Hyderabad police releases video explaining why you must ‘Keep Distance’ while driving

Many drivers in India tailgate the vehicle that is going in front of them. Driving too close to the vehicle in front of you can be very dangerous. Here, is a video uploaded by Cyberabad Traffic Police on their Facebook page that shows why you should not tailgate the vehicle that is going in front of you. This accident happened on 30th June near Ravi Hospital, KPHB.

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In the video, we can see that there are four vehicles involved in an accident. There is a Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Swift, Dzire and a Mahindra Scorpio. It seems like the camera is mounted near a traffic light that is why all the vehicles are coming to a stop.

The first three vehicles stop but there is very little distance between them. Unfortunately, Scorpio was not able to brake as efficiently due to this it rammed into the Swift which into the Dzire and Dzire itself hit the Baleno. All the vehicles were damaged quite a bit.

Why did this happen?

Well, first all the vehicles were too close to each other. The Scorpio was coming quite fast when compared to the speeds of other vehicles. Also, there is a white rumble strip that broke the traction of Scorpio’s tyres while braking. Due to this, the SUV was not able to brake and it collided with the Swift in front of it. But still, it seems like the Scorpio’s speed was much higher and it was not possible for the driver to brake in time.

What is tailgating?

Tailgating means that you are driving too close to the vehicle in front of you and it is not safe. This increases the chance of collision significantly in case the driver in front applies brakes suddenly. You should always keep a safe distance. Now, this “safe distance” depends on a number of factors such as weather, speeds, roads and traffic.

What can happen when you tailgate?

You decrease the chances of stopping in time when you tailgate. This happens because of several reasons. You do not have a clear view of what is ahead. Due to this, you cannot anticipate what can happen or what the conditions are.

It also reduces the judgement time significantly because you do not have enough time to respond to what just happened. Your reaction times are reduced, you might have pressed the brake but the vehicle still requires some distance to come to a stop. But there is not enough distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. So, your vehicle ends up hitting the vehicle in front of you.

You would also not have enough time to react to speed breakers, potholes, people crossing the road or any abnormalities. A similar thing happened here, the Scorpio’s driver did not have enough time to react to the white rumble strip. And rumble strip breaks the traction of tyres. This causes an increase in the stopping distance which you would not want as you do not have enough distance between you and the vehicle ahead.

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