An essential way to stay safe when driving is to leave enough room between the front of your car and the back of the vehicle in front of you – this is known as your stopping distance. You need to leave enough space between your car and the one in front so that if they were to stop suddenly or someone were to hit you from behind, you would have enough time and room to stop your car, without resulting in a collision. A good rule to abide by is T and T – tyres and tarmac.
If you hear your instructor refer to the saying T and T, this means you should be able to see the rear tyres of the car in front of you on the road, or tarmac. The closer you get to the vehicle in front of you, the less you will be able to see the back tyres of the car in front. If you can’t see their tyres at all, then this is an obvious indication that you are driving too close to them.
Why should you keep T and T
T and T usually applies when driving in slow moving traffic. Were you to be unfortunately hit by the car behind, you could end up being pushed into the back of the car in front if you are too close. If the vehicle in front were to break down and you are too close, then you might find it difficult to manoeuvre out from behind and get out.
If you needed to change lane, providing you were following the T and T rule, you should have enough room to manoeuvre into the correct lane.
Another important application of the rule is if you are driving uphill and the vehicle in front does not have good clutch control, they may roll back. If you haven’t left enough room, they could roll into the front of your car. If there is enough room and you notice them rolling back, you have time to warn them by sounding your horn.
