How should you observe the surrounding area while driving a tractor with a trailer forward?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
C. By looking ahead and, from time to time, observing the road behind the combination vehicle in rear-view mirrors.
Explanation
The question is about observing the surroundings when driving forwards with an agricultural tractor and trailer. You look ahead and regularly check the road behind the vehicle combination in the rear-view mirrors - answer C.
Most hazards appear in front of the vehicle, so you keep your eyes there most of the time. However, a tractor with a trailer moves slowly, queues quickly build up behind it and overtaking vehicles appear, so every few seconds you glance in the mirrors - especially before changing direction, stopping and turning left. If you only look ahead (answer A), you will not notice a car that is overtaking you just as you start turning left into a field track. Observing the front and the rear equally (answer B) means that for half of the time you are not looking at the road in front of you. The Road Traffic Act requires you to change direction or lane only while exercising particular caution, and this is impossible without mirrors.
Legal basis: Art. 22 para. 1 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)