Originally Posted By: MostlyHarmless
Originally Posted By: M_a_x
1 second of driving at your current speed should be minimum.


I'd make that 3 seconds. Longer at high speeds, if the roads are slippery or if you drive a heavy vehicle. You can shave that figure down a notch if you're in a long column of slow moving vehicles ("bumper-to-bumper"), but be aware of the risks involved.

1 second would make a serious violation of our local traffic laws and the ticket if caught is quite stiff. Less than 1 seconds and you're borderline to serious legal trouble (you go to court, not just a ticket) and loss of driver's license. Your local laws may differ.

Our local laws require the mentioned 1 second and assume that drivers are attentive enough to react. You made a couple of very good points why going beyond this limit is a good idea.
This is not intended to be political in any way: I think your local laws on this topic are better than ours. More distance to the vehicle in front of you does not only mean more safety. It also has the tendency to improve the flow of the traffic considerably - think of the rubber band effect.
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