Information that traffic police are increasing penalties for the act of not keeping a safe distance on the North-South expressway section from Phap Van to Nghi Son is causing many drivers to worry. In dense traffic conditions, maintaining a safe distance is not always easy, because the space between cars is often suddenly moved in by other vehicles.
This situation is particularly noteworthy when the car in front just squeezed into the gap and immediately slowed down or braked suddenly, causing the driver behind to not be able to handle it in time and a collision occurred.
According to the Traffic Police Department, the fact that another vehicle squeezes into the safe distance that the driver is maintaining does not mean that the person holding the distance will be automatically identified as a violator. Functional agencies will base on cameras, signs, related data and professional measures to clarify the entire development.
In a hypothetical situation, if car 1 is maintaining the correct speed and safe distance with car 3, but car 2 suddenly changes lanes, squeezes into a gap and then brakes suddenly, causing car 1 to not be able to handle it in time and collision occurs, how is the legal responsibility of car 1 and car 2 determined?
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Lawyer Hoang Ha (Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association) said that in this situation, it is not possible to implicitly conclude that car 1 is at fault just because it is the car behind and crashed into car 2.
Clause 2, Article 13 of the 2024 Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety stipulates that when changing lanes, drivers must have a prior signal, observe and ensure a safe distance from vehicles in front, behind and on both sides before changing lanes.
Therefore, if car 2 suddenly squeezes into the space that is the safe distance between car 1 and car 3, causing car 1 to lose sufficient handling distance and then immediately brake suddenly, then the act of car 2 changing lane can be identified as the direct cause of the accident.
Conversely, the responsibility of vehicle 1 must be considered based on the entire developments. Article 12 of this Law requires the driver to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front.
If after car 2 moves in, car 1 has enough time and distance to reduce speed and reconstruct distance but does not do so, car 1 may still be faulty.
Therefore, functional agencies must base on cameras, speed, distance between vehicles, the time vehicle 2 changed lanes and braked, and vehicle 1's reaction to determine the fault. "Rear vehicle crashes into front vehicle" is not a legal basis to automatically determine that the rear vehicle is faulty.
Another issue that many drivers are concerned about is that if it is determined that car 2 changes lanes without ensuring a safe distance from car 1, and at the same time does not keep a distance from car 3, this behavior may be handled according to lane change error, error of not keeping a safe distance or both; how is the responsibility for compensation for damages defined?
Lawyer Hoang Ha believes that it is necessary to separate the act of changing lanes and the driving state after changing lanes.
If car 2 moves into a void but right at the time of lane change does not ensure a distance with both car 1 behind and car 3 in front, then in essence this is an act of lane change that does not ensure a safe distance, as stipulated in point g, clause 5, Article 6 of Decree 168/2024, amended by Decree 238/2026.
It is not advisable to separate the lack of distance with car 1 and car 3 into many violations to be penalized, because an administrative violation is only penalized once.
However, if after completing the lane change, car 2 continues to run close to car 3, failing to maintain a safe distance from the previous car, this may be an independent act and will be considered for further handling.
If the wrong lane change directly causes an accident, sanctions should be applied to the act of changing lanes incorrectly causing an accident, instead of mechanically adding errors of the same origin of the act.
Regarding compensation, it is necessary to determine the causal relationship and the extent of the fault. If vehicle 1 is traveling in accordance with regulations, no longer able to avoid collision, and vehicle 2's fault is the cause of the accident, then vehicle 2 must be responsible for the damage incurred.
If vehicle 1 also has a fault, for example, has sufficient conditions to reduce speed but is not handled, the compensation level is divided corresponding to the level of fault of each party according to Article 585 of the Civil Code.
