Step 1. The big picture
In one sentence…
Risk factors are studied as a real cause of error: alcohol, drugs, speed, distraction, fatigue, adverse weather and overconfidence. In passenger cars on roads open to general traffic their effects tend to multiply, which is why the exam insists on anticipating and correcting before you lose control.
Step 2. The syllabus
2.1Alcohol and drugs
The law does not only penalise obvious intoxication: it also penalises exceeding the legal limits or driving with drugs present in your system.
- Novice drivers during their first two years, and certain professional transport drivers, have stricter alcohol limits than everyone else.
- Alcohol reduces attention, reflexes, vision and judgement even if the driver feels capable. In the exam, that false sense of security is often part of the trap.
- With drugs, don't focus the answer only on visible symptoms. Their presence in the body and the resulting impairment of ability make driving a punishable risk.
2.2Medication and psychophysical state
Medication that reduces reflexes, vision or attention requires reading the leaflet, avoiding driving where appropriate, and never offsetting the risk with overconfidence.
- Not all medicines affect you the same way, but the driver must check the warnings and act with caution. Responsibility does not disappear just because the treatment is legal.
- In exam questions, the correct option is usually to seek advice, read the instructions and not drive if there are effects that compromise control or alertness.
- Psychophysical state includes fatigue, illness, intense emotions and lack of rest. If they affect your attention, you must reduce risk or postpone the journey.
2.3Distraction at the wheel
Holding your phone, programming the sat nav while moving, or looking away from the road for a few seconds is enough to cover many metres blind.
- Distraction isn't always technological. Intense conversations, searching for objects, eating, smoking or looking at an incident also take your mind and eyes off driving.
- The exam often presents small distractions because they seem normal. The safe answer is to prepare before setting off and to stop if you need to handle something.
- A repeated distraction becomes a dangerous habit. If you don't see something in time, you can't apply priority, distance or signs, even if you know the rule.
2.4Speed and distance
Incorrect speed is not only exceeding the limit: it is also driving within the limit but without adapting your speed to rain, traffic, visibility or grip.
- Safe distance must allow you to stop without a collision, and it increases if the vehicle is heavy, articulated, two-wheeled, or driving in unfavourable conditions.
- The higher the speed, the less time to interpret signs and the more space you need to stop. That's why the DGT links speed, attention and distance in many questions.
- Don't use the vehicle in front as a fixed reference point to hug. Keeping a margin lets you spot braking, obstacles and other road users' mistakes without a sharp reaction.
2.5Fatigue and drowsiness
Drowsiness reduces alertness, lengthens reaction time and increases the chance of running off the road, rear-end collisions and lapses of concentration on monotonous routes.
- Warning signs are usually yawning, frequent blinking, involuntary changes in speed, difficulty remembering the last few kilometres and the need to correct your course.
- The only safe response to fatigue is to stop, rest and continue only once your control abilities have fully recovered.
- Opening the window, turning up the music or relying on habit does not fix drowsiness. In the exam, these apparent solutions are usually incorrect.
2.6Adverse weather
With rain, fog, ice, wind or glare, you must reduce speed, increase distance, smooth out your manoeuvres and use the correct lights from the first sign of risk.
- Weather changes grip and visibility at the same time. The risk isn't fixed just by turning on lights if you keep an inadequate speed or distance.
- Crosswind, a wet road surface or poor visibility require you to anticipate unexpected movements from other road users and avoid sharp turns, braking or acceleration.
- When the question mentions unfavourable conditions, look for answers that stack up caution: more margin, less abruptness, better visibility and constant attention.
2.7Preventive management
Risk perception improves when you anticipate junctions, pedestrians, vulnerable road users, merging traffic, school zones, roadworks and changes in grip before you reach them.
- Overconfidence appears when you mistake experience for invulnerability. Knowing how to drive does not cancel out alcohol, fatigue, phones, speed or bad weather.
- Before every journey, check whether you're fit to drive and whether the road demands more margin. This decision is also part of safe driving.
