The three basic causes of skidding and jackknifing are:

The three basic causes of skidding and jackknifing are:

• A. Underaccelerating, underbraking, and understeering
• B. Dry powdery snow, rain, and high winds
• C. Black ice, fog, and heavy snow
• D. Overaccelerating, overbraking, and oversteering

Answer: (D)

Skids and jackknifing happen when you push the tires beyond what the road surface can hold. If you accelerate too much, the drive tires can spin and lose grip; braking too hard can lock wheels and cause sliding; steering too aggressively can overwhelm steering grip and cause the rear end to swing or the trailer to swing out of line. That combination—excessive throttle, excessive braking, and excessive steering—is what leads to loss of traction and loss of control, so the option listing overaccelerating, overbraking, and oversteering is the best answer. The other choices describe road or weather conditions or the opposite of the needed inputs, which don’t describe how loss of traction occurs due to driver actions.

Skids and jackknifing happen when you push the tires beyond what the road surface can hold. If you accelerate too much, the drive tires can spin and lose grip; braking too hard can lock wheels and cause sliding; steering too aggressively can overwhelm steering grip and cause the rear end to swing or the trailer to swing out of line. That combination—excessive throttle, excessive braking, and excessive steering—is what leads to loss of traction and loss of control, so the option listing overaccelerating, overbraking, and oversteering is the best answer. The other choices describe road or weather conditions or the opposite of the needed inputs, which don’t describe how loss of traction occurs due to driver actions.