How many feet should you stay behind a car when its raining?

Answer 1

It is very hard to give a certain answer in feed, there are so many variables. Visibility, how hard is it raining? has it just started raining? is the road already soaked. As a rule of thumb it sould be 4 car lengths, but probably wise giving 6 for extra safety, certainly as the speed increases if you were on a motorway for example.

If you are unsure of a safe following distance, the 2 second rule is an easy method for such safety aspects.If driving in poor weather then increase this distance.

2 seconds is the normal slow to stop at approx 30 mph.

A way of assessing if the vehivle infrontis 2 seconds away is to pick a sport on the road side like a lighting pole. as the car in front passes it cound one, two and then you should just be passing it. If you get there quicker then slow down and create more space.

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On a dry road the brakes and tyres are supposed to give 1G deceleration. If wet conditions reduce this to 0.5G, the stopping distance at any speed is multiplied by 2 (doubled).

Another important thing is that the stopping distance goes with the square of the speed, so doubling the speed gives 4 times the stopping distance.