Avoiding a Car Wreck by Maintaining Distance

Whenever someone gets into a car wreck, they usually try to piece together what happened very quickly. Whether it was icy roads, bad visibility or a reckless driver in another lane, most accidents really come down to how much time there was to react before the crash occurred. You can avoid going into the ditch or into the back of another car on even the iciest roads provided you have adequate room for the inertia of your car to be expended before you hit the obstacle.

There are varying theories on proper distance—some recommend counting by car lengths and others by time, for example—but all of them are designed to provide you with enough time to stop or swerve before a collision. Most often, the recommended minimum distance is two seconds. It takes roughly .25 seconds for your brain to process information before you can react and, depending upon your reflexes, about that same length of time to actually go through with your reaction. This seems like a tiny amount of time but, in car wrecks, a half a second can be the difference between life and death.

The advantage in counting off distance based on time is that you don’t have to change the formula based on speed. If you’re going by car lengths, you’ll have to add more car lengths to the proper following distance as you increase in speed. To count off seconds, pick a line on the road or a landmark and start counting when the car in front of you reaches it. Stop when you reach the same line or landmark. At least two seconds should have passed. If you’re going 30 miles per hour, your distance will be shorter and if you’re going 60 your distance will be longer. Keep in mind, however, that this doesn’t guarantee that you’ll have adequate time to stop.

Many of the cases a vehicle accident lawyer takes involve rear-end collisions. Having a good space cushion between you and the car in front of you is the best way to avoid causing one of these wrecks. In many cases, a Dallas car accident is caused because of tailgating, which is one of the most dangerous driving habits you can develop. Give the other people on the road room to drive and you’ll be giving yourself room to react, and to live.

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