driver-qualification-handbook-english

3Keeping a safe following distance: RevisionTo reduce your crash risk, you must increase the following distance between you andthe vehicle ahead as you increase speed. If you don’t do this you may crash into theback of the vehicle ahead if it has to stop quickly. This type of crash happens to alot of NSW drivers each year. As noted in the section entitled ‘Crash patterns forprovisional and full licence holders in NSW’ in section 1 of this handbook, thisis the most common type of crash for full licence holders.The distance that it will take you to stop your car depends on the speed at which youare travelling. The faster you go, the longer the stopping distance. For example asshown in the previous diagram, you need twice the distance to stop from 90 km/hcompared with stopping from 60 km/h, even in the best possible driving conditions– that is, on a sealed, dry road.There’s an easy way to avoid rear end crashes – use the ‘three-second gap’.Three secondsThe ‘three-second GAP’: revisionThis basic technique applies at any speed and is easy to use. You should have comeacross it before (eg in the Hazard perception handbook), but here it is again.All you need to do when driving is watch the vehicle in front of you pass an objectat the side of the road such as a power pole, tree or sign. As it passes the object,start counting ‘1001, 1002, 1003’.If you pass the object you picked out before you finish saying all the numbers,you are following too closely. Slow down, pick another roadside object and repeatthe numbers again to make sure that you have increased your following distanceenough.Driver qualification handbook 83