Why the Extra Car Length

[sweetpeama]

young drivers stopped too close together in front of you
Never know if the driver behind you has 3,4, 5 or even more duis and is driving under the influence once again
People who drive 65 in a 35 and then attempt to slam on the breaks like they are only going 20
High number of vehicles in the area that have a trailer hitch unless your enough higher than the hitch that it goes under your vehicle the damage will be your not going to be able to drive it even while awaiting repairs it will be totaled.
A high number of half ton and larger trucks, and SUVs have steel reinforced bumpers
High number of uninsured drivers in the area and if you happen to be in a rearend chain reaction accident involving one of those drivers you will get stuck with your insurance paying all the other vehicle claims of all vehicles in front of you unless it can be proved by road markings that you were stopped well behind the vehicle in front of you.
In my area if you stop over the cross walk line or even the line just before it you can be ticketed though there is more of a tendancy to reserve those tickets for the purpose of harassing teenage drivers in particular if the teen is male and the address on the license is not in an area where money and influence talk.
Around here if the light is green even without an arrow you can pull into the intersection to make a left hand turn but if the don't walk sign starts flashing you better not do so if there is already a vehicle in the intersection because once the light goes yellow and then red there is only enough time for one vehicle to make the turn before the light goes green for cross traffic. Same goes for intersections that the N/S and E/W lanes are on single directions lights instead of going together or where the left turn lanes go together and then the staight or right turn lanes before it does the same in with the cross traffic.
Finall there is having to deal with the TOed person who is going the opposite direction when you end up being stopped in the road blocking them because there is an accident up on the road you are turning on at the next intersection up from the one you are at but due to buildings in the way you could not see it. Luckily I was behind the driver in front of me enough that once mr your impending my forward motion and I am going to weave around everyone at a high rate of speed and flip you off another name for a donkey and what you plant a tree into got out of the way the other drivers waited until I could make a turn going the oppsite direction than what I was originally basically doing a u turn and just renavigate where I was going clearing the intersection. (Unfortunantly due to growth in my area and how the road is designed and the location of buildings to the road there are going to be a lot more of these situations in the future if you ask me because a road that was redone when the population was around 40K in an area that is over 100K and growing if not going to handle the traffic that is there today especially at heavy times. Those of us who are local try and avoid large sections of said road at certain times esepcailly holiday shopping season Saturdays and when there is anything major going on in town and it's the weekend because otherwise you can be where it will take over 2.5 hours to not even go 3 miles in bumper to bumper traffic and that is making a right hand turn because unless you are at an intersection with a turn arrow forget making a left hand turn so plan your route accordingly during those times or if local be smart and save those stores for weeknight evenings or if your schedule allows during the day especially when they first open).

 

[MillauFr]

Roundabouts/traffic circles are great in theory to eliminate head on collisions, but replace those with being side-swiped. I think they are a dreadful solution in busy intersections. When there is always traffic coming from the left, virtually the only way to pull out is to dive in front of someone where there is a tiny bit of open space. Overly aggressive drivers also act like THEY have the right of way and you just never know who they are until it is too late. Some of the multi-lane traffic circles also cause a huge number of accidents and I will drive a different route just to avoid them. I know of some that caused so many more accidents, the city has already modified them.

Think they are fine for rural areas or intersections with very little traffic, but the wrong solution in busy areas.

Roundabouts eliminate right angle accidents. Those are some of the most serious and often result in injury or death. The vast majority of sideswipe accidents result in just property damage. Most roundabouts operate much more efficiently than traffic signals. Carmel Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis, has eliminated over half of the signalized intersections in the city with roundabouts. More cities should follow their lead.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Roundabouts eliminate right angle accidents. Those are some of the most serious and often result in injury or death. The vast majority of sideswipe accidents result in just property damage. Most roundabouts operate much more efficiently than traffic signals. Carmel Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis, has eliminated over half of the signalized intersections in the city with roundabouts. More cities should follow their lead.

For the most part roundabouts are considered safer as opposed to an intersection with say a 4 way stop or a 2 way stop because it forces drivers to go slower and pay attention more. Not saying you don't have crazy drivers who plow through or in the case of my earlier example don't observe the lane markings though. Some roundabouts need tweaking because the lane markings like ones used for entrances to highways don't match up. We had that happen at one in my area where they didn't line up the lane you were supposed to be in to get on the highway correctly and after enough complaints fixed it (before you would have had to illegally lane switch over a solid line in order to be in the correct lane to get on the highway). I'm just not excited if roundabouts get added to my neighborhood because I can't escape them lol.

 

[SpiritedHaunts]

Here, my Dad was my instructor he mentioned that you should leave a bigger space in front if you were behind a pickup, usually an older one. He said that the truck would most likely have to roll back a little before their vehicle could go forward. Every old pickup did indeed do that especially a road with a big hill.

