Keep your distance

On a motorway, broken lines are 3 meters long. The open space between the following line is 9 meters. The distance from the beginning of one line to the start of the next is 12 meters. If you’re driving at 100 kilometers per hour on a motorway, the following distance must be at least 55 meters. This means a distance of more than 4 lines to the vehicle in front. In practice, insufficient distance is often maintained, as shown in the image above. Therefore, keep a distance of at least five lines from the vehicle in front on a motorway. Especially during the practical exam at the CBR!

By law, a driver must be able to stop their vehicle within the distance they can see the road and within which it is unobstructed. This means you must maintain a sufficient distance from the vehicles in front of you. However, what constitutes adequate distance varies depending on the situation. The government, insurers, and the CBR recommend a minimum distance of two seconds. This two-second rule consists of three steps:

• Find a fixed point along the road, such as a lamppost or kilometer sign.
• Start counting when the vehicle in front passes this fixed point.
• Pass this point at least two seconds later.

By maintaining a two-second distance, you have a minimum distance. In poor weather conditions, such as low sun, fog, rain, or snow, you will need to maintain a greater distance. You will also need to maintain a greater distance when following cars towing caravans, lorries, and buses because you cannot see the road ahead properly, or at all.
Maintaining sufficient distance can save dozens of traffic fatalities and thousands of hospitalizations each year, and prevent an even greater number of traffic accidents. Approximately 40 percent of traffic accidents are rear-end collisions. In 90 percent of these cases, this could have been prevented by maintaining a greater distance.

Article 19 of the Road Traffic Regulations (RVV):
The driver must be able to stop his vehicle within the distance over which he can overlook the road and over which it is clear.