# Why do some people stop so far back from red lights? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 18, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280 "2013-06-18T15:59:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/21 "2013-06-18T17:29:29Z")
Put another vote in with “stupid,” category (also probably not trained to drive properly). I can’t think of a reason for people doing it that doesn’t involve them either being stupid or not trained properly. We see it here all too frequently, too, and usually they’re sitting right behind the sensor imbedded in the road and not tripping it. We inch forward after a reasonable time to try to get them to inch forward too, and hopefully trip the damned sensor so we can all just go home. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/22 "2013-06-18T17:41:45Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > 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. Nailed it. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/23 "2013-06-18T17:44:33Z")
Their on the phone and can’t be bothered to look that closely at the road. Next time you see one of these situations, just look. They are too busy doing other things to worry about where the correct stopping place is. Red light = stop car, then continue texting in peace until someone signals you to move with their horn. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/24 "2013-06-18T17:48:25Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > Their on the phone and can’t be bothered to look that closely at the road. Next time you see one of these situations, just look. They are too busy doing other things to worry about where the correct stopping place is. Red light = stop car, then continue texting in peace until someone signals you to move with their horn. I guess you didn’t notice where I wrote, > [@Macca26](#): > > The people doing this aren’t universally slow or fast starters, drive over or under the speed limit, or on their cell phones. Some are on their cell phones, some are talking to other people, some are just sitting there, some look bored, some are taxi drivers… it’s not a universal thing. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/25 "2013-06-18T17:50:52Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > My top three choices: timidity, not paying attention, or being a moron. In my experience with other drivers, they’re not mutually exclusive at all, and frequently are rolled all up into a neat little 5’1" female package driving a humongous SUV with a screaming kid or two. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/26 "2013-06-18T18:03:06Z")
Are these people in small cars or low to the ground cars? Usually I have the opposite problem of people being too far up and it seems like the bigger their truck the further up they stop. It drives me nuts when I could easily make a right hand turn except the guy driving that moving wall is almost a car length past the white line and there is no way of seeing if there is oncoming traffic. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/27 "2013-06-18T18:08:01Z")
Almost all of our intersections have sensors. The lights do not cycle if you don’t move up far enough to trigger the sensor. Its an almost daily occurrence that someone calls in saying there is a traffic light malfunction. Yes, idiots. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/28 "2013-06-18T18:15:01Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > Are these people in small cars or low to the ground cars? > > Usually I have the opposite problem of people being too far up and it seems like the bigger their truck the further up they stop. > It drives me nuts when I could easily make a right hand turn except the guy driving that moving wall is almost a car length past the white line and there is no way of seeing if there is oncoming traffic. Some of them are. There are more small/medium cars doing this than large cars. However, that may be a symptom of there being more small/medium cars on the road in the first place. I’ve seen SUVs and minivans do it too. I think it may happen more with old cars as opposed to newer ones, but I can only try and keep track of so many variables at one time. For instance, I have not kept track of race or gender when peering into other people’s cars because I don’t want to be a part of that camp. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/29 "2013-06-18T18:17:10Z")
They’re the same pinheads that, when they get to the head of the line in the convenience store, insist on standing five feet away from the counter. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/30 "2013-06-18T18:17:43Z")
My theories: 1. Some people have very bad spacial awareness. They can’t locate the front of their car in relation to the mysterious white line. My wife is this way. She stops far back because she sometimes cannot figure out how to stop on the line. She’s not obnoxious about it but her spacial awareness is not the best and she’s not always very good at judging where she should stop. She also cringes every time I pull into a parking space because she thinks I’m about to hit the car in front of us. Then I creep forward another 3 feet and she’s amazed. 