What one should say is ONLY A FOOL BREAKS THE 2 SECOND RULE. and at normal speaking speed that should take two seconds. What is a lot easier is to see a lamp post as they are extremely easy to spot as they are tall and higher than anything else. Then just be the distance behind from one lamp post the next one.. That distance will approximately be the safe stopping distance Lets face it nothing is actually going to give an accurate measurement so the lamp posts rule is as good a one as you will get. That said there is an actual accurate way and they are on many major roads and they are the white lines marking the distance for a GATSO speed camera. They are in total 125 ft in length and are made up of small lines every 5 ft apart and longer lines at 25 ft apart and so one can see 75 ft [ 3 x 25 ft stopping distance at 30 mph] and 120 ft almost the full distance stopping at 40 mph. They can conform that the distance that you are giving is the right one. They cannot be used for this purpose on roads that are 50 and 60 mph. If such roads have lamp posts and some do then adopt a two lamp post rule and that is a far safer distance than the 40/50/60 or even 100 ft that one might give.
What a load of misleading information. Yes i have to agree the 2 second rule is important but most drivers dont even know about it as it appears they are not taught it at driving school or at least it is not given as much emphasis as it requires. So why should they do it when they have followed closely behind other cars in traffic for years and been able to brake when they brake an no collision has happened. The reason is simple. Let me give you a scenario... You are behind another vehicle lets say a light van a transit or large car and you are all doing the legal speed limit of 30 mph. You are keeping good distance behind lets say 40 ft. Then the vehicle in front hits another vehicle that has emerged from a side street. In doing so both vehicles come to an immediate halt in front of you. This is a surprise as you didn't expect that to happen and now the whole of your carriageway is blocked by two stationary vehicles. the vehicle in front had no time to apply brakes so there was no warning. You are travelling at 30 mph when you see this happen. Though it takes a moment to realise just what has happened. At 30 mph you are travelling at 44 ft per second [ call it 45 for ease of calculation] and you brake hard. It is calculated that it generally takes one about two thirds of a second for one to assess the situation and then to apply the brakes. In that period of time ie. 2/3 rds. of a second you have already travelled 30 ft and therefore you now have only 10 ft more in which to stop. Will you sop in 10 ft I don't thinks so. and therefore you will collide with the other vehicle. You may have considered swerving but if you swerve to the nearside you may cross over a pavement and kill or injure pedestrians or swerving to the other side you may swerve into the path of oncoming vehicles like a HGV that cannot stop in time. The 2 second rule means that you can gave that safe following on distance which is about 90 ft at 30 mph [ 45ft per second] then you would have been able to see what was happening and react in time. That reaction time is 2/3 rds of a second and then have applied your brakes and been able to stop without swerving and without hitting the vehicles in front. Thats why we need to drive by the 2 second rule. A further benefit is that by being further back and that could obviously be more than 2 seconds then we can see more of whats happening ahead and see any possible danger before we get closer and we will have enough time to avoid it or mitigate its effects upon us. This could happen on a motorway when we see whats happening ahead and avoid becoming involved in a pile up. If we are too close we just end up as another statistic for pile ups and maybe don't come out of it so good. Many drivers and instructors forget that the Highway Code does say that at higher speeds [ more than 40 mph] we should apply more than the 2 second rule. To keep safe on a motorway or speeds above 40 mph we need to be at least 3 seconds behind or on a motorway its actually the distance seen between the small marker posts which are situated by the side of the hard shoulder. They are staged at 100 metres apart [ 315 ft] These posts that are painted white with blue and red at the top are the good and safe stopping distance at 70 mph as are the leaving signs, the three blue distance marker posts for leaving the motorway at a services or exit. They again are the safe distance for stopping at 70 mph. At any greater speed be half again more in distance between you and another car. Do not worry if another vehicle overtakes and pulls in on you. With all that space that you are giving let then continue and in a few seconds they will be that safe distance in front. If however they slow then just pull back and give them that space. You are not going backward, you are still making forward progress but you will be a lot safer driver and less stressed just by the giving of space. Other drivers and road users will be able to see you as well and that's a bonus.
