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 50mph and someone overtakes, you are still travelling at 50mph and have not lost anything. If you are male and consider being overtaken an 'affront to your manhood' you need to seriously consider your suitability for a career in driver training.

If you regularly find that you are stressed by vehicles following too close behind, start to allow a little more time for your journeys and then 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!'

What not to do with 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'.

Space when 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 Section Five and the blind spot information in Section Two (moving off) for more about observation when reversing.

Next: Step 5 - keeping a safe space to the sides.