Here it is. The second in the series of five bad habits parents pass on.
How close do you follow behind the car in front?
Tailgating – driving too close behind the car in front
The bad habit: Most drivers leave less than half the necessary safe space between their vehicle and the one in front. Minimum safe space in front is a 3 second gap. Most drivers leave a 1 second gap.
Good habits
- Drive with at least a three second gap between you and the vehicle in front at all times.
- You should be able to count ‘Thousand and One, Thousand and Two, Thousand and Three between when the car ahead passes a mark or line on the road and when you reach the came point.
Good reasons
- If the vehicle in front stops suddenly, you will need every bit of that space to brake and avoid a crash.
- If you hit the car in front, you will have to pay for all damages because it’s your fault.
- If a P Plate driver follows too close and hits the car in front they are ‘at fault’ and will probably lose their P’s.
- The three second method works whether you are travelling at 40kph or 110kph.
We challenge you to try this for a month and let us know how you go.
Look again next week for bad habit number three.