When driving behind another vehicle under ideal driving conditions, you should follow the ____ rule.
- Two-second ✓
- One-second
- Half-second
- Half-mile
Answer: A. Two-second
Under ideal driving conditions, follow the two-second rule.
Why this is the answer
The manual's space-cushion guidance says to pick an object ahead, such as a sign or tree. When the vehicle in front passes it, count slowly to two seconds. If you reach that object before you finish counting, you are too close. In bad weather or behind large trucks, the manual says to add time and count three or four seconds. The bank answer matches the good-conditions count.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. One-second — The manual gives two seconds for ideal conditions, not one, so a one-second gap would be shorter than the rule it states.
- C. Half-second — A half-second count is even shorter and is not the space cushion the manual describes for good conditions.
- D. Half-mile — The rule is a timed count, not a half-mile distance, and the passage does not give a half-mile following gap.
Remember it
Pick a sign or tree ahead; if you reach it before you finish counting to two, you are too close.