The most important thing to remember about speed management and curves is that you must:
- Drive at the posted speed limit as you enter the curve, then slow down at the sharpest part of the curve.
- Slow down before you enter the curve. ✓
- Accelerate gently before you enter the curve.
- Drive at the posted speed limit before, throughout, and after the curve.
Answer: B. Slow down before you enter the curve.
You should slow down before you enter the curve.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's curve warning signs tell drivers to slow their speed, and advisory speed signs give the fastest safe speed for going around a curve. That supports reducing speed before the curve rather than waiting until you are already in it. Entering slower puts you at a safer speed when the road bends, and you can adjust from there. The passages do not say to speed up before a curve or to treat the posted speed limit as safe throughout the curve.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Drive at the posted speed limit as you enter the curve, then slow down at the sharpest part of the curve. — Waiting until the sharpest part of the curve to slow down goes against the handbook's curve warning signs, which tell you to slow your speed for the curve.
- C. Accelerate gently before you enter the curve. — Accelerating before a curve is the opposite of the handbook's guidance to slow your speed when a curve is ahead.
- D. Drive at the posted speed limit before, throughout, and after the curve. — A posted speed limit is a maximum, and the handbook's curve signs and advisory speeds call for slowing down for the curve rather than assuming the same speed is safe throughout.
Remember it
Set your speed before the bend, not while you are already fighting it.