When stopped at a light, do NOT leave a car length gap!

The BBQ Pit
1

I’ve just about reached the end of my rope with this idiots who feel they have to leave a huge gap between their car and the one in front of them at an intersection! Pull up, jerk! a couple feet is all you need! What is it with these people? It’s not just women, it’s men, it’s young, it’s old…who taught them this stupid practice? Why do they do it? What are they so afraid of?

Right now there is one intersection in my town that is truly unbearable at peak times. Clevelanders will know why…it’s the intersection where they are building a huge “lifestyle center” called Crocker Park. The whole freaking intersection and adjoining roads are being redone to accomodate the increased traffic. It is already a busy intersection as there are two shopping centers there already, and the intersection with I-90, and fast food restaurants. In addition to the landscaping crews and road construction crews and construction traffic, there were crews working on installing new traffic lights, and they had closed off the back entrance to the shopping center, so everyone converged in one spot. No one was getting through the light quickly, and with new lanes being added, things were confusing enough.

But then the idiot in the turn lane next to me stops and leave more than a car’s length between her and the car ahead…which meant that the car behind her couldn’t pull up into the turn lane, and the car behind that car was left sticking out into the other intersection, which meant when the light changed, the traffic from the shopping center couldn’t move, which inspired other cars to try to swing out around the car blocking the intersection, and eventually, gridlock. All because this stupid woman wouldn’t pull up and let another car enter the turn lane. I could see what was happening behind her, but she was totally oblivious. I even honked my horn and tried to motion to her to pull forward, but she didn’t even look around.

Why do people do this? Are they afraid someone will rear-end them and push them into the car in front, so they have to leave extra room? I figure if you get rear-ended, the car’s going to be in the shop anyway, they can fix the front end at the same time, and your foot on the brake won’t stop you being pushed forward anyway. Is there another reason people do this? If you do this, WHY?

And this doesn’t just happen at congested intersections, it happens everywhere. Now I complain when my brother pulls up practically on the bumper of the car in front at a light, but a couple feet is usually the norm. A car length and a half is STUPID!

2

Kittenblue:

I’ve taken driver’s training through Young Drivers of Canada. They advocate this practice as it gives you some maneuvering space (to pull to the side, or if you are rear-ended you can avoid transmitting damage to the car in front of you) if some numpty isn’t paying attention as they come up behind you. As traffic builds up behind you at a traffic light, you can roll forward and take up that space as the danger of being rear-ended decreases.

-DF

3

A car length and a half sounds a bit excessive.

But sometimes, like the other poster says, it’s good to keep a bit of distance to allow for some manuevering. Also, some cars burn oil and emit foul clouds of acrid smoke from their tailpipes, and it’s good to stand back from them.

4

Do you honestly think that if you are rear-ended you will have time to manuever? Leave a few feet in case your foot slips off the brake and you move slightly, but if you are hit from behind at any speed, you are not going to be able to control the situation. Stop back a little, but then move forward as you said. Don’t maintain that gap for the entire light cycle!

5

I do this automatically and out of habit because of security training many years ago. It leaves an escape gap, which was important in the countries where I lived. I do it now in the winter because there is no point in having both ends of the car crumpled (thus reducing trade-in value) when some asshole who likes to come right up on your bumper misjudges how slick it is and instead slides into you.

Most importantly, I do it to annoy people like you who seem to think that they have some sort of moral authority about things like this. :wink:

6

I do it only when driving in really shady areas where I get “that feeling” that someone might try to come up to my stopped car and cause me harm: carjacking, assault, rape, etc. It’s only happened twice*, but I’m really glad I had that space to just stomp on the accelerator and get the fuck out of there, even though I had to run a red light to do it. Even if I can’t get all the way around the car in front of me, I’d rather “gently” rear-end him and get the attention of other drivers if my phsysical being is in danger. I have insurance to pay for damages to his car. I don’t have “rape insurance.”

*Once a guy had a crowbar raised to smash my window in, and the other time a really altered looking street rat was in the act of trying to open my (locked) car door.

7

I was taught to leave at least enough gap so that I can see the tires of the car in front of me. That seems to infuriate a lot of drivers around here. Tough.

8

While I do find a car length excessive, it’s not like it significantly slows you down if the person in front of you stops a car length behind the person in front of them. I mean - you might get where you’re going, what, two seconds earlier, but what’s the big deal with that? I usually leave a little bit of space, especially if someone else is in my car because I used to be notorious for stopping right at the other person’s bumper. Used to scare the shit out of passengers. If traffic is really bad and the person behind me is crammed up the ass of my car, I’ll pull forward so there’s more room for them to get in, but I don’t see what the problem is.

