Safe Following distance
Every single day of the week, thousands upon thousands of vehicles on the UK roads risk being involved in multiple vehicle pile ups!
WHY?
Because they don't pay attention to the following distance between themselves and the vehicle they are following or they are driving distracted which leads to concentration being broken and safe following distance gaps slipping to less than safe.
Drivers learn the theory information and have done for years, although the theory test itself is still relatively new, drivers who passed their driving test 40 years ago still had to learn the Highway Code and the rules of the road, and were tested by examiners within the car during their practical driving test.
This may have only been a few questions then, but it still meant that drivers had to have a reasonable understanding of the rules of the road.
Strangely though, it's amazing how many driver forget about a SAFE FOLLOWING DISTANCE.
A SAFE FOLLOWING DISTANCE Is the distance between you and the car in front of you, that you could stop within in an emergency without hitting that car.
Typically this comes down to two things.
1. The Braking Distance.
2. The Thinking Distance.
Both these combined become the STOPPING DISTANCE.
The human brain needs time from receiving information to being able to act on it = THINKING TIME
A car when travelling at any speed needs time to come to a stop = BRAKING TIME
As speeds increase the distance to come to a complete stop increases substantially too.
At 20MPH the average stopping distance is typically 12 metres
At 70MPH the average stopping distance is typically 96 metres
So, if you are sitting as close to the car in front at 70MPH as you do at 20MPH, the likelihood of hitting the car in front at 70MPH is massive.
This is why the two second rule was designed.
By keeping approximately two seconds away from the vehicle in front of you at any given time, the risk of hitting them in an emergency substantially reduces.
By keeping these distances away from the vehicles in front of you, you reduce the risk of becoming another statistic massively.
You can work this out in your head whilst driving.
FIND A FIXED OBJECT like a tree, lamppost, a white line on the road, a parked vehicle, almost anything that isn't moving.
When the vehicle in front of you passes that fixed object, in your head say this following phrase.
"ONLY A FOOL BREAKS THE TWO SECOND RULE"
It takes about two seconds to say that phrase.
Your vehicle should not have passed that same fixed object before you finish saying that phrase.
If your vehicle HAS passed it before finishing saying it, then you are TOO CLOSE to the vehicle ahead of you.
Ease off the gas and increase that gap, then say the phrase again.
You can do this at anytime and at any speed.
If it is wet roads say the phrase twice, and if there is snow or ice on the roads (and you have to drive) say the phrase 10 times.