Urban Driving: Congested Traffic
- Traffic in urban areas can slow to a crawl when motor vehicle operators want to reach destinations in the same general area around the same time.
- Traffic congestion on expressways and surface streets in urban areas is a fact of life, particularly during the morning and evening rush hours.
- Scan about two blocks ahead in urban traffic so that you can respond to traffic hazards ahead of you.
- Maintain a three-second following distance in good conditions;
- Increase your following distance to about six seconds when weather or other hazards are present.
- A longer following distance will give you more time to react to hazards in congested traffic.
Congested Traffic: Strategies for Reducing Risk