Question

Difficulty: MediumSpeed Control and Following Distance

When another vehicle is tailgating your car on a highway, you should increase the following distance between your vehicle and the vehicle directly ahead of you.

Answer: Answer

Answer

True. Increasing your following distance when being tailgated creates a safe reaction buffer and reduces the likelihood of sudden braking that could cause a rear-end collision.
When a tailgater is behind you, you lose control over your rear safety margin. To compensate, you must increase your front safety margin by dropping back further from the vehicle ahead. This gives you extra time and space to brake smoothly if traffic stops, helping prevent the vehicle behind from crashing into you.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the hazard in the scenario.
The hazard is a tailgating vehicle following closely behind, which limits the stopping buffer at the rear of your car.
Tailgaters cannot stop safely if you are forced to slam on your brakes.
2
Determine the correct defensive driving action.
Increase the following distance between your vehicle and the car ahead from the standard 3-second rule to 4 or 5 seconds.
A larger front cushion ensures you can bring your vehicle to a gradual, safe stop without requiring sudden braking.

Key Concept

Defensive speed control and following distance adjustment when being tailgated
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