Can You Brake During Subject Two of the Driving Test?
3 Answers
Whether you can brake during Subject Two of the driving test depends on the specific test items. You are allowed to brake during the hill start and stop, parallel parking, and reversing into a parking space. However, for other test items, stopping midway is not permitted, meaning the speed cannot drop to zero. Subject Two, also known as the small road test, is part of the motor vehicle driver's license assessment and refers to the field driving skills test. The test items include reversing into a parking space, parallel parking, hill start and stop, right-angle turns, and curve driving. The driver's license, officially called the motor vehicle driver's license and commonly referred to as a "driving license," is the required certification for legally operating motor vehicles.
Back when I was taking the driving test for Subject 2, my instructor particularly emphasized the use of the brake. For the hill start, you must press the brake firmly to prevent rolling back, but for reverse parking and parallel parking, as long as you control the speed well, you can rely entirely on the half-clutch without touching the brake. The key is to know when to press it—for example, if the speed gets out of control during curve driving, you should lightly tap the brake to slow down, but before a right-angle turn, if you've already reduced the speed, there's no need to brake. There was a trainee at our driving school who, during reverse parking, got nervous, pressed the brake too hard, and stalled the car, wasting one attempt. During the test, it's better to hit the brake in an emergency than to hit a pole, but in daily practice, you must master clutch control for speed. After all, if you maintain a steady speed throughout Subject 2, you won't need to use the brake much, and you'll avoid stalling and losing points.
Of course you can use the brake! But it depends on the situation. When I teach my relatives to practice driving, I always emphasize: not using the brake during hill starts will result in failure, but for maneuvers like right-angle turns or reverse parking, which inherently require low speed, if you're already controlling the speed with the clutch, suddenly pressing the brake might stall the car. It's best to lightly press the brake to control speed between maneuvers. Last year, a specific statistic showed that a 30cm or more rollback on a slope had a deduction rate of 19%, indicating that unstable braking is a common issue. When practicing S-curves, if you turn late and the speed is a bit too fast, lightly pressing the brake to adjust is safer than relying on the clutch, since hitting the boundary line means an immediate fail. Remember, the brake is a safety tool, but mastering clutch control for speed is the real skill.
