Tiger Tales 25: Keeping a Safe Following Distance
By The Law Tigers
America’s Injury Lawyers Who Ride
Keeping a Safe Following Distance
Each year, a large number of motorcycle accidents are avoidable. In particular, increasing the distance between your motorcycle and vehicles in front of you significantly reduces the risk. Oftentimes, we as riders find ourselves slowly creeping up on the bumper of vehicles in front of us, especially those that are slow. However, whether it’s the driver in front slamming on the brakes or a rider not paying close enough attention to the surroundings, it only takes a fraction of a second for a major accident to occur.
Under optimum conditions, when traveling on the highway, the absolute minimum distance that should be kept between you and the vehicle in front is two seconds. Although two seconds is an adequate distance, there are scenarios where more distance for braking or swerving is required. Unfortunately, you’ll never know when this extra space/time is needed. Therefore, if you really want to be safe, a four second following distance is more appropriate. When it comes to riding your motorcycle, it’s always best to play it safe.
Under certain circumstances, increasing your margin from four to eight seconds could be helpful. Whether there’s bad weather or it’s nighttime, both you and the driver in front of you will have visual limitations that will likely affect reaction/braking time. Several seconds could be the difference between a high-speed collision and a near miss! Under these conditions, you should do your best to consistently maintain these cushions.
To correctly determine your desired distance, choose a fixed point such as a highly visible sign, tree or seam in the pavement. As soon as the vehicle in front of you passes it, count the seconds it takes for you to reach that same point. The total number of seconds counted is the following distance. Once completed, you can determine the necessary speed adjustment. For distance verification, once again utilize this fixed-point process. To ensure an accurate distance is always maintained, it’s important to continually employ this measurement strategy.
