If you need to stop quickly and your vehicle is not equipped with an Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS), you should:
- Hold down the brake pedal.
- Firmly pump your brakes. ✓
- Lightly tap the brakes.
- Release the brake pedal.
Answer: B. Firmly pump your brakes.
Firmly pump your brakes to stop quickly when your vehicle has conventional brakes and no ABS.
Why this is the answer
The Florida handbook says drivers with conventional brakes should pump the brakes in an emergency stop when traction is lost. It contrasts this with ABS, where the driver presses hard, holds the pedal, and steers. Since your vehicle is not equipped with ABS, the pumping instruction applies. The handbook also warns that pumping or releasing pressure can turn off ABS, which is why that advice is specific to ABS-equipped vehicles and not yours.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Hold down the brake pedal. — Holding down the brake pedal is the handbook's instruction for drivers with ABS, not for a vehicle with conventional brakes.
- C. Lightly tap the brakes. — Lightly tapping the brakes is not the firm pumping the handbook describes for conventional brakes in an emergency stop.
- D. Release the brake pedal. — Releasing the brake pedal is not what the handbook tells conventional-brake drivers to do; it says to pump the brakes.
Remember it
Think of the pedal as a pump when you have conventional brakes: firm pushes, not one long hold.