What should be the safe following distance between columns of lorries?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
B. Not less than 500 metres.
Explanation
The question is about the distance between moving columns of lorries. It must not be less than 500 m - answer B.
The Road Traffic Act states that the distance between moving columns must not be less than 500 m for columns of motor vehicles and 200 m for columns of other vehicles. A lorry is a motor vehicle, so the first figure applies to it; 200 m (answer C) applies to columns of vehicles other than motor vehicles, for example bicycles or agricultural tractors, and 800 m (answer A) does not appear in the rule. The same article limits the number of vehicles in a column: passenger cars, mopeds and motorcycles - 10, bicycles and scooters - 15, other vehicles, including lorries - 5. The reason for the half-kilometre gap is practical: a column of five lorry combinations is about 100 m long and travels at 80 km/h, so the driver of a passenger car needs several hundred metres to overtake it and safely return to their lane before the next group. Driving in a column does not exempt anyone from any rules - following distance, speed and signalling manoeuvres apply to each driver separately.
Legal basis: Art. 32 para. 1 point 3, para. 2 and 4 and Art. 2 point 33 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)