Kansas driving lesson · Kansas Rules of the Road: Speed & Basic Laws
Following distance, required stops and phones
A 3-minute lesson from the Kansas course. Read the rules and examples, follow the handbook page references, and check your understanding before you move on.
Leave enough room to stop or turn if the car ahead stops suddenly, and know the places Kansas law requires a full stop. Kansas also bans reading and writing messages behind the wheel.
Know the rule
Don't follow more closely than is reasonable and prudent (K.S.A. 8-1523). You must be able to stop or turn to avoid a collision if the vehicle ahead suddenly stops.
Increase following distance behind vehicles that stop often or turn suddenly (buses, delivery vans, police cars), and increase it even more in bad weather. Following too closely also blocks your view ahead.
You must stop when meeting or overtaking a school bus, church bus or day care bus stopped to load or unload children, and stay stopped until the STOP signal is retracted and red lights are off.
Kansas prohibits using any electronic device to write, send or read a written communication while driving, including texting and email (K.S.A. 8-1598).
The texting law does not cover GPS devices or weather reports. Talking or dialing a phone is not specifically illegal in Kansas, but anything that distracts you is dangerous.
It's raining hard on I-70. Pick a sign ahead; when the car in front passes it, count. If you reach it before 'one-thousand-four,' drop back, because adverse conditions call for the four-second rule.
Check your understanding
Read the question, decide on an answer, then open it to check the explanation. These are Roadwise study questions based on the source handbook.
What is the recommended minimum following distance under normal (prime) conditions in Kansas?
Four seconds
One second
Five seconds
Two seconds
Answer: Two seconds
Page 17 says to use the two-second rule under prime conditions and a four-second rule under adverse conditions.
Kansas law prohibits which activity with an electronic device while driving?
Listening to a weather report
Dialing a phone number
Using GPS navigation apps for turn-by-turn directions
Texting, emailing, or reading messages
Answer: Texting, emailing, or reading messages
Kansas bans writing, sending, or reading written communications like texts or email; it does not ban GPS use, weather reports, or simply dialing a number.