Likewise, my Dad was a driving instructor until he retired and this was the rule he taught to all his students. Personally I usually leave enough room that I can get around the car in front if it breaks down or my lane of traffic doesn’t move when the lights change. I might leave a bit more if it’s a truck simply because I like to able to see what is going on.
You shouldn’t but a lot of people who drive manual transmission don’t use the handbrake on hill starts, it is annoying when you try to move forward when the lights change only to find the person in front of you rolling backwards. Learn to drive damnit!
I leave enough that I can get out of line if necessary, probably 4-6 feet (I answered 5-10).
Once I was in line and the car in front of me died and I was stuck behind this guy for 5-10 minutes as he just sat there and cranked his starter (I offered to help him push it off the road; he just looked at me like I was a moron). I and several of the cars behind me were bumper to bumper and we could not merge into the other lane without the person in back of us reversing. It sucked. I will never go through that again, I always leave enough space for me to move. (I finally got around the guy, he is probably still there).
Random thought: what if you leave as little space as possible and someone tries to carjack you? :eek:
Use the HANDBRAKE on a hill start?I’ve never had to do that! And I can’t imagine stopping at the bottom of a hill if the light is at the top…how far away are you stopping, a half block? I know that driving defensively is important, but some people seem to be driving paranoid. Carjack worries, rear ending worries…if there are three cars stopped behind you at a light, I think you can stop worrying about getting rear-ended and close up the space to less than a car length and let other people into the turn lane so the straight lane can move forward. The people who leave such huge gaps always seem to be oblivious to the cars around them anyhow. Otherwise they’d move up a skosh so cars trying to get out of driveways they are blocking can get out!
Pretty standard if you don’t want to risk rolling back. (And usually a required skill to be demonstrated in tests in countries that have separate tests or test only on manual transmissions.) Yes, you could balance your car with your clutch and throttle wear the fuck out of it. Or maybe you’re quick enough to go from brake to throttle without rolling your car back (I’m not.) On a small hill, if there’s nobody close behind you, it’s no problem. But live anywhere with steep grades, and it’s a good skill to have. I almost always use a handbrake on anything I would properly call a “hill.” Why wouldn’t I? It’s easy, it’s safe, and there’s completely no stress involved.
Nobody is, on a steep hill it doesn’t matter how quick you are from brake to accelerator the car is going to move backwards some distance. People who try and hold the car on the clutch are just stupid in my opinion, when you are stuck in traffic and it takes you a few cycles of the lights to get through you are putting a hell of a lot of wear onto the clutch needlessly.
Right. But why would you consider it bad driving when this happens? (Not talking about balancing the clutch; I think–hope–that’s universally regarded as stupid.)
I go from brake to accelerator, hence rolling back a little. I only have to deal with little hills, but maybe I’ll use my handbrake from now on anyway.
It depends on how steep the hill is and how quick you are between the pedals (i.e. it ultimately depends on how far you roll back). Is it bad driving to roll backwards 6-12 inches towards a car that is moving forward? Yes, yes it is. It causes the person behind you to brake as they don’t know how far you are going to roll, is your clutch slipping and you are going to continue backwards or are you just a bit slow between the pedals? The person behind has no way of knowing.
If you are on a small hill and you hardly move back at all then it’s no big deal in my opinion but people still insist on doing it when the hill is very steep. I would imagine (though I am no mechanic) that it doesn’t do the clutch much good to have to overcome the backwards momentum and then push the car forwards. Hand-brake starts are safer (if the clutch doesn’t bite for some reason just leave the hand-brake on, no risk of an accident) and won’t cause the people behind you to think evil thoughts.
Well, of course. :eek: Another thing I hope is regarded as universally stupid/bad.
Also, apologies to the OP for the small T/J.
I, like most others here, leave enough space so that I can see the tires of the car in front of me. Or at the very least its license plate. My car’s hood is short, too, so I guess that might be about 5 feet?
I leave enough space for a new driver to roll back on a hill. No hill plus a limited turn lane and I try to tighten it up so the people behind me can make the light. Which leads to the pet peeve of people who are first in line and accelerate as if it’s the green mile.
New drivers should be taught to accelerate faster when at the head of a line (after first looking for people running the light). This is because each car that follows has to accelerate slower than the car it follows in order to allow space between cars.
Depends. Usually 10ish feet maybe (in case I’m rear ended I’d rather not be pushed into someone else). Unless the person has pissed me off by cutting me off, in which case I get right on their bumper to smile and wave in their rearview mirror.
I said depends because my measure of distance wasn’t on the poll. When I was learning how to drive, both driving schools I went to (the HS one and the week long one my dad paid for) stated that you should leave enough distance that you can see the tires of the car in front of you and some pavement.
The reasoning was that if someone hits you and you’re too close, you can slide into the car in front of you, and then any damage becomes your responsibility. But, I grew up in Anchorage where it’s winter approximately 9 months out of the year
I’ve been driving for over 35 years now, and it’s a fully ingrained habit, even now that I live where it doesn’t (usually) snow.
I went 5-10. In a car its more like the 5, on a bike more like the 10. I want to leave myself some room on the bike to make an emergency exit just in case that car or the one behind me does something dumb that could cause me using my Blue Cross card.
I selected 5-10 feet, but it is on the higher end of that. I look for the tires of the car in front, and make sure that I can see some pavement.
I am fortunate that I’ve been doing that for a long time. About 9 years ago, I was hit from behind while in a left turn lane at a red light. Our Pathfinder was damaged but able to limp home. He hit me at about 30kph. I think I got pushed forward about 6 feet with my foot on the brake. I ended up very close to the car in front of me. I had a bunch of cargo in the back and didn’t see him coming.
I leave at least one car length (“extra”, not “excessive”) space because my 9-month old 1967 Toyota (first brand new car ever) was hit from behind when stopped, by a big Pontiac driver who hit his gas instead of his brakes, and I was pushed into the rear end of a big Lincoln. My rear end was severely damaged and my front end was damaged enough that the car was totaled (my aunt was my insurance agent, BTW). The Lincoln suffered a slight scratch on its trunk keyhole medallion.
Also, when I commuted daily on a certain route leading to/from the east end of I-40 (at the first and second traffic signals east of Barstow, CA, 2,554 miles away), I would see rearenders, often multi-car) at least every week, resulting from cars leaving less than sufficient space at traffic signals.
It also can help to have an “escape” capability if in a crime-prone/susceptible area, like evading a potential carjacker and the adjacent lane or area is useable. Think defensive driving.
