41-6a-711.  Following another vehicle — Safe distance — Exceptions — Penalty.

(1)  As used in this section, “connected platooning system” means a system that uses vehicle-to-vehicle communication to electronically coordinate the speed and braking of a lead vehicle with the speed and braking of one or more following vehicles.

Terms Used In Utah Code 41-6a-711

  • Highway: means the entire width between property lines of every way or place of any nature when any part of it is open to the use of the public as a matter of right for vehicular travel. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Operator: means :
(a) a human driver, as defined in Section 41-26-102. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for the purpose of travel. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
  • Vehicle: means a device in, on, or by which a person or property is or may be transported or drawn on a highway, except a mobile carrier, as defined in Section 41-6a-1120, or a device used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks. See Utah Code 41-6a-102
    • (2)  The operator of a vehicle:

    (a)  may not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having regard for the:

    (i)  speed of the vehicles;

    (ii)  traffic upon the highway; and

    (iii)  condition of the highway; and

    (b)  shall follow at a distance so that at least two seconds elapse before reaching the location of the vehicle directly in front of the operator’s vehicle.

    (3)  Subsection (2)(b) does not apply to:

    (a)  funeral processions or to congested traffic conditions resulting in prevailing vehicle speeds of less than 35 miles per hour; or

    (b)  the operator of a vehicle that is:

    (i)  part of a connected platooning system; and

    (ii)  not the lead vehicle.

    (4)  A violation of Subsection (2) is an infraction.

    Amended by Chapter 263, 2018 General Session

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