New road markings are rolled out to stop high-speed tailgating deaths - so do you know what they mean?
- New road markings have been introduced in a notoriously dangerous freeway
- Painted arrows indicate the safe braking distance between cars on the road
- The new markings come as more than 1,000 tailgaters were reported in 2017
One of Sydney's most notorious freeways has received new road markings to slow down the trend of tailgating accidents.
Large V-shaped arrows have been painted onto New South Wales' M1 Freeway in a bid to give drivers a visual indicator of how far they should be from the car in front.
The new road markings and accompanying signs come after more than 700 collisions were reported on the same 13km stretch of freeway in the past five years.
Large V-shaped arrows have been rolled out on New South Wales' M1 Freeway
The white arrows are painted on a portion of the M1 between George Booth Dr at Seahampton and the Palmers Rd interchange at Ryhope, near Newcastle.
Along with them, a sign reading: 'Keep at least two chevrons apart.'
Two chevrons - which are the large V-shaped arrows - equates to about 92 metres.
Driving within that distance can net drivers a maximum penalty of $448 and three demerit points.
Centre for Road Safety chief executive Bernard Carlon told news.com.au keeping a safe breaking distance is paramount for driver safety.
'Keeping a safe distance from the vehicle in front of you is a basic road safety technique that we were all taught when we were learning to drive,' he said.
'The higher the speed limit, the greater the distance you need to leave to react if something goes wrong.'
The markings come after a rising trend in rear-end collisions on New South Wales' M1 Freeway
Learner drivers are generally taught to maintain a three second gap between themselves and the car in front of them by using roadside landmarks as guides.
But volatile weather conditions, such as rain and fog, can make it necessary to extend the time gap.
With the new road markings on a 110km/h stretch of road, the 92 metre recommended gap equates to barely more than exactly three seconds.
More than 1000 drivers were caught tailgating last year.
