What is a Safe Distance Between Cars

No matter where you live, you need to make sure that you keep a safe distance between cars while you are driving. So, what does that mean? It means that you have enough room in front of you that you can avoid an accident if the car in front of you stops or swerves suddenly. If you are driving on the highway, you are going to need even more room!

Still, a safe distance isn't always clear. Here are some things to consider. 

The old rule was a two-second rule, but it has been changed to a three-second rule. 

When deciding how close you should drive between cars, you want to stay at least two or three seconds behind them. Though you won't be able to stop that quickly, it will give you enough reaction time to avoid an accident.

Some states are even requiring a four-second rule on the highway.

This is because it takes over two hundred feet to stop a vehicle, though it can take more if you are on the highway. If you were going seventy, you would need almost four hundred feet to get stopped! For this reason alone, the more space you put between vehicles, the better off you will be.

There is also a formula to help.

This formula states that, for every ten miles an hour that you are driving, you need to put one car length in between you. So, if you are going fifty miles an hour, you are going to want to leave enough space for five cars to be in between you and the car in front of you! That being said, this isn't always possible, especially on the highway. 

This formula isn't too clear.

There are too many different types of cars on the highway, so you may be unsure if we are looking at a normal-sized car or an eighteen-wheeler. Smart cars are even shorter than normal-sized ones.

This is one reason why it is hard to monitor safe driving distance. A length of four smart cars could be less than the eighteen wheeler that you are driving too close to! 

In fact, this rule isn't often followed (and monitored).

Even if you work hard to put a few car lengths between you and the car in front of you, you will quickly realize that most people don't. This is almost never done on the highway, where there is hardly any space between vehicles. In fact, you may try to leave a few car spaces between you and the person in front of you and, before you know it, there are two or three cars in that space! 

This doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to keep a safe distance.

You need to do what you can to drive safely. If you cause an accident, you could be held liable. Unfortunately, you can't use the excuse that everyone else was doing it!

Pay attention to the weather conditions when trying to decide how much distance to leave between the vehicle in front of you. 

Even if you slow down, you are also going to need to give you more room to react if anything happens. You are going to need more room to stop in the rain and snow. In fact, you may need two or three times more space to be able to stop safely in bad conditions.

The law is quite hard to determine when it comes to safe driving. Because it relies on so many variables, it is almost impossible to determine how far apart vehicles should be on the road. Speed and weather conditions play a factor, along with the vehicle. Your older car may need more distance to stop than one that has brand-new brakes!