- In the B theory test, with 30 questions and a maximum of 3 errors, these topics pay off because they repeat in different scenes with the same preventive principle.
2.8Alcohol limits and boundaries
For most drivers, including an ordinary driver of a goods vehicle up to 3,500 kg, the legal threshold is 0.25 mg/l in exhaled air or 0.5 g/l in blood. During the first two years after obtaining the licence, it is 0.15 mg/l or 0.3 g/l.
- The lower threshold also applies to goods vehicles over 3,500 kg and to the listed passenger, public-service, school/children, dangerous-goods, emergency and special-transport services. The vehicle or service facts in the question matter.
- These are legal thresholds, not a safe alcohol allowance, and they are not calculated from drink units. Do not use a drink-to-BAC calculator to decide to drive: the safe decision is zero alcohol.
Step 3. Key points
If you only have a minute before the exam, revise this.
- 1.Identify risks that affect attention, vision or reaction time.
- 2.Don't drive under the influence of alcohol, drugs or incompatible medication.
- 3.Adapt speed and distance to your physical state, the road and grip.
- 4.Set up your phone, sat nav and belongings before setting off.
- 5.Stop at the first signs of drowsiness or fatigue.
- 6.Increase your margin in rain, fog, ice, wind or glare.
- 7.Don't normalise small, repeated distractions.
- 8.Question overconfidence even if you have experience.
Step 4. Exam traps
Mistakes the DGT uses again and again on this topic.
- Thinking that as long as you don't exceed the speed limit, you're always driving correctly.
- Reducing risk to alcohol alone and forgetting medication, fatigue or distraction.
- Believing experience removes the need to adapt distance and speed.
- Accepting false solutions against drowsiness, such as music, air or willpower.
- Handling the sat nav while moving because it seems like a brief action.
- Ignoring that unfavourable conditions require combining several preventive measures.
Step 5. Quick check
Four real exam questions on what you have just read.
During daylight outside built-up areas, in dense fog or heavy rain reducing visibility, may main beam be used if it does not dazzle other users?
Step 6. Frequently asked questions about driving at night and in adverse conditions
- Which of these is appropriate for removing ice from the windscreen without scratching it?
- A plastic scraper suitable for glass. A plastic scraper suitable for glass, used carefully. Clear enough glass for good visibility before driving and use the defrosting system according to the manual. Do not pour very hot water on it: the sudden temperature change can damage the glass. Do not spray engine-coolant antifreeze onto the windscreen either. DGT notes that alcohol can help with thin ice, but does not promise that it melts all snow or thick ice.See full question
- When parking on an urban road that is not a through road, with lighting sufficient to make the vehicle visible at an adequate distance, must any lights be left on?
- No; in those conditions it is not compulsory. In these conditions, position lights do not have to remain on under Article 105.3. This exception for parked vehicles differs from lighting requirements for moving vehicles and the requirements on an insufficiently lit through road.See full question
- Why is it important to keep the exterior surfaces of headlamps clean?
- Because dirt can reduce lighting effectiveness. Dirt can reduce lighting effectiveness and make it harder to see the road and be seen. Keep headlamps and indicators clean and check their condition and operation. Do not assume that every deposit necessarily causes glare or improves illumination.See full question
- At night you are using main beam. If there is a risk of dazzling other road users, what must you do?
- Immediately switch from main beam to dipped beam. Switch to dipped beam as soon as the risk is noticed, especially when meeting vehicles or following closely. Article 102 also protects other road users, not only oncoming drivers. Do not continue with sidelights alone. Any duty to use main beam in particular circumstances gives way to the risk of dazzling.See full question
- Outside a built-up area, may a motorcycle tow a trailer between sunset and sunrise?
- No. No. Article 12(3) requires daytime travel in conditions that do not reduce visibility. The trailer must not exceed 50% of the towing vehicle’s unladen mass; the reference is not the trailer’s unladen mass. Speed must also be reduced by 10% from the generic limit applicable to the motorcycle, and no people may be carried in the trailer. Urban traffic is subject to the relevant municipal ordinances.See full question