9

Actually, my husband was able to do so to a small extent when he was rear-ended while waiting at a red light. We didn’t leave a car length or more ahead of us, but it was sufficient space to take his foot off the brake to go forward with the momentum, then brake again such that he only tapped the bumper of the car in front of us. It probably also helped that we weren’t the first car hit in this chain; the car behind us was rear-ended and pushed hard into us.

Nonetheless, we haven’t been rear-ended at a light since, but I do agree a car length of room at a light in a heavily congested area is excessive.

10

What I think kittenblue is talking about are people who gap and don’t use the gap to allow other cars to clear the road. In a sense, if your ass is blocking someone in heavy traffic and you have some space to move up, MOVE THE FUCK UP.

I’m all for leaving space when you’re the last car in line (Young Drivers, which training I took 8 years ago, did teach you to close the gap AFTER another vehicle got behind you).

But if you’re gapping “just because” and blocking a car from getting properly behind you, you’re a fucking asshole IMO.

I leave enough space to get around the car in front in case they stall or break down. That’s it. I don’t leave 1.5 - 3 car lengths of space blocking the left turn lane. I leave about 6 feet. MORE than enough space to turn around a disabled vehicle.

11

Also, when everyone is stopped, everyone seems to like to roll forward a few inches a couple of times, even though there’s nowhere to go. I have a manual transmission, and am not fond of this “roll a few inches and stop” technique, so I will normally sit there and wait for the light to change. Sometimes that means that some space opens up in front of me. Of course, if everyone was able to judge distances correctly when they first stopped, this wouldn’t be an issue.

I do tend to be alert as to what’s happening behind me, and if I see there are cars backing up, I will pull forward.

12

I always leave a sufficient gap in front of me. Not a length and a half but I like to comfortably see where the tires of the car in front of me contact the ground. I think it’s even more important when I am in the first position at the intersection. I stop far enough back that I can see all the crosswalk lines. I don’t want to run over a pedestrian if I get rear ended. I will continue to do that. The fact that is pisses you off just makes it sweeter.

13

Well the problem is not how much one person might be slowed down but rather that the overall flow of traffic increases. If two or three fewer cars per light cycle make it through the intersection then traffic becomes more and more congested. The “rear-ended defense” only makes sense fpr the last car in line. It’s really just common courtesy and an understanding that if traffic flows more smoothly and efficiently everyone benefits.

14

Just mak sure you are far enough ahead to set off the sensors, please. Last week I was behind a car in a left turn on green arrow only lane and she had stopped a full car length behind the white line., nowhere near the road sensors. I literally had to get out of my car and tell her to move up after two light cycles. I don’t know what the hell she was thinking.

15

No, not with many of the cars just an inch or two from the next. An accident can lead to the last car crashing into the next and that into the one in front of it and so on. How deep it goes depends on conditions and the speed of the intial impact as well as how far apart the cars are. Icy conditions warrant extra space too.

I am especially cautious stopping at intersections on hills and behind large trucks. In both situations the vehicle ahead may go backward a bit. More than once I have left the gap in front, been honked at by the car behind me only to have the truck in front of me roll back a couple feet before continuing forward.

16

This is exactly what I was taught in Driver’s Ed in HS…leave enough room to be able to see the rear wheels of the car in front of you touching the pavement. This leaves you a bit of cushion if you should happen to get rear-ended, and is also enough maneuvering room if there’s some sort of breakdown and you had to swing out of the line-up to go around a stalled car, etc.

I’m driven insane with fury at people who hang a car length or more back in a turn lane, and then exacerbate the problem by not paying attention when the green arrow lights, and then only 4 cars make it through the signal instead of 7 or 8. Rude all the way around.

17

I do it because I was hit from behind at a light once and was pushed into the rear of the car in front of me. I had to pay for his car being fixed because (as the ticket I got said) I was too close to the car in front of me to avoid an accident. :rolleyes: Now I put at LEAST 1/2 car length between me and the guy in front of me.

18

A certain amount of space is good safety, but what gets me is when the gaps between waiting cars is greater than the gaps when moving. Maybe it’s a California thing?

19

The guideline is to stop far enough back that you can see the rear tires of the car in front of you.

20

Kittenblue, why would it be just women?