What symptoms observed while driving a bus indicates that there is excessive clearance in the universal joints of the steering system?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
A. Difficulty in maintaining a straight trajectory of motion.
Explanation
In the photo, you can see a bus driver's position with a large steering wheel and a dashboard. Excessive play in the joints of the steering system is shown by difficulty in keeping a straight line of travel - answer A.
The Road Traffic Act requires a vehicle to allow reliable use of the steering control, and the Regulation on the technical conditions of vehicles requires the steering system to allow an easy, quick and reliable change of direction. Play in the joints makes the wheels react to steering wheel movements with a delay - the driver has to keep correcting the line of travel, often too strongly, and the bus "wanders" in the lane. Increased resistance of the steering wheel (answer B) is rather a symptom of faulty power steering or of tyre pressure that is too low. Easily keeping a straight line (answer C) means that the system works properly. Excessive play in the steering system is a fault that endangers safety - the bus must be taken for repair as soon as possible.
Legal basis: Art. 66 para. 1 point 1 and 5 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym); § 9 para. 1b of the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure on the technical conditions of vehicles and the scope of their necessary equipment