As someone who's been walking, riding, driving, and otherwise engaging with crowded city traffic for my entire life, I've seen some things. And when I learned to drive cars, as well as to ride motorcycles, I learned about what's considered to be a safe following distance behind other traffic. And I'm sure that you probably did, too.
Now, each Department of Motor Vehicles (or whatever the same organization might be called in your part of the world) might have slightly different written requirements on this matter. That's something I fully acknowledge. But in the state of Illinois (where I learned to drive, and to ride), the Secretary of State publishes a Rules of the Road manual that everyone driving and riding here is meant to adhere to. In the 2025 edition of the Illinois Rules of the Road book, it states in no uncertain terms that you should "allow at least three to four seconds following distance when behind a motorcycle so the motorcyclist has enough time to maneuver in an emergency."
The book then goes on to state that "in dry conditions, motorcycles can stop more quickly than a car," and that "a motorcyclist's ability to stop quickly may also depend on the rider's experience and training." The section directly after this talks about road conditions, and adds that "motorcycles react differently to traffic, weather, and road conditions than cars," and adds that "riders may respond in ways a vehicle driver does not expect."
That's absolutely true, and will make sense to drivers if they think about the fact that two-wheeled vehicles (be they motorcycles or bicycles) have to maintain balance, unless the rider puts one or both feet down on the ground. The same is not true of cars and trucks, which inherently stay upright unless you make some type of maneuver that flips them over or rolls them onto their sides.
That all seems pretty sensible if you think about it, right? That's why this recent post on the r/motorcycles subreddit is honestly kind of horrifying. The original poster threw up what they say is a screenshot from their Amazon Delivery Driver training that they say they attended, showing what they claim is official Amazon advice to maintain a following distance of just four feet behind a motorcycle.
There's a helpful drawing included in the purported screenshot, too.
The US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration thinks that's too close, too.
Now, I'll admit, the idea of a following distance in feet is a bit of a new one on me. Most of the time, I've heard people refer to distances in car lengths and/or seconds as their preferred units of measure. Four feet is nothing when you're moving, even if you're only moving at a crawl. I'm quite short as a person, and four feet is still shorter than me (I'm 5'3" for reference).
Illinois is the state I live in, and here in the US, drivers and motorcycle riders get our licenses through our state DMVs. As such, different states might word things slightly differently in their own Rules of the Road books (or equivalent titles).
But at a federal level, commercial vehicles, companies, and drivers are meant to comply with certain federal rules and regulations. The US FMCSA is the organization that oversees commercial motor vehicles. It defines the concept of following too closely as "situations in which one vehicle is following another vehicle so closely that even if the following driver is attentive to the actions of the vehicle ahead he/she could not avoid a collision in the circumstance when the driver in front brakes suddenly."
Now, most of what the US FMCSA talks about are rules for larger trucks than the Amazon delivery vehicles that you probably see everywhere now. They're usually talking about things like tractor-trailers, which will require different types of knowledge/rules because they may take longer to stop completely, or may respond differently to driver inputs than smaller vehicles would.
Interestingly, as of February 2022, the US federal government implemented Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) regulations, which stated that carriers providing ELDT training had to register with the FMCSA's official Training Provider Registry. This was meant to provide a set of standards that ELDT courses must reach, regardless of what provider is teaching them.
If you consult that database, you'll find (as I did) that there are a few listings for things relating to Amazon driver training. At the time of writing, there are currently 16 different in-person training locations for Amazon drivers that are run by the major CDL training school Ancora, as well as a single online training provider that's simply listed as Amazon Logistics Inc.
Now, to be clear, this is the Internet. People can and do post things in many places, including Reddit threads, that may not be accurate. As such, RideApart has also reached out to Amazon to ask about what following distance it asks its delivery drivers to use in its training manuals. We will update this piece with that information if and when we receive it.
But regardless of whether this is a real thing or not, I and every other motorcyclist you know am asking you to please, please, PLEASE stay further back than four measly feet when you're following us, whether you're driving an Amazon delivery van or not.
Four feet is insane. People can (and will) get hurt, or die. Give motorcyclists space, regardless of what kind of vehicle you're driving. Trust me; it's not just better for them; it's better for you, too. Do you really want to accidentally hit someone and maybe maim or kill them because you just couldn't wait an extra couple of seconds?
Most people don't.
