Regarding the car gap - the proper gap when stopped is so you can see where the back tires are sitting on the pavement for the car in front. It should be a small gap. This would be enough distance to allow you to turn your wheel and move into another lane without colliding by being too close.
Certainly not a car length or more.
The more you know!
My mother admits to stopping at stop lights based on where she can sit in shade, gaps be damned
I seem to run into Queueing Shitheads more at Panera than anywhere else. People will walk in the door and just stop, when there is a good 15 feet between them and the register. And then as more people try to come in, they are backed up out the door, because the QS’s won’t move the fuck up.