What distance from the preceding vehicle should you maintain when driving a passenger car on this road?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
B. A distance necessary to avoid a collision should the preceding vehicle brake or stop.
Explanation
In the photo you are driving along a street in a town with two lanes in your direction; a motorcyclist is riding in front of you. The following distance from the vehicle in front must be the distance needed to avoid a collision if the vehicle in front brakes or stops - answer B.
The Road Traffic Act requires a driver to keep the distance needed to avoid a collision if the vehicle in front brakes or stops; fixed values in metres apply only on motorways and expressways (half of the speed in metres) and in long tunnels outside built-up areas. Answer A gives 30 m at 60 km/h - no such number appears in the Act for an ordinary street; answer C claims that the distance can be any distance when the vehicle in front is travelling steadily, but sudden braking happens exactly when nobody expects it. Behind a motorcycle the distance should be greater than behind a car: a motorcycle brakes in a shorter distance, it may fall over on a patch of oil or a drain cover, and after a fall its rider lies on the roadway. A practical measure is a gap of at least two seconds.
Legal basis: Art. 19 para. 2 point 3, para. 3a and 4 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)