(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa lawmaker who’s also a state trooper is proposing a bill to better define when motorists are guilty of tailgating in the highway.
Current law says drivers are to follow other vehicles at a prudent and reasonable distance. Representative Zach Dieken of Granville has been a state trooper for 13 years and he’s the bill’s author. Drivers today can be ticketed for following another vehicle too closely, but Dieken says Iowa law doesn’t properly define tailgating.
Dieken’s bill says under clear conditions on an Iowa highway, motorists are to drive at least 25 feet behind another vehicle when the speed limit is 35 miles per hour and at least 150 feet when the posted speed limit is between 55 and 65 miles an hour. For the interstates, where the speed limit goes up to 70, the bill indicates at least 200 feet is the prudent distance between vehicles.
