replace your own signal, your move into the deceleration lane, or setting your speed for the exit ramp.
- C. Signal, and then accelerate while merging smoothly into traffic and then proceed to the exit lane — Leaving a freeway calls for moving into the deceleration lane and slowing gradually, not accelerating and merging into traffic before the exit lane.
- D. Signal and then stop to wait for an opening in traffic — The deceleration lane is there to take you out of the main flow so you can slow down; stopping to wait for a gap is not the exiting procedure described.
Remember it
Think: signal first, then slow only after you are in the exit lane.