JJEH
Member
I always leave myself an exit. 3 to 5 feet is not enough space for me to pull out if need be.
In the stop light line: how much space between cars?
- Thread starter vigil617
- Start date
When I was young as long as I could see the trunk lid I thought I was doing good. Creeped as the car in front creeped. Have no idea where I was going that required such habits. When I was in my thirties I was an outside sales associate ad drove around 50K miles a year. Lots of close calls, bumped from behind once and I changed my driving habits.
Now I leave a car length sometimes more between me and the car in front. Reasons are multiple and have already been posted.
I have lived in Boise or the immediate area for all of my 59+ years. When I started driving traffic was light and polite. Now with rampant growth and most immigrants coming from large metro areas driving habits are changing rapidly. Now at stop lights we all get stacked like cord wood, following distances are NASCAR tight. People like me are now an irritant to and considered Okies by the new arrivals. So be it.
Now I leave a car length sometimes more between me and the car in front. Reasons are multiple and have already been posted.
I have lived in Boise or the immediate area for all of my 59+ years. When I started driving traffic was light and polite. Now with rampant growth and most immigrants coming from large metro areas driving habits are changing rapidly. Now at stop lights we all get stacked like cord wood, following distances are NASCAR tight. People like me are now an irritant to and considered Okies by the new arrivals. So be it.
Fishslayer
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
Hmmm... hadn't actually considered that!
How close I get usually depends on the font of their bumper stickers.
Ingramite
Member
S.T.O.P.
See Tires On Pavement
40 years as a Safety Professional has equipped me with an acronym for everything that has gone wrong or could go wrong.
See Tires On Pavement
40 years as a Safety Professional has equipped me with an acronym for everything that has gone wrong or could go wrong.
Who cares about10ft? At just 10mph 10 ft takes less than 1/15 of a second for a car to move that far. If you have 15 cars lined up all with an extra 10 ft between them you can travel that extra 150ft in less than 10 seconds roaring along at 10 mph. Relax and enjoy your life. You missed the light. Man, another whole minute of life gone forever. Stress out about distances and lights and immediate start up and the stress will kill you way before you ever burn up enough minutes to mean much.
Then you could do like me. We have 4 whole lights inn town and if I do end up at one there are probably only 2 or 3 people there at "rush hour" and none of us really care. Old guy at the grocery store taking forever to write a check. No.. problem. Start shooting the breeze with whoever else is standing around. Check out the tabloid and magazine cover sheets to see what kind of misery some "Star" is suffering. Might even be some scandals. LOL
Then you could do like me. We have 4 whole lights inn town and if I do end up at one there are probably only 2 or 3 people there at "rush hour" and none of us really care. Old guy at the grocery store taking forever to write a check. No.. problem. Start shooting the breeze with whoever else is standing around. Check out the tabloid and magazine cover sheets to see what kind of misery some "Star" is suffering. Might even be some scandals. LOL
GypsmJim
Member
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That's funny because i think about it all the time. Why?Distance between cars when stopped at stoplights?
Until I just read this thread, it's never even occurred to me to think or wonder about this.
And get irritated about it? No. Life is too short. I'd hate for my last coherent thought to be, "I wonder if I'm far away enough from that car in front of me?" Saint Peter would be laughing and pointing at me when I got to the Pearly Gates..."Hey, look, here he is guys! Should I let him in?"
First of all, back in Driver Ed (55 years ago), they taught us to stop just far enough away so you can see the tires touching the road ahead of you.
Secondly, for insurance cost reduction, every 3 years I take a Defensive Driving Course and they teach you what I just said.
Thirdly, over my driving life I have been rear ended 3 times. In each case I was standing still at a red light, after having braked slowly, stopped behind the car ahead of me an appropriate distance. In one case the road was ice and when the guy hit me he caused a 4 car chain reaction.
Sooooo, pardon me but the subject irritates me because some days it seems like nobody else had any edumacation.
The Norseman
Member
Bumper Cars
I'm with Rubiranch. I'll do what I want or feel Safe with.
I just think it is a good Plan stopping back a ways froma
vehicle. It gives an Escape Route if need be.
There is no reason to stop right up close to the Rear End of a
Vehicle.
Also up here in the Winter it is a good idea to get into a routine to
stop back aways, so you don't slide into someone. Another thing with
Winter driving is knowing how to throw your Vehicle into Neutral
to stop all power to the Wheels.
Just Plans that could get you out of a predicament.
I'm still looking for the DMV Rule "to ram your Front Tires into the
Curb for parking your Vehicle".
The Best to you and your Endeavors.
I'm with Rubiranch. I'll do what I want or feel Safe with.
I just think it is a good Plan stopping back a ways froma
vehicle. It gives an Escape Route if need be.
