“In other words, there is no violation as far as this aspect of the case is concerned. “
Other than 20 mph over.
Years ago truck drivers used to leave a lot of following space. Now many tailgate as bad a Prius drivers.
I think it may have been in a construction zone which would have had a lowered speed limit. When traffic isn’t heavy almost no one obeys the lowered speed limit (which in many cases is unreasonably low). I doubt the driver was going 85 in a 65 zone.