(a) The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of the vehicles and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway.

Attorney's Note

Under the Tennessee Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
class C misdemeanorup to 30 daysup to $50
For details, see Tenn. Code § 40-35-111
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 55-8-124

  • Driver: means :
    (A) For purposes of a conventionally operated vehicle, every person who drives or is in actual physical control of a vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way when any part thereto is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Platoon: means a group of individual motor vehicles that are traveling in a unified manner at electronically coordinated speeds. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Roadway: means that portion of a highway improved, designed or ordinarily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highway for purposes of travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Truck: means every motor vehicle designed, used or maintained primarily for the transportation of property. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
(b) The driver of any motor truck or motor vehicle towing another vehicle when traveling upon a roadway outside of a business or residence district and which is following another motor truck or motor vehicle towing another vehicle shall, whenever conditions permit, leave sufficient space so that an overtaking vehicle may enter and occupy that space without danger, except that this shall not prevent a motor truck or motor vehicle towing another vehicle from overtaking and passing any like vehicle or other vehicle.
(c) Motor vehicles being driven upon any roadway outside of a business or residence district in a caravan or motorcade, whether or not towing other vehicles, shall be so operated as to allow sufficient space between each vehicle or combination of vehicles so as to enable any other vehicle to enter and occupy the space without danger. This subsection (c) does not apply to funeral processions.
(d) Except for a motor vehicle in a platoon, no motor truck of more than one and one-half ton rated capacity shall approach any other motor truck of like or greater capacity proceeding in the same direction on any of the highways of this state without the corporate limits of any municipality at a distance nearer than three hundred feet (300′), except in overtaking and passing such other trucks, or unless one (1) or both of these trucks have come to a stop or except in rendering assistance to a disabled or partly disabled truck.
(e) A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
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