“Keeping a safe following distance will put you and the driver in front of you at ease. It is vitally important to keep a safe following distance and to comply with the indicated speed limits as this gives you the time you need to safely react to a situation and avoid a potential accident,” says Miles le Roux, Transportation Manager of N3TC.
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.
If you pass the same object before you reach 1003 then you are too close and you need to adjust your speed to increase the space between yourself and the car in front of you.
In rainy, wet weather the following distance between vehicles must be even greater, despite the tyre and braking capabilities of your vehicle, as all vehicles and drivers require more time to react and avert a possible crash. It is advisable to increase your following distance to at least four seconds in these conditions.