What is the minimum distance you must maintain from the vehicle in front?

In the photo you are driving on the A4 motorway - you can see a direction sign with the numbers A4 and E40 and directions to "Rzeszów", "Korczowa" and "Lwów" (Lviv), and there is a lorry in front of you. When driving at 80 km/h, you keep a following distance of at least 40 m from the vehicle in front of you - answer C.

The Road Traffic Act requires a driver on a motorway or an expressway to keep a distance from the vehicle travelling in front in the same lane which, in metres, is at least half of the speed in km/h - at 80 km/h this gives 40 m. The rule does not apply while overtaking. A distance of 50 m "always" (answer A) does not come from the rules - 50 m applies, among others, to a bus in a long tunnel outside a built-up area. A gap that allows overtaking vehicles to move in front of you (answer B) is an obligation on a two-way roadway with two lanes outside a built-up area, not on a motorway. The minimum distance is not a target - in bad weather you increase it.

Legal basis: Art. 19 para. 3, 3a and 4 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)