Increase your following distance when driving behind a large vehicle:
- To better see around the sides of the vehicle. ✓
- Because other drivers tend to pull behind large vehicles before trying to pass them.
- Because following too closely will get you caught in the vehicle's slipstream.
Answer: A. To better see around the sides of the vehicle.
You should increase your following distance behind a large vehicle so you can see around its sides.
Why this is the answer
The handbook explains that large vehicles and trucks have big blind spots, called No Zones, where your car can vanish from the driver's view, and it warns against following too closely because tailgating shrinks your safety distance. Hanging back keeps your car out of those blind areas and gives you a clearer view past the vehicle instead of having your view blocked by its rear. The handbook's point that you should be able to see the truck's side mirrors fits the same idea: distance is what gives you that view.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Because other drivers tend to pull behind large vehicles before trying to pass them. — The passages never describe other drivers tucking in behind large vehicles before passing, so that is not the reason given for adding space.
- C. Because following too closely will get you caught in the vehicle's slipstream. — Nothing in the passages talks about a slipstream or being pulled along by a large vehicle, so that explanation is not supported.
Remember it
If you cannot see the truck's side mirrors, the driver cannot see you, so stay back far enough to see past it.