I marvel at how few people know this let alone understand it.
In the stop light line: how much space between cars?
- Thread starter vigil617
- Start date
I marvel at how few people know this let alone understand it.
I like to leave enough room so I can inch forward.
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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]
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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?
HOUSTON RICK
Member
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?[/QUOTE}
After being rear ended more than twice, I am very content if they manage to not hit me.
sigp220.45
US Veteran
I am 100 percent going to start doing this.
LVSteve
Member
...and again, where do you get off thinking you can impose your will on others on the road?
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...and again, where do you get off thinking you can impose your will on others on the road?
Speaking of imposing will on others . . . I have had two separate occasions where women with no regard for their own vehicles basically forced the way in front of me. One was going into the other lane to get around me because they didn't want to wait in line behind use at a light and the other just assumed that little gap in front of me was just for them so they could pull out of a parking lot into traffic.
I'd prefer not to play bumper cars with them so I lost those two games of chicken . . .
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