What is the recommended following distance, and when should you increase it?

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Getting the following distance right hinges on giving yourself enough time to see, react, and stop before the car ahead. Under normal conditions, a two-second gap is a practical rule of thumb. But when conditions are worse—rain, ice, snow, at night, or when you’re following a large vehicle—the stopping distance grows and visibility drops, so you should extend that gap to about three to four seconds. A reliable way to measure this is to pick a fixed object on the road; after the lead vehicle passes it, start counting seconds. If you reach the object before finishing two seconds in normal conditions, you’re too close; aim for three to four seconds in the tougher conditions listed. This extra space gives you more time to react to hazards and to brake smoothly, reducing the risk of a rear-end collision. The other options don’t fit because they either understate the safe distance for normal or poor conditions, or ignore the need to adjust for worse visibility and traction.