Speed and space management are two critical components to safety on the road. Speed management, means knowing how fast you are driving and space management helps to prevent any rear-end collisions on the road.
Knowing how fast or slow to drive is a vital part of road safety. Speed management means knowing how fast to drive according to the stopping distance required, the shape of the road, traffic flow, the condition of the road surface, visibility conditions and above all else, knowing the posted speed limit for the area you are driving in.
The length of your vehicle is key to space management. Space management helps BCOs avoid rear-end collisions. In ideal conditions keeping at least a 6 second following distance is crucial. As speed increases and driving conditions change, owner-operators should add one or more seconds to their following distance.
For speeds below 40 MPH, drivers should use one second for each 10 feet of vehicle length. For speeds above 40 MPH, use one second for each 10 feet of vehicle length and then add one more second.
Under certain conditions, safety experts say it's important to add more following distance. Here is a list of space management guidelines in certain conditions:
Add one second for each poor driving condition, ie: snow, ice, rain
Add one second for every two hours of driving time
Add a tailgater's following distance to your following stance
Add an additional second for specified vehicles, ie: over dimensional, doubles, tanks
Join in on the Landstar Safety Thursday Conference Call on the third Thursday of every month at 12 p.m. (noon) ET, Dial 877-717-5921.
Landstar System, Inc. is a technology-enabled, asset-light provider of integrated transportation management solutions delivering specialized transportation services to a range of customers utilizing a network of agents, third-party capacity providers and employees. The Company operates through two segments. Transportation logistics segment provides a range of integrated transportation management solutions. Transportation services offered by the Company include truckload, less-than-truckload and other truck transportation, rail intermodal, air cargo, ocean cargo, expedited ground and air delivery of time-critical freight, heavy-haul/specialized, United States-Canada and United States-Mexico cross-border, intra-Mexico, intra-Canada, project cargo and customs brokerage. Insurance segment consists of Signature Insurance Company and Risk Management Claim Services, Inc. The insurance segment provides risk and claims management services to certain of Landstars Operating Subsidiaries.
LANDSTAR SYSTEM, INC. 
