Maintaining a safe space
This section contains similar advice to that given to learner drivers on our sister site: DriverActive - but don't be misled into thinking that this is 'kids stuff'...
As far as space is concerned, the only difference between learners and advanced drivers is experience.
Use the information on this page as the basis for achieving your target on the 'Safe space worksheet'.
Space travel
Astronauts don't need the skill of controlling the 'space' around their rockets – there is virtually no chance of them bumping into another spaceship, nor of them being hit from behind!
Drivers, on the other hand, need to keep a safe space between their vehicles and other road users, bollards, trees and walls, etcetera – the safety bubble. This section will explains the basics of maintaining a safety bubble.
Space to the front
The safety space in front is the easiest one for you to control. You can adjust the gap between yourself and the vehicle in front by simply varying your speed. If you regularly get a close up view of large vehicles (or slow vehicles for that matter!) you need to develop the skill of maintaining a safe gap.
The picture above was taken from a car travelling at about 15 mph. The driver has kept back for three reasons.
- To leave a safe stopping distance (especially as the view ahead is severely limited)
- To get a view of the road ahead by looking underneath the vehicle in front
- To maximise space as he enters a narrow section of road over a bridge
Your forward safety gap must always be large enough for you to stop safely if necessary; an easy way to maintain this gap on a dry road is to use the 'two-second rule'.
Two Second Rule
Applying this rule is easy. First, watch the vehicle ahead pass a static marker point. A tree, a phone box, a lamp-post, a motorway bridge or any other fixed reference point.
As the vehicle passes the fixed point, recite the following phrase at a normal speaking rate:
'Only a fool breaks the two-second rule'
This should take approximately two seconds to say.
You should have finished the phrase as, or before, you reach the fixed reference point.
If you pass the point before you finish speaking, you are too close to the vehicle in front; pull back and try again.
In poor weather conditions your gap should be at least double.
As the vehicle passes the fixed point, recite the following phrase at a normal speaking rate:
'Only a fool breaks the two-second rule' This should take approximately two seconds to say.
Again, you should have finished the phrase as, or before, you reach the fixed reference point.
Initially the gap might seem to you to be very large – if this is the case, it's indicative of the fact that up to now, you have been driving dangerous close and trusting 'good luck' to keep you alive.
Tyres and tarmac
The two-second-rule will help you to maintain a safe distance when your car is moving, but you must also consider the gap to the front when you stop in traffic queues.
- What if the car in front rolls back?
- What if your foot slips off the clutch?
- What if you are facing down hill and your handbrake fails?
If you always leave enough room to steer around the vehicle in front the gap should be big enough for any eventuality (about 2 metres).
An easy way to measure this for yourself is to use the 'tyres and tarmac' rule. When stopped behind another vehicle you should be able to see its rear tyres and some of the road surface behind them.
Keeping a safety space to the rear
If the vehicle behind is following too closely, you need to increase your forward safety gap. Doing this will protect you and the driver behind in an emergency because there will be enough room for you both to stop safely.
Another easy way to control this gap is to allow the vehicle behind you to overtake; this will make no difference to your journey time but it will reduce the risk of a rear end shunt and a broken neck. You are not in a race!
I often come across drivers who seem to consider that when they are overtaken, the other drivers are 'stealing their space'. This is absolute madness!
At any time there are millions of vehicles joining roads behind you and ahead of you. If you are travelling at 50 mph and someone overtakes, you are still travelling at 50 mph and have not lost anything. If you are male and consider being overtaken an 'affront to your manhood' – see a doctor and get a life! (Another term might be 'grow up'!)
If you regularly find that you are stressed by vehicles following too close behind, start to allow a little longer for your journeys. And use the extra time to slow down and let people pass. It might well be that the driver behind is an idiot. All the more reason to have him in front where you can see him!'
Like tailgaters?
A sure way to get a tailgater to follow even more closely is to 'bang on the brakes to teach him a lesson'.
You won't teach him anything. Except that he is having a bad day and that he has an idiot in front. By all means show your brake lights early when you see a problem ahead, but don't get mad!
For lots of information about dealing with tailgaters see the SmartDriving section on 'Tailgating'.
Reversing
When reversing, you have direct control over your rear safety gap. The important point to remember here is to drive slowly, so that you can always stop safely if required. See the reversing information in Module Five and the blind spot information in Module Two (moving off) for more about observation when reversing.
Keeping a safety space to the sides
You need space to the sides to avoid pedestrians, cyclists, oncoming vehicles, horses and many other hazards.
You can control this space by holding back from narrow gaps until you are 100 per cent certain that there is enough room for error.
Allow at least two metres' (two yards') clearance when passing cyclists – a court case some years ago laid down the principle that a cyclist is entitled to wobble!
Another way to gauge an absolute minimum safe distance past cyclists is to imagine the bike, and and adult rider, lying flat on the road – how much space would they take up?
One of the biggest problems with space to the sides is found in side streets packed with parked vehicles. Sometimes you have no choice but than to squeeze through a narrow gap. In these situations slow down to compensate – this might mean walking pace.
Making allowances for temporary conditions
You will sometimes need to have extra space around you.
Think about how the following factors may affect the safety gap needed. You might want to research some of the situations listed 
by reading any study material or books that you have.
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Driving when you are tired
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Driving when you are unwell
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Driving a strange car
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Driving in wet weather
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Driving in fog
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Driving on snow and ice
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Driving when preoccupied by personal problems
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Driving in a strange place
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Driving a car with a full load