What distance must you maintain from the obsatcle you are driving past?
Show the correct answer
Correct answer
B. Safe.
Explanation
In the photo you can see a junction in a town with a damaged road surface - there is a pothole in the roadway. When going around an obstacle, you must keep a safe distance - answer B. The Road Traffic Act does not give a specific number of metres for going around obstacles, so answers A (1 m) and C (1.5 m) are made up.
The Act requires the driver, when passing a stationary vehicle or obstacle, to keep a safe distance from the vehicle, road user or obstacle being passed, and to reduce speed if necessary. The safe distance depends on what you are passing: from a stationary car you keep a gap as wide as an opening door, from a pedestrian standing on the shoulder and from a hole in the roadway - enough to still be able to correct your line if necessary. However, the distance cannot be as large as you like at the expense of others: when moving onto the left side of the roadway, you make sure that nobody is coming from the opposite direction and nobody is overtaking you, and if there is not enough space, you slow down or stop. The Act sets a specific value - at least 1 m - only for overtaking bicycles, motorcycles, electric scooters, columns of pedestrians and other road users listed in it.
Legal basis: Art. 23 para. 1 point 2 of the Road Traffic Act (Prawo o ruchu drogowym)