Whakatāne police have issued a reminder about the importance of keeping a safe following distance following a crash on Monday.

The driver of a car was seriously injured when it was involved in a crash with a truck on State Highway 30 near Lake Rotomā during heavy rain.

While police were still investigating the crash and had not yet determined its cause, Senior Sergeant Cam MacKinnon said it was a timely reminder for motorists to observe safe following distances.

Mr MacKinnon said drivers should be observing two second, four second or six second rules when it came to following distances, depending on their situation.

“If you’re in a vehicle of fairly low weight capacity, you’re usually looking at a two-second following distance behind the vehicle in front of you.

“But we remind motorists that at any time, you can’t fully anticipate what the person in front is thinking or what their actions may be. You need to be able to give yourself room to negate any problems that you may see ahead of you.

“In terms of the four-second rule, if your vehicle is fully laden or has more weight in it, you increase to a four second gap.

“Heavy laden vehicles are usually advised to take a six second gap, just to give yourself that time to anticipate changes in front of you.”

Waka Kotahi also recommended drivers of light vehicles use a four second following distance in instances of bad weather, when the road is wet or slippery, or when towing a trailer.

Mr MacKinnon said he often saw people following too close when he was out on the roads, and a two second following distance was a larger gap than many thought.

“You can normally fit one to two vehicles in that gap.

“The suggestion is that the faster you go, increase it to four seconds to give yourself more time.”