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How do you check your following distance?

When you drive, it is important to keep a proper following distance so that you are not tailgating the next vehicle. Tailgating sometimes feels safe when traffic is moving at a consistent rate of speed. But it can cause a rear-end accident if something unexpected happens and the following driver doesn’t have enough space to stop.

But how do you actually check your following distance to make sure it is long enough? After all, wouldn’t that following distance need to be much longer on the interstate than it would on a city street?

Counting off three seconds

The trick to do this is simply to maintain a three-second gap between vehicles at all times. This makes it very easy to check your following distance whenever you want. You use stationary objects on the side of the road, ensuring that three seconds go by as each car passes that object. If the car ahead of you passes it and you don’t have time to count off three seconds before you have also gone by it, you are too close.

Not only is this easy to do, but it actually adjusts the distance based on your speed. If you are on the interstate, you do need a much longer following distance. But since you are traveling at 70 miles an hour, you will cover a significantly longer distance in three seconds. That distance would be shorter – but still effective – if you were driving at 25 miles an hour in the city.

Have you suffered injuries in an accident?

Unfortunately, even when you do everything you can to drive safely, you could be injured by another negligent driver. If you get hurt, be sure you know how to seek financial compensation.