It’s a nice thought, but it has so many modifiers it’s pretty much worthless. Everything from road conditions, to time of day or night, to the size and weight and type of vehicle you are driving, to how old you are affects stopping distance and the interval you should be leaving.
Remember children - Driving should never be “relaxing.” It’s real work and demands your total concentration to protect yourself and everyone around you. So put the phone down and even turn off the radio. Put your head on a swivel like a fighter pilot. And have an escape plan for every inch you drive.
I don’t know why you are being downvoted since the distance from other cars should absolutely reflect the current conditions. I also agree that to drivers need to proactively look for possible collisions in mirrors and blind spots, though they should be generally calm and patient when driving.
I salute you good sir! That’s plenty of space to squeeze past if necessary 😁 Just maintain a constant speed and you’re a hero
What I don’t get is the current trend of leaving 1-2 car lengths at traffic lights. At first I thought it was maybe all the new cars with their assisted driving features. But I’ve seen older cars do it too.
Should be about one car length for every 10mph. On a highway unless you’re going slow that would be too close.
That’s a thing? Seems pretty silly to me. You need space but not that much.
What annoys me here is that people will enter the intersection before traffic on the other side has a chance to clear thus blocking the road when the light changes.
I also don’t think the people who speed though the turn light. The light turns green and I have to sit and wait for traffic to clear
That’s a big enough issue that it is illegal in some cities with signs posted, “Don’t block the box.”
Cars are getting bigger, but people aren’t getting taller (as fast). Little granny can barely see her hood over the steering wheel so she needs to leave 2.75 miles of space between her and the car in front.
Little granny needs to jack up her seat to its maximal height. And maybe get a booster seat if necessary. Either that or a periscope.
You don’t need to leave a crazy amount of space when stopped at a traffic light, but you still should be leaving some. So if someone rear ends you, it minimizes the risk of your car then smashing into the person in front of you, so it reduces the risk of additional people being involved in an accident.
On the other hand if you’re in a real city and someone is already behind you, please pull up tight. That way someone else farther back can make a light or turn lane.
If you’re only two lengths away from the car in front of you while driving at highway speeds, you are tailgating. Back off. It’s far more dangerous than speeding.
At 65mph, you cover two car lengths (~30 ft) in about 1/3 of a second.
Typically human reaction time for braking is about 1.5 seconds.
If something went seriously wrong in front of you (like a sideways car, or a hidden obstacle in front of the car in front of you) you would have covered 10 car lengths before your foot touches the brake pedal.
Help me out with this, because it’s driving me crazy. Whenever I leave anywhere close to 2 seconds between me and the car on front of me, someone cuts in, and I’m now too close to them, so I slow down, leaving a 2 second gap, and another cuts in. Rinse, repeat. I end up being the slow ass that everyone keeps zooming around unless I tailgate.
Let them hop in and keep your 2 seconds. I used to have a 40 minute commute and on a busy morning would have 10-15 people do that. Know how much time that sets me back? 20 to 30 seconds. Following this rule I have a 25 year clean driving record and I guarantee these lane hoppers can’t make that claim
it’s probably even less, maybe even negligible because of traffic lights at either end: you can’t calculate a single journey because you’re never going to hit the same light exactly the same every time. I have four lights between my house and the freeway, and 7 between the freeway and one of the sites for my job. Each one adds between 0-60 seconds randomly for an average of 6 minutes sitting and waiting per day. I would have to have a commute of like 120 miles of uninterrupted freeway driving for that to matter.
Just… Don’t care? Let people in and adjust the distance with them. Driving is an involved process, get a car with adaptive cruise control if you want one that will do exactly that for you.
I guess it’s more than just “caring” - I feel that we’d all be a lot safer if we were all going the same speed instead of inviting people to dodge in and out
It just be that way. Idiots will see your safe following distance as their opportunity to switch lanes. Just keep being the safe one.
Beyond “don’t care” - you get to be the traffic hacker who improves traffic for everyone. yayyy
Credit for above I think: Traffic Waves
Anyone who wants to test how this can work?
Check this old-school site:
When I leave two car lengths, four cars will go into it, and at least one of their drivers will throw a half empty beer can at me.
