This reminds me of a time when I went to the grand canyon with some buddies. We stayed there for a few days. Then made the drive back to the airport to fly home Along the way to the airport some asshat setup traps along the highway. These were boulders the size of soccer balls scattered along the highway. We don't see these coming as there's a car in front of us Next thing you know that car in front is veering out of…
things like this convince me that humanity is doomed. A) your car was tailgating if you couldn't see those stones soon enough to stop before hitting one. B) the asshat who placed those stones will do things like this the rest of their life, and/or will encourage others to do so. that kind of thinking doesn't get corrected, that kind of thinking learns how not to get caught.
That's not the case. At any distance you can't see the road in front of the car in front of you (assuming equal height cars).
As the OP noted "One of those boulders that hit his tires flies off towards us, but luckily we veer and it misses." - this could happen no matter how far away you are.