There is no reason to stop right up close to the Rear End of a
Vehicle.
Also up here in the Winter it is a good idea to get into a routine to
stop back aways, so you don't slide into someone. Another thing with
Winter driving is knowing how to throw your Vehicle into Neutral
to stop all power to the Wheels.
Just Plans that could get you out of a predicament.
I'm still looking for the DMV Rule "to ram your Front Tires into the
Curb for parking your Vehicle".
The Best to you and your Endeavors.
Attachments
Doesn't seem to matter,I've been hit from behind 4-5 times over the years lol
I marvel at how few people know this let alone understand it.
I like to leave enough room so I can inch forward.
OP
vigil617
US Veteran
I laughed out loud at this, Model 19! 
I sure have learned a lot from this thread. I confess that when I took driver's ed back in 1971
we weren't taught about stopping so we could see the tires touching pavement in front of us. It fully makes sense, but for whatever reason, it wasn't taught.
Likewise, I was completely unaware of the winter driving technique involving switching into neutral to stop power to the wheels.
Now I know.
Thanks for all the responses, guys.
I sure have learned a lot from this thread. I confess that when I took driver's ed back in 1971
we weren't taught about stopping so we could see the tires touching pavement in front of us. It fully makes sense, but for whatever reason, it wasn't taught.Likewise, I was completely unaware of the winter driving technique involving switching into neutral to stop power to the wheels.
Now I know.
Thanks for all the responses, guys.
It depends on the driver in front of me. The farther back he or she stops from the car in front of them the closer I will stop behind them. Leave two car lengths and I will be right on top of them. A whole car length and I am close enough to make them nervous. A few feet from the car in front of them and I give a few feet, too. I do not crank on the horn or yell and make hand gestures. If they pull up, I stay where I am (again depending how far back they are from the car in front of them).
Back in the late sixtys, I got rear ended in a snow storm by a woman, the roads were really icey and I was stopped at a light, she said I dont know why I didnt stop, I shut off the motor [emoji46]
Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk
Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk
The turn-signal thread reminded me of something I've been meaning to ask the national audience here on the Forum.
Where I now live in the Fayetteville, North Carolina area, I have observed a phenomenon I don't ever remember seeing anywhere else I have lived. I can't figure it out, and I wonder if anyone else sees it and whether it's some kind of new trend.
When coming to a stop for a stoplight, my habit has always been to leave perhaps 3 to 5 feet or so between me and the car ahead. This is what feels like a comfortable space, plus I do it in consideration of people behind me so when the light changes, most or all of us can get through the light before it turns red again. Simple, right?
Well, it's amazing to me that so many drivers here will stop a full car length, or even more, behind the one in front of them. Some even stop that far behind the stop line if they're first in line. In a long line of stopped traffic, this means that the folks near the end of the line are gonna have to wait through another light cycle to move through.
Not to mention the fact that when someone "stops short" ahead of me as I'm decelerating, I have less room to stop and sometimes have to brake hard, even if I had not been following too closely. We have a ton of rear-end collisions in our area, and I wonder if this is partly why.
This behavior puzzles, and frankly, gripes me. It's another grrrrrrrrrrrr moment among the many others I have when driving these days.
Do people do this where you live? Is there a reasonable explanation?
I see this sort of thing all of the time on my commute home. It drives me up the freaking wall.
Between junk like this and folks not paying attention to the light due to being on their phone makes me want to move out to the middle of no where.
Exactly! What's the point of stopping and leaving 2 car lengths if you're just going to creep forward until the light changes.
Gaffer
Member
When attending Driver Instructor Training classes at So. Conn. State College we we were told that you never get any closer, when stopped behind the car in front, so that you can see its tires on the pavement.That gives a safety cushion and it also allows you to drive around the car if it cannot move ahead. Having been a driver instructor for AT&T I can opine that todays drivers are the worst and many have no clue as how to drive safely.
There are dozens of nuisances and short cuts one can learn to be better driver. Most do not observe what is going on around the or ever look in the rear mirror or side mirrors. One of the things we were taught is to look at the roadside signs an keep a 4 second distance between you and the car ahead. Most never know what the road sign said or what its trying to alert you of.We were taught that you as a defensive driver are obligated to control the other driver by you own actions. Thats hard to believe but it can be done.
There are dozens of nuisances and short cuts one can learn to be better driver. Most do not observe what is going on around the or ever look in the rear mirror or side mirrors. One of the things we were taught is to look at the roadside signs an keep a 4 second distance between you and the car ahead. Most never know what the road sign said or what its trying to alert you of.We were taught that you as a defensive driver are obligated to control the other driver by you own actions. Thats hard to believe but it can be done.
LVSteve
Member
Why would you do that? Are you attempting to impose your will on them when it comes to leaving a gap?
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