What one should say is ONLY A FOOL BREAKS THE 2 SECOND RULE. and at normal speaking speed that should take two seconds. What is a lot easier is to see a lamp post as they are extremely easy to spot as they are tall and higher than anything else. Then just be the distance behind from one lamp post the next one.. That distance will approximately be the safe stopping distance Lets face it nothing is actually going to give an accurate measurement so the lamp posts rule is as good a one as you will get.
That said there is an actual accurate way and they are on many major roads and they are the white lines marking the distance for a GATSO speed camera. They are in total 125 ft in length and are made up of small lines every 5 ft apart and longer lines at 25 ft apart and so one can see 75 ft [ 3 x 25 ft stopping distance at 30 mph] and 120 ft almost the full distance stopping at 40 mph. They can conform that the distance that you are giving is the right one. They cannot be used for this purpose on roads that are 50 and 60 mph. If such roads have lamp posts and some do then adopt a two lamp post rule and that is a far safer distance than the 40/50/60 or even 100 ft that one might give.
What a load of misleading information. Yes i have to agree the 2 second rule is important but most drivers dont even know about it as it appears they are not taught it at driving school or at least it is not given as much emphasis as it requires. So why should they do it when they have followed closely behind other cars in traffic for years and been able to brake when they brake an no collision has happened.
The reason is simple. Let me give you a scenario... You are behind another vehicle lets say a light van a transit or large car and you are all doing the legal speed limit of 30 mph. You are keeping good distance behind lets say 40 ft. Then the vehicle in front hits another vehicle that has emerged from a side street. In doing so both vehicles come to an immediate halt in front of you. This is a surprise as you didn't expect that to happen and now the whole of your carriageway is blocked by two stationary vehicles. the vehicle in front had no time to apply brakes so there was no warning. You are travelling at 30 mph when you see this happen. Though it takes a moment to realise just what has happened. At 30 mph you are travelling at 44 ft per second [ call it 45 for ease of calculation] and you brake hard. It is calculated that it generally takes one about two thirds of a second for one to assess the situation and then to apply the brakes. In that period of time ie. 2/3 rds. of a second you have already travelled 30 ft and therefore you now have only 10 ft more in which to stop. Will you sop in 10 ft I don't thinks so. and therefore you will collide with the other vehicle. You may have considered swerving but if you swerve to the nearside you may cross over a pavement and kill or injure pedestrians or swerving to the other side you may swerve into the path of oncoming vehicles like a HGV that cannot stop in time.
The 2 second rule means that you can gave that safe following on distance which is about 90 ft at 30 mph [ 45ft per second] then you would have been able to see what was happening and react in time. That reaction time is 2/3 rds of a second and then have applied your brakes and been able to stop without swerving and without hitting the vehicles in front.
Thats why we need to drive by the 2 second rule. A further benefit is that by being further back and that could obviously be more than 2 seconds then we can see more of whats happening ahead and see any possible danger before we get closer and we will have enough time to avoid it or mitigate its effects upon us. This could happen on a motorway when we see whats happening ahead and avoid becoming involved in a pile up. If we are too close we just end up as another statistic for pile ups and maybe don't come out of it so good. Many drivers and instructors forget that the Highway Code does say that at higher speeds [ more than 40 mph] we should apply more than the 2 second rule.
To keep safe on a motorway or speeds above 40 mph we need to be at least 3 seconds behind or on a motorway its actually the distance seen between the small marker posts which are situated by the side of the hard shoulder. They are staged at 100 metres apart [ 315 ft] These posts that are painted white with blue and red at the top are the good and safe stopping distance at 70 mph as are the leaving signs, the three blue distance marker posts for leaving the motorway at a services or exit. They again are the safe distance for stopping at 70 mph. At any greater speed be half again more in distance between you and another car. Do not worry if another vehicle overtakes and pulls in on you. With all that space that you are giving let then continue and in a few seconds they will be that safe distance in front. If however they slow then just pull back and give them that space. You are not going backward, you are still making forward progress but you will be a lot safer driver and less stressed just by the giving of space. Other drivers and road users will be able to see you as well and that's a bonus.