Traffic

I enjoy being on the road with my car or e-scooter/moped.
Not to race but just to tour.
In addition, I am often fascinated by creative road signs.
For example, I created a free (dutch) quiz about road signs in Belgium.
No personal data are processed.
At the end you can check your results.

On the road I notice that people often don't know the stopping distance.
An average car is about 3.5 meters so at 40 km/h you would have to keep
a distance of about 6 cars at 19.11 meters stopping distance.
Enter a speed below (+enter) to see the stopping distance of a car:

(kmh*kmh)/(250*coëfficiënt)+(kmh/3.6)
I use a friction coefficient of 0.8 on dry roads and 0.4 on wet roads.
The stopping distance is the braking distance + 1 second reaction time.
That is the distance that every driver must keep from the vehicle in front of him.
Also take a look at the table below with the stopping distance:

According to the laws of physics, a smaller vehicle slows down
when a larger vehicle drives close behind it.
A larger vehicle moves more air than the smaller vehicle, creating a kind of suction force.
This is Bernoulli's law.
You can also watch a dutch explanation from SchoolTV, Willem Wever (KRO-NCRV), below:

So when more air is moved, a negative pressure is created on that side.
Temperature also plays a role in creating negative pressure.
In heat, molecules move faster than in cold.
The higher pressure then collides more with something than in cold.
The color black absorbs heat and thus radiates more heat around it
than the color white.
Theoretically, therefore, the color black is faster than the color white.
In practice, because of the weight of a vehicle, you will not notice this very quickly.
However, the difference is noticeable in/on light vehicles, vessels and boats.
Even in aircraft, the color black can be both a danger and a benefit.
For example, when the black surface is very large on the underside
instead of a black top. The size of the surface makes all the difference.
More heat at the bottom are more moving molecules and therefore
less upward force (lift).
In cold water, a vessel or boat also moves faster than on warm water.

The dutch government has several ways to act against insufficient distance keeping.
In article 19 of the RVV (Reglement verkeersregels en verkeerstekens 1990)
valid until today states:
The driver must be able to stop his vehicle
within the distance over which he can see the road and over which it is free.

This means that every driver is obliged to be able to bring his vehicle
to a standstill on the free road section and that the driver can overlook.
This really means the stopping distance and not just the braking distance.
Article 92 of the RVV paragraph 1 states, among other things,
that articles 14 to and including 27 are a punishable offence.
Paragraph 2 of that article states, among other things, that the authority to drive
motor vehicles, mopeds and scooters can be revoked for a maximum of two years.
It is therefore possible that a driving licence will be confiscated
if insufficient distance is maintained.

When there is a threat to life due to insufficient distance keeping, imprisonment may
also be imposed.
For example when insufficient distance is kept
with a speedpedelec, e-scooter, moped, scooter, motorcycle or car.
Article 5a of the Road Traffic Act (wegenverkeerswet) states at paragraph 1 section h
"driving very close behind another vehicle;"
Section 176 paragraph 1 of the Road Traffic Act (wegenverkeerswet) states.
Violation of section 5a shall be punished by imprisonment of
up to two years or fine of the fourth category.
Currently, a fine of the fourth category is €25,750.

So that means you can get a jail sentence
and in the process also get a criminal record for very likely wanting to drive faster.
The fact is that when a vehicle has already reached its speed limit,
it cannot drive faster. Whether you are close behind it or not.

The government also determines where slower vehicles should drive.
On the road, bike path or bicycle-moped paths.
Throughout the Netherlands, speedpedelecs, moped riders and e-scooters
up to 45 km/h must drive on the road within the built-up area.
These vehicles must not be able to go faster than 45 km/h.
There are also vehicles that can only do 40 km/h or 38 km/h depending on the wind.
All vehicles with some form of assistance faster than 25 km/h should all
ride on the road instead of the bike path.
Even if the vehicle could only do 26 km/h.
Mopeds (and fatbikes) should not be able to go faster than 25 km/h and should
ride on the bicycle path.
Paths outside built-up areas, longer continuous paths and paths between residential
, industrial or business areas can also be bicycle-moped paths.
In these exceptions, slower vehicles are allowed to use these paths.