obviously 4 car lengths was not enough, or you wouldn't have gone into the back of him

it probably would have happened to most of us though, but if you left very long skid marks perhaps you should think about doing some advanced driver training to learn how to brake better. skidding increases the stopping distance compared to breaking up to the limit. they teach you things like that on certain skid pan training days etc. might come in handy next time you're in a precious classic ford without abs