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Automotive & MechanicsKeeping a safe following distance
On the Georgia road test you must not follow other cars too closely: keep a safe distance so you stay in control if the car ahead stops or turns suddenly. The Drivers Manual gives the way to measure it, a count from a reference point, and when to leave more room. It is the following distance of the Georgia DDS road test.
Free to startScenarios
- A dry road in daylight.
- Rain, a construction zone, heavy traffic or night.
- Behind a motorcycle or a commercial truck.
The steps
- Keep enough distance to stop safely if the car ahead slows down or stops suddenly.
- Watch the car ahead: when it passes a reference point, such as a telephone pole or a street sign, count "one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two".
- If you pass the same spot before you finish counting, you are following too closely: drop back.
- In bad weather, in construction, in heavy traffic and always at night, leave even more distance.
- Behind a motorcycle, leave three or four seconds.
- Do not tailgate a commercial motor vehicle: it has big blind spots behind it, and from there you cannot see the traffic ahead.
- Do not cut in front of a commercial motor vehicle: one car length for every 10 mph of speed is recommended.
- Stay at least 200 feet behind a fire apparatus answering an alarm or another emergency vehicle.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Tailgating is an example of aggressive driving in Georgia, a misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature.
To pass
- Aggressive driving carries 6 points on your driving record.
- The traditional road test is scored as a whole: you need at least 75%, and at the end the examiner shows you the score sheet and discusses the results with you.
- If you fail, wait until the next day to take it again; after a second failure, wait 7 days.
Official source
Georgia · DDS, Drivers Manual
Drivers Manual
The Georgia Department of Driver Services publishes its Drivers Manual free: the road test, the rules of the road and each maneuver.
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