Maintain a Safe Distance

Whether you are tooling down the highway at 65 miles per hour or passing through a school zone at 25, keep a safe cushion between you and the vehicles ahead of you. This cushion is typically known as the following distance. When you maintain a safe following distance, you give yourself time to react if the vehicle in front of you must make a hard stop for some reason. Always remember that stopping requires both time and distance. If you are short on either of those, you open yourself to rear ending the vehicle ahead of you. That is the cause of most rear end collisions.

Determining how far back you should stay is actually fairly easy. Use what is known as the “two second rule.” With experience, you will no longer need this rule because you will have learned visually how far behind is enough.

Until then, try this:

  • Take note as a vehicle in front of you passes some reference point such as a lamp post, sign post, or other stationary object. Do this in normal traffic with good conditions.
  • As soon as the vehicle passes the reference point, begin to count “one thousand one, one thousand two.”
  • If you pass the reference point before the two second count, you are following too closely behind the lead vehicle. Slow down a bit.
  • In poor weather or at higher speeds, increase the count to 3, even up to 5 or 6 seconds.

Maintaining the proper following distance is no substitute for staying attentive. Always watch for brake lights of the lead vehicle or of vehicles further ahead as you aim high and scan. Remember, the driver ahead of you may not react or may have faulty brake lights. Leave yourself enough room to react not only under normal conditions but when you must make a more sudden stop. If you notice that you have closed in a bit too much on the vehicle ahead, do not hit the brakes. Ease up a bit on the gas, allowing the driver behind you to slow down. Once you get back to the appropriate following distance, resume normal speed.

What happens when you notice that the driver behind you is following too closely? If  they are tailgating, we will cover that in a different section. In general, though, gradually ease up on the gas to increase your own following distance. Then you leave yourself more time to make a gradual stop if you need to. This may allow the careless driver behind you to have the time to stop before they strike your vehicle.

Next time you think it is okay to take your eyes off the road for “just a second or two,” consider this. On page 36 of the latest Alabama Driver’s Manual is a chart that provides stopping distances and example following distances. You will see that the chart show that, at 30 miles per hour, you will travel 44.4 feet in one second – one second. How much do you think can happen along that span if you travel completely blind? Don’t ever find out the hard way.