Safe Following Distance, for example, everyone should know that it is an important consideration for safe motor vehicle operation. Although following distance related crashes rate 6 in the most common driver errors in Oregon for 2011, according to Oregon’s Crash Analysis Unit, the issues around following distance received infrequent attention in the media, perhaps due to the seemingly everyday nature of this type of crash. Rear end collisions are also a major source of property damage claims every year.
There is some dispute about what constitutes a safe following distance. One measure is to identify a fixed point along the roadway, such as a pole or sign. To determine the timing for your following distance, note when the vehicle ahead passes the object, then start counting one thousand one, one thousand two and so on until the front of your vehicle is even with the object. You should have been able, at minimum to get to one thousand two. We at safety would like to see you get to one thousand four, to allow that extra cushion of space.
