Whenever you follow another vehicle, you need enough space to stop safely if the other vehicle brakes suddenly. A safe following distance is at least two seconds behind the vehicle in front of you. This is the minimum reaction time you need to stop safely.

1. Mark a point on the road ahead, such as a road sign or telephone pole.
2. When the rear of the vehicle ahead passes the marker, count "one thousand and one, one thousand and two".
3. When the front of your vehicle reaches the marker, stop counting. If you reach the marker before you count "one thousand and two," you are close and need to maintain more distance.

Depending upon the weather and traffic conditions, try to maintain more than two-second space. If a lighter vehicle is ahead of you it will take lesser time to stop while if a heavy vehicle is ahead of you it would be blocking your view of the road ahead.

The factors that affect the stopping distance are load, condition of the road surface, tyres, brakes, driver skill and type of vehicle.

The vehicle travelling at a higher speed will take longer distance to stop.

Drivers have to understand that however good a driver they think they are and however good their car is, a vehicle at a higher speed will take much longer distance to stop.