What do you need to know about safe following distances?
Safe following distances. You must drive a safe distance behind a vehicle travelling in front of you. Following another vehicle too closely is known as tailgating. If you tailgate you may not be able to safely stop in time to avoid a collision. Safe following distances vary depending on: your speed. the driving conditions.
What’s the safest distance between you and a car?
If conditions are poor, also allow 4 seconds between you and the car in front, more if you are driving a heavy vehicle. Rear-end collisions are the most common types of crashes, so play safe and keep your distance.
What’s the safe following distance for a trailer?
What is a safe following distance? In most cases, a safe following distance is much longer than a car length. You should drive at least 2 seconds behind the vehicle in front during ideal conditions. Add 1 second extra for each 3m of trailer length—when driving a vehicle towing a trailer or caravan. Remember to also:
What’s the safest following distance on a motorcycle?
No following distance is safe under all conditions. Try to keep a 3- or 4-second following distance under ideal conditions. During poor road and weather conditions or when following motorcycles and trucks, increase your following distance even more.
When should you increase your following distance?
In bad weather you should increase a following distance from 2-3 seconds to 4-5 seconds or even more. As the distance to the car ahead increases, your two vehicles will be farther away from each other. When you decrease you following distance, you get closer.
What is following distance is essential to safety when driving?
When driving during major inclement weather such as snow, ice, heavy rain, etc., you should increase your safe following distance to a minimum of 6 seconds (during extreme icing events, as much as 10 seconds is recommended). Yes, this will seem like an eternity.
How to keep a safe following distance?
The best way to keep a safe following distance is to follow the three-second rule. The rule is quite simple: take note of the car in front of you, find a fixed object on the side of the road, for example a tree; and When the car in front of you passes that object count – 1001; 1002; 1003 – and only then should your vehicle pass that same object.
What is the best rule for following distance?
The two-second rule. The easiest and quickest way to calculate a safe following distance (the safe amount of distance between you and the car ahead of you) is to use the two-second rule. Basically, the two-second rule states that you should stay a full two seconds behind the car in front of you, whatever speed you are traveling at.