December 2, 2009

What Is a Safe Vehicle Following Distance?

From the Rockies and across the Great Plains and into the Northeast cold, snowy weather has started well in advance of winter's official start.

Winter driving challenges the best of drivers, and can be simply terrifying to people who seldom experience snow and ice. Whether your clients have a fleet of vehicles, or just employees commuting every day, they can help prevent accidents by passing along cold weather driving tips to employees.

The Best Way to Maintain Safe Following Distance

The old rule of thumb for safe following distance was to allow one car length between your vehicle and the one ahead of you for every 10 miles per hour of speed you are traveling. Safety experts no longer use this approach, and have replaced it with a simple counting system.

To check your safe following distance, locate a landmark just ahead of you, such as a bridge, tree or sign. When the vehicle just ahead of you passes it, being counting, "one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two," and so on. Each time you count out the third number represents the passage of one second. The desired number of seconds to count varies with driving conditions.

Good weather, light traffic - count off three seconds.

Inclement weather, heavy traffic, or night driving - double the three second rule to six seconds, for added safety. Inclement weather includes light rain, light fog or light snow.

Poor Weather - If you have really bad conditions, such as heavy rain, heavy fog, or heavy snow, start by tripling the three second rule to nine seconds to determine a safe following distance.

When traffic behind you is at a safe distance, test your ability to stop. Increase the time interval, if necessary, but don't shorten it. If you are being tailgated, move to another lane or slowly pull off the road and allow the tailgater to pass.

Anytime you have an occupational safety question, please call us for help. You may contact Bill Propes at 214-295-1563 or email him at bpropes@combinedgroup.com for more information.