Why do some people stop so far back from red lights?

I wasn’t sure which board this should go in as I’m not sure there is a “factual” reason for this occurence.

I’m not a native New Yorker. I moved here a handful of years ago. So there’s a thing motorists do around here that confuses me. I’ve never seen it in my home state or in other states so far. New York is a big state and I don’t spend a lot of time in other counties, so this may be even more isolated than I know. Maybe none of you have seen this happen.

At a stop light, I expect the place to stop at is with your nose on the white line, or where the sign says “Stop here on red”. However, I notice every day at least one person who does not stop here. They stop anywhere from one to two and a half car lengths back from the white line. They don’t seem to occupy a certain demographic of people other than being from the state of New York. Sometimes people do this behind other cars, so we have a person at the stoplight with their nose on the white line as normal, and the person behind them is stopped two car lengths back. Sometimes I’m sitting on the line and the cars on either side of me stop way back, so I’m the only one up there! It’s really weird.

Now, there’s no bicyclists on these roads, and it happens on large avenues and small intersections alike. The lights are all clearly visible from the line without craning the neck. The people doing this aren’t universally slow or fast starters, drive over or under the speed limit, or on their cell phones. They’re not trying to switch lanes, either.

So, why are these motorists doing it? I can’t figure it out. Do any of you have a guess?

At least some of them are trying not to get the noxious fumes of the car in front of them.

My top three choices: timidity, not paying attention, or being a moron.

Are the traffic lights on poles or suspended from cables?
I don’t know how it is in New York but when I moved to Florida I noticed a lot of intersections used traffic lights suspended from cables and the lights were hung across the middle of an intersection rather than being on the far side away from you. This was annoying since once you pulled up to the white line you could no longer see the traffic light unless you leaned forward in your seat to look up at it.
Maybe the New Yorkers are too lazy to lean forward and rather sit further back so they can see the lights?

It’s only ever an issue when they stop far enough back that the inductive sensor buried in the pavement doesn’t trigger the traffic light. I’ve had this happen to me and had to make a U-turn and go a different way.

ETA: She’s probably still sitting at that light.

Space for:
Car in front backing by accident.
Car behind rear-ending you. In some cases, if you get pushed into the car in front, you’re partly to blame for that.
Car in front stalls. (Escape room)
Car in front catches fire. (Escape room) Don’t say it doesn’t happen, I’ve seen it.

They are strung on lines, but on the opposite side of the intersection in all cases. I can sit in my seat at any angle and see the lights just fine. I thought this might have been it too, but at the one light I regularly stop at where I have to crane my neck, is the one stoplight I never see people doing this at. Weird.

I stop about half a car length behind other cars, which is plenty of escape room. Considering that New Yorkers love to double park/illegally park just about anywhere it seems, I’m always prepared to have to get out from behind other cars. You don’t need two whole car lengths to do that. And most of the time this behavior is at a stoplight where there are no cars in front of these people.

I wondered if maybe it was timidity. Are they somehow afraid of being t-boned by cross traffic? The rear-ending thing can also make sense, but it seems weird that I see it in NY and not elsewhere then.

I don’t suppose anyone went through a New York driving test here? Is this something they teach people?

Too late to edit.
2 car lengths is ridiculous.
When I was driving for a courier service, 1/2-3/4 car length minimum was company policy.

These people are a sub-species of humans. Their scientific Latin name is “Idiot”. Idiots are common amongst all populations across the globe. Do not be alarmed. Just be cautious, keep an eye on them and try to avoid them as much as possible.

There’s also a specific style of traffic light that has some kind of refractive cover over the bulbs such that when you are pulled up to the white line, it is physically impossible to see what color the light is. I did this once and the only way I knew the light was green was the person behind me honking. It didn’t matter what angle I looked at, I couldn’t see it. Fortunately, this style of light seems to be rare.

Also, when I’m in the leftmost lane, I occasionally stop a little bit behind the line because people turning left from the cross street sometimes cut it too sharp and nearly swipe my bumper.

I think in most cases it’s stupidity or inattention, though. I guess stopping too far back is preferable to sitting in the crosswalk?

At a few intersections I deal with, trucks have difficulty turning onto the road I’m on if I stop right at the line.

I see it here in Sacramento all the time, too. And it seems to be always when that person is the first person in that lane at the light, so it can’t be that they don’t want to be to close to the car in front of them for some reason.

My dad used to do this during the summer to stay in the shade.

That happens at my local intersection all the time.

We live on a minor road leading into a six-way intersection. (Two major roads, two minor ones leading into them.) There’s a video sensor pointing our way on the light pole, and if nobody’s waiting on our road the light sequence bypasses our road. Makes sense.

If you look at the video sensor, it sure looks like it’s aimed about twenty feet behind where the first car would normally be, and it’s not unusual for the first car on our road to be waiting back at that point. if I’m the first car, I wait right at the white line indicating where I should wait rather than twenty feet back.

Fortunately for my blood pressure, either way seems to work just fine.

We have the stuff embedded in the pavement, but maybe you’re close - maybe it’s people afraid of red light cameras. I have had some people stop far enough back that they don’t trigger the light at a one-lane intersection. I couldn’t get around them, and it was awful. After what felt like 4 minutes they finally moved up (might have only been 2 minutes).

People here clip dangerously close when turning, it’s true - I mean if there’s no car in the far left lane, these people will literally turn into that lane before they realize and actually get on the correct side of the road. I still stop on the white line there because I (possibly mistakenly) believe that there’s no way I could be at fault for someone else running into my nose, and my car is old. Haven’t had anyone hit me yet.

But maybe these people started stopping far back in the left lane, then started doing it everywhere.


Or, they are in fact idiots. Perhaps NY has more idiots than elsewhere. I lived for years in DE and PA and didn’t see this happening there, for instance. But I’m glad some people have seen this elsewhere.

I do this, too.

The OP is talking about the first car at the light, so none of this applies. I can at least see some of this as justification for leaving space when you are not the first car - on the other hand, in a very busy left turn lane if everyone leaves space the last cars block through traffic, which is dangerous as well as being annoying.
But I can’t see justification for leaving space as the first car, so I vote idiot.
This is one of the few obnoxious habits people in the Bay Area seem immune to. Far more people block crosswalks than stay far back. But don’t get me started on the nitwits who have to leave lots of room from the car in front when making turns - cutting down on the numbers that make it through the intersection.

I’ve done that when I’m stopped in the middle of the traffic pack, but I’ve seen this happen at stop lights where the whole road is in the sun and also when the whole road is in the shade. And without a semi in sight (rarely I stop in the shade of a big rig)

Also, it happens at night.

If I drive around at night I usually see at least one person without any lights on, and that’s crazy.

I do this sometimes too but in Florida it seems to only encourage them and so they pass me at the same distance but greater speed.

I see it a lot and not just with the first car. Leaving lots of room seems to be a habit with some people, regardless of their position.

In addition to not triggering sensors for traffic signals, it frequently causes traffic to back up and create problems with turn lans. That is, people missing their protected left because the cars going straight leave space and back up to before the turn lane. Another related problem is the turn lane backing up into the travel lanes but since the turn signal is usually first (not always) it is less of a problem.