Following distance — Florida Permit Test

Keep a minimum following distance of four seconds in favorable weather and traffic, and increase it when conditions are unfavorable.

Seconds work at every speed, which is why Florida measures the gap in time and not in car lengths.

Keep a minimum following distance of four seconds during favorable weather and traffic conditions.

Rear-end collisions are almost always caused by drivers following too closely.

Almost every one of them would have been avoided by a bigger gap and nothing else.

Rear-end collisions are almost always caused by drivers following too closely.

To measure the gap, watch the rear of the vehicle ahead pass a fixed marker and count; if you reach the marker before you finish the count, you are too close.

Counting past a sign post is a measurement anyone can make at any speed.

If you pass the stationary marker before counting to one-thousandfour, you are following too closely.

Increase your following distance in rain or on wet roads, in low visibility, when being passed, when carrying a heavy load or pulling a trailer, and when stopped behind a vehicle on an incline.

Each of those makes stopping longer or the car ahead less predictable, and often both.

When stopped behind another vehicle on an incline; it may roll back before moving forward.

It is against the law to follow a fire truck responding to an emergency closer than 500 feet.

A fire truck stops without warning, and the crew steps straight out into the road.

It's against the law to follow a fire truck responding to an emergency closer than 500 feet.

A truck, or any vehicle towing another vehicle, must not follow within 300 feet of another truck or vehicle in tow, though this does not apply while overtaking or inside cities and towns.

Two heavy vehicles nose to tail leave no room for anything to get out of the way.

A truck or any vehicle towing another vehicle must not follow within 300 feet of another truck or another vehicle in tow.

If your vehicle is being followed too closely, slow down and keep to the right.

Slowing gives you back the space in front that the driver behind has taken from you.

If your vehicle is being followed too closely, slow down and keep to the right.

Leave extra room behind a motorcycle, because a rider is more likely to fall on wet or gravel roads and on metal surfaces such as bridges.

A fallen rider is on the road in front of you with nothing between you and them.

The chances of a motorcyclist falling are greater on wet or gravel roads, or metal surfaces such as bridges.

What is the minimum following distance in good conditions?

Four seconds behind the vehicle ahead. Seconds work at every speed, which is why Florida measures the gap in time and not in car lengths. Official Florida Driver License Handbook, p.61: “Keep a minimum following distance of four seconds during favorable weather and traffic conditions.”