SG Singapore Driver
Knowledge base road rules 2 min read

Safe following distance and stopping distance

Singapore's Highway Code following-distance and stopping-distance guidance, including the one-car-length rule and the two parts of stopping distance.

following-distance three-second-rule stopping-distance Highway-Code

Primary source: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/SL/RTA1961-R11?ProvIds=P1IV-P4_69-

The Highway Code says to allow at least one car length for every 16 km/h of speed, so that you can adjust speed and stop within the space between your vehicle and the vehicle ahead (SSO, Highway Code r 67). This is the Code's stated following-distance rule; no metric table is substituted for it.

Watch the stop light on the vehicle ahead and the traffic beyond it, rather than focusing only on the nearest vehicle (SSO, Highway Code r 68).

Stopping distance has two components: the distance travelled while the driver reacts and the vehicle's braking distance. The Code therefore warns drivers to account for both when judging whether they can stop safely (SSO, Highway Code r 69).

Coverage debt

  • The cited Highway Code does not provide a modern “three-second” timing test or a numerical stopping-distance table in these provisions, so neither is presented as an official figure here.

Sources