GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2017
SESSION LAW 2017-169
HOUSE BILL 716
AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT THE LAWS REGULATING THE DISTANCE BETWEEN
MOTOR VEHICLES TRAVELING ON THE ROAD DO NOT APPLY TO ANY
NON-LEADING COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE TRAVELING WITHIN A
PLATOON WHERE AUTHORIZED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 20-152 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-152. Following too closely.
(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 such vehicles and the traffic upon
and the condition of the highway.
(b) The driver of any motor vehicle traveling upon a highway outside of a business or
residential district and following another motor vehicle shall, whenever conditions permit,
leave sufficient space so that an overtaking vehicle may enter and occupy such space without
danger, except that this shall not prevent a motor vehicle from overtaking and passing another
motor vehicle. This provision shall not apply to funeral processions.
c) Subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall not apply to the driver of any
non-leading commercial motor vehicle traveling in a platoon on any roadway where the
Department of Transportation has by traffic ordinance authorized travel by platoon. For
purposes of this subsection, the term "platoon" means a group of individual commercial motor
vehicles traveling at close following distances in a unified manner through the use of an
electronically interconnected braking system."
SECTION 2. The Department shall submit a report on the implementation of this
act to the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee on or before April 1, 2018.
SECTION 3. This act becomes effective August 1, 2017. Prosecutions for offenses
committed before the effective date of this act are not abated or affected by this act, and the
statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain applicable to those prosecutions.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 28th day of June,
2017.
s/ Daniel J. Forest
President of the Senate
s/ Tim Moore
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ Roy Cooper
Governor
Approved 11:44 a.m. this 21st day of July, 2017
SESSION 2017
SESSION LAW 2017-169
HOUSE BILL 716
AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT THE LAWS REGULATING THE DISTANCE BETWEEN
MOTOR VEHICLES TRAVELING ON THE ROAD DO NOT APPLY TO ANY
NON-LEADING COMMERCIAL MOTOR VEHICLE TRAVELING WITHIN A
PLATOON WHERE AUTHORIZED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. G.S. 20-152 reads as rewritten:
"§ 20-152. Following too closely.
(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 such vehicles and the traffic upon
and the condition of the highway.
(b) The driver of any motor vehicle traveling upon a highway outside of a business or
residential district and following another motor vehicle shall, whenever conditions permit,
leave sufficient space so that an overtaking vehicle may enter and occupy such space without
danger, except that this shall not prevent a motor vehicle from overtaking and passing another
motor vehicle. This provision shall not apply to funeral processions.
c) Subsections (a) and (b) of this section shall not apply to the driver of any
non-leading commercial motor vehicle traveling in a platoon on any roadway where the
Department of Transportation has by traffic ordinance authorized travel by platoon. For
purposes of this subsection, the term "platoon" means a group of individual commercial motor
vehicles traveling at close following distances in a unified manner through the use of an
electronically interconnected braking system."
SECTION 2. The Department shall submit a report on the implementation of this
act to the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee on or before April 1, 2018.
SECTION 3. This act becomes effective August 1, 2017. Prosecutions for offenses
committed before the effective date of this act are not abated or affected by this act, and the
statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain applicable to those prosecutions.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 28th day of June,
2017.
s/ Daniel J. Forest
President of the Senate
s/ Tim Moore
Speaker of the House of Representatives
s/ Roy Cooper
Governor
Approved 11:44 a.m. this 21st day of July, 2017