Safe distance driving (Day vs Night)

[Lakshmi Narasimhan]

Dear All,

We all are advised to drive leaving safe distance (5-10 car space) from the car in the front. We all follow that no doubt its for all our safety.

But while night drive the safety distance is reduced and we follow the car in the front very closely.

During night with reduced visibility if can drive close (2-3 cars space), why not during day time?

Of course day time drive pace might be more, still the alertness and response time will be better in day than night. 
 

Had any body else thought like me!!!! Just want to understand better!

[Thomas Varghese]

1st of all during night drive the pace is reduced so u can keep closer to the car in front of you. 2nd reason to drive closely is not to lose the car in front of you in the dark. But during climbs you have to keep more distance whether its night or day. 2 times I got crested during yesterday's drive with @Lorenzo Candelpergher was because I was too close to his car during crossing the dunes and his being the lead car has to slow down to find a safe way for others to follow. I had no choice to keep distance because after he crosses I may lose him as his car speeds away in the night. Most of the time I managed well but its not an easy task. So its a fine balance and a trade off between the possibility of getting stuck or lose the car in front of you. In due course of time you will find that balance and will drive smoothly. 

[Lakshmi Narasimhan]

Exactly thats my point, once when we find the right balance why not we drive little closer during day time as-well. Even while driving close or with more distance if theres any refusal ahead I tend to stop or to get out of the way(after many conscious attempts and practice) and never overtake the car in front (my first ever lesson from @Wrangeld on my first ever newbie drive). Hope if we follow these and driving little closer during day time should not be a concern.

[Wrangeld]

@Lakshmi Narasimhan daylight is a key factor here. We say 5 - 10 cars to that you can see what the car ahead is doing and anticipate or change your route appropriately. At night, as you know, these senses need to be even more acute because of the inherent challenges of night drives. 

The job of a follower is to follow at a safe and effective distance. If you're too close, you end up refusing or cresting or otherwise because you did not leave enough time for anticipation if you're too far away, you might lose the lead [although, technically, unless it's and extreme or intermediate drive the lead should look out for that]. 

It's clear, like so many of us, you are trying to improve every drive and make these adjustments and be sensitive to the driving situation/reality. Essentially, however, you need to imagine that you are the lungs of a concertina moving backwards and forwards through the safe distance depending on what's happening both in front and behind you. 

Some feel that it's OK to more or less be autopilot while following, but that's not the point. Your responsibility in the convoy is effectively to smooth out the concertina effect, which is why distancing is no trivial matter and the limits are set by a number of cars. 

 

[Thomas Varghese]

30 minutes ago, Wrangeld said:

@Lakshmi Narasimhan daylight is a key factor here. We say 5 - 10 cars to that you can see what the car ahead is doing and anticipate or change your route appropriately. At night, as you know, these senses need to be even more acute because of the inherent challenges of night drives. 

The job of a follower is to follow at a safe and effective distance. If you're too close, you end up refusing or cresting or otherwise because you did not leave enough time for anticipation if you're too far away, you might lose the lead [although, technically, unless it's and extreme or intermediate drive the lead should look out for that]. 

It's clear, like so many of us, you are trying to improve every drive and make these adjustments and be sensitive to the driving situation/reality. Essentially, however, you need to imagine that you are the lungs of a concertina moving backwards and forwards through the safe distance depending on what's happening both in front and behind you. 

Some feel that it's OK to more or less be autopilot while following, but that's not the point. Your responsibility in the convoy is effectively to smooth out the concertina effect, which is why distancing is no trivial matter and the limits are set by a number of cars. 

 

@Wrangeld to drive behind you as second lead closer to your car is not at all problem for me as your car always lets out a cry before getting a refusal when climbing up which I can hear and adjust my momentum. But @Lorenzo Candelpergher's Rubicon is so powerful that he can slow down and then power up just like that and a poor Xterra coming behind him lands up in trouble if I don't keep enough distance for me to gain momentum and found myself suspended on a crest twice yesterday. The Rubicon deceives my perception because of its abilities. After crossing both of you are almost same as you both just disappear in a flash.  Either ways it is always fun driving behind you.  

[Islam Soliman]

I was recently sweeping a convoy and witnessed first hand the importance of keeping “enough” distance between the cars.. getting stuck or losing the track is the least of my concerns compared to what I witnessed getting my heart almost out of my chest.

 

the convoy was smoothly moving through nice dunes and approaching a ridge that we had to ride and cross, slightly challenging but perfectly doable for F. Three cars on the backend of the convoy took part on this incident and I am thankful to the mercy of ALLAH that all walked out of it without any injuries or damage to their cars.

 

the first car approached with a lower angel and less momentum than required so took the right decision to safely exist to reattempt.

 

the next car was obviously too close and got distracted with the first car losing momentum and then existing, didn’t have enough time to react so slipped and got stuck close to the top of the ridge.

 

third car followed without paying attention what happened to the 2 cars ahead and while midway to ride the ridge noticed the car infront of him stuck at the top so slowed down (too late) and car started to free slide stopping less than 1 meter from the stuck car almost bumping into it.

While the 2nd and 3rd car were going through this the 1st car was already halfway accelerating going for another attempt which would for sure led to an unfortunate incident by then I arrived and had clear visibility and started shouting like crazy at the 1st car to stop!

p.s. all 3 drivers are experienced drivers who I have seen in many drives drive extremely good.

So in my opinion what went wrong:

- situation awareness: all drivers should have full and undivided attention on what’s happening around them and respond;

- radio comms: any car that has a refusal should or stuck should immediately announce to alert others are who may not be paying attention (all 3 cars failed to do so)

- safety is everyone’s job: anyone on a drive (even if not a senior or support member) who observes a situation that can escalate to a problem should speak up and alert the convoy and not rely on seniors only to take action as sometimes those can be far from off or not having enough visibility of the situation

- safe distance: occasionally missing the track is far accepted than being too close with the probability of a collision.
 

Remember simple mistakes most times will not harm any one and can go unnoticed, but adding multiple small mishaps on top of each other can lead to large unfortunate incidents specially in extreme sports like offroading.

 

Wish everyone safe, enjoyable,  and full of fun drives

 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by Islam Soliman

[Lakshmi Narasimhan]

47 minutes ago, Islam Soliman said:

safety is everyone’s job: anyone on a drive (even if not a senior or support member) who observes a situation that can escalate to a problem should speak up and alert the convoy and not rely on seniors only to take action as sometimes those can be far from off or not having enough visibility of the situation

Absolutely true. Love this.