2. The rule of thumb I learned in driving school was to leave enough room behind a stopped car in front of you so that you can see the bottom of the rear wheels. I was also taught to stop on the white line. I think some people might conflate these two rules, so they stop far enough back so they can see the white line. These people are dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/31 "2013-06-18T18:37:02Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > My theories: > > 1. Some people have very bad spacial awareness. They can’t locate the front of their car in relation to the mysterious white line. My wife is this way. She stops far back because she sometimes cannot figure out how to stop on the line. She’s not obnoxious about it but her spacial awareness is not the best and she’s not always very good at judging where she should stop. She also cringes every time I pull into a parking space because she thinks I’m about to hit the car in front of us. Then I creep forward another 3 feet and she’s amazed. > > 2. The rule of thumb I learned in driving school was to leave enough room behind a stopped car in front of you so that you can see the bottom of the rear wheels. I was also taught to stop on the white line. I think some people might conflate these two rules, so they stop far enough back so they can see the white line. These people are dumb. I can get behind these. Both of these make enough sense. I was taught the seeing-the-rear-wheels thing as well. I’m just wondering about the spatial awareness thing. That makes sense to me when you’re all alone without any cars around you. No relation to tell your position from. However, I find it easy to tell how far forward I am compared to another car by looking over and seeing if my sideview mirror is close to lining up to their sideview mirror. Then I can determine where I am by seeing where they are. If I were stopped really far back unknowingly, and looked over to see that the car next to me is both on the line but my sideview mirror is far from being lined up, I’d realize I was not in the correct position. It’d be even easier if I saw that there was another car in front of the car I’m next to. Then I’d be really far back. Is that not possible for your wife? Does she not think about that? After all, aside from tripping lights and causing some problems for turning traffic, it’s not a particularly hazardous habit. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/32 "2013-06-18T18:40:42Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > Is that not possible for your wife? Does she not think about that? Mostly she doesn’t think about stuff like that, because she’s not a spacial thinker. It doesn’t occur to her that she can use context clues to figure out where things are in space. I’m sure she could train herself to do so (after all, we all train ourselves to do so in some capacity) but it hasn’t really been a problem in her life that she’s looking to solve. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/33 "2013-06-18T20:42:52Z")
I sometimes do it because I’m tall and have the seat right back and if I don’t, I can’t see the light. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/34 "2013-06-18T20:50:12Z")
Yes, it’s stupid, but I have to say I encounter this exceedingly rarely, when compared to the number of drivers who stop .5 - 1.5 car lengths _over_ the line. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/35 "2013-06-18T21:00:55Z")
I think it’s the only way to get the left turn arrow into my neighborhood if there’s only one car in the turn lane. I don’t know if it’s on purpose (so the arrow only activates if there’s a line of cars wanting to turn), because the sensor is broken, or confirmation bias, but it seems that the only way to get the arrow is to wait about a car length back. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/36 "2013-06-18T21:23:24Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > They’re the same pinheads that, when they get to the head of the line in the convenience store, insist on standing five feet away from the counter. Well, it’s _rude_ to stand close to people, dontcha know. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/37 "2013-06-18T22:16:21Z")
Perhaps they’ve had a bad pedestrian experience. “I’m walkin’ here!” ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/38 "2013-06-18T22:23:56Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Yes, it’s stupid, but I have to say I encounter this exceedingly rarely, when compared to the number of drivers who stop .5 - 1.5 car lengths _over_ the line. Given the gridlock laws, I’m amazed to see that too, but its true. The ratio is somewhere between 10-20 to 1 from what I’ve observed. > [@Ethilrist](#): > > Perhaps they’ve had a bad pedestrian experience. “I’m walkin’ here!” Nobody likes hood dents. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/39 "2013-06-18T22:27:17Z")
I’ve been wondering why there are some intersections in my town where the white line is drawn a longer way back from the walkway than usual. It just occurred to me that one is near the law enforcement center and another is near the fire station. I’ll have to see if they are that way near the hospital’s emergency room entry. Maybe they are that way to keep emergency vehicles from sideswiping you as they turn on to your street when they are in a hurry? ---
**Author:** ![Leoj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/58956e/32.png) [@Leoj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leoj)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280/40 "2013-06-18T23:12:06Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > At a few intersections I deal with, trucks have difficulty turning onto the road I’m on if I stop right at the line. That was my first thought. Easier to leave some space than have to try to back up when a bus or truck can’t make the turn. And if you’re the second one at the light, leave some space for the car in front of you to back up and let the truck through (especially if that car is pulled up too far). Otherwise the intersection could be jammed up for several minutes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-stop-so-far-back-from-red-lights/661280.md?page=3)