I very much prefer to be 3 SECONDS behind the person in front of me. It's a nice metric that works at basically all speeds above 30.
following distance Watch when the rear of the vehi- cle ahead passes a sign, pole, or any other fixed point. Count the seconds it takes you to reach the same point (one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two.) You are following too close if you pass that point before counting two seconds. Slow down and check your new following interval. Repeat until you are following no closer than two seconds. Always increase your following distance on slick roads, when following large vehicles, motorcycles, or vehicles pulling a trailer, at night, in fog, in bad weather and when following vehicles that stop at railroad crossings (transit buses, school buses or vehicles carrying dangerous mate- rial.)
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The most common guideline I've heard is the two-second (or sometimes, three-second) rule; that's roughly 54m at 60mph, assuming two seconds.
Uh, no. Usual safety guidelines are to stay a speed-dependent distance behind whomever you're following. The one I've heard most often quoted is one car length per ten miles per hour, so at 70mph you should be a minimum of seven car lengths behind.
Three lengths is comically short for those kinds of speeds.
No, safety guidelines are to follow 3 SECONDS behind the car in front, which is about 100m at 70mph.