When my parents went to Europe my Italian grandmother took me aside and told me that if I wasn't ready to turn at a stop sign etc. and was getting honked at to take my time. She also got her first license by filling out a small form and mailed it with a quarter to the capitol city.

In Scotland, my parents and family entered a huge roundabout and could not find a way out. The players were two guys that were the drivers in their family with the wives in the back. Much was said that cannot be repeated while they drove round and round and round.

 

[Dan Murphy]

We have very, very few roundabouts by us. But I like them. Moves traffic efficiently.

This one here is near us, and is shown under reconstruction. Took over a year. It is now finished. And it is nice. Has five roads coming in so with both directions, 10 possibilities. Two things they improved on was taking out all the stop signs and replacing with yield signs. Also, the entry points to the circle used to be more squared off, now they are more sweeping, making it easier to enter and leave the circle.

https://goo.gl/maps/5yKn8A8g59seTwNK8

 

[mrodgers]

Everyone around me, stopped way too far back. Except the ones behind me. The all stop right up on my bumper. I know we are rare but there are some folks still driving a manual. Thanks for giving me half an inch of leeway to get from the brake to the throttle and clutch.

 

[goofyernmost]

I noticed that as well and I have to agree that it might have something to do with vehicles cutting the corners to tight and maybe having a past accident because of it. The thing that I do see often is people that stop in front of the stop line to get a jump on other traffic when the light changes. Many don't know that those weird narrow rectangular strips on the road just behind the stop line are sensors for the traffic lights. Many times if a traffic light has an independent left turn light unless the car is sitting over that buried sensor it will not know that you are waiting to turn and will many times skip over you. So your chance to leap ahead is held up until someone stops behind you and triggers the sensor.

 

[goofyernmost]

We have very, very few roundabouts by us. But I like them. Moves traffic efficiently.

This one here is near us, and is shown under reconstruction. Took over a year. It is now finished. And it is nice. Has five roads coming in so with both directions, 10 possibilities. Two things they improved on was taking out all the stop signs and replacing with yield signs. Also, the entry points to the circle used to be more squared off, now they are more sweeping, making it easier to enter and leave the circle.

https://goo.gl/maps/5yKn8A8g59seTwNK8

Round about's are absolute time savers as long as everyone that uses them know how the hell they work. It is simple and shouldn't cause any problems, but heaven knows it doesn't work that way many times. People in the circle itself have the right of way and shouldn't stop to let others in, that only messes up everything and stops the flow of traffic. If you are going into the circle whomever is in the circle has the right of way so you must wait until there is an opening for you to get in. If everyone is doing it properly that doesn't take very long.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

If you are going into the circle whomever is in the circle has the right of way so you must wait until there is an opening for you to get in. If everyone is doing it properly that doesn't take very long.

That's one the biggest thing I've seen come to think of it. I've seen cars that just do not go when all is clear and no car is in the circle and then people complain they are sitting there forever. I find this to be very location dependent in my area with some roundabouts running very smoothly in that respect and others not.

 

[DisneyOma]

Depending on the speed limit in the area I am driving, I leave a really good gap between my car and the one in front of me. Saved my car from getting front end damage when I was stopped in highway traffic. I had at least a full car length in front of me (can't leave too much space or someone will try to squeeze in, negating that safe space) when I heard crash, crash, thump, thump, behind me. Yup, chain reaction collision that shot me forward about 2/3 of the space I had left. Car behind me hit my undermounted spare tire and knocked it a bit loose. Nice firefighter checked it out for me, tightened it, state trooper got my contact info, gave me the name of the guy that started the accident, and I was on my way. No one else behind me could drive off.

People are nuts in recent years in how they deal with making left turns. I have been behind people who do not pull out into the intersection, perpendicular to the lane they are turning in to, and wait for a traffic clearing to turn. They wait behind to white line at the intersection. And then, to top it off, when the light turns red, they stay there. I can't imagine where they learned how to drive. If they pull up properly and wait, they, plus 2 more cars, can make their left turns, even after the light turning red.

Yep, that is a pet peeve of mine. When the light turns green, pull into the intersection, wait for a gap to make the turn, or until the light turns red and then you should be able to make the left. If traffic is busy and someone waits behind the line until there is a gap, and refuses to make the turn if the light turns red, they could be stuck there all day.

What if that traffic clearing never happens? BTW, it's also illegal to do that in the state I live in.

 

[goofyernmost]

BTW, it's also illegal to do that in the state I live in.

That's illegal in NC as well.

 

[tvguy]

Round about's are absolute time savers as long as everyone that uses them know how the hell they work. It is simple and shouldn't cause any problems, but heaven knows it doesn't work that way many times. People in the circle itself have the right of way and shouldn't stop to let others in, that only messes up everything and stops the flow of traffic. If you are going into the circle whomever is in the circle has the right of way so you must wait until there is an opening for you to get in. If everyone is doing it properly that doesn't take very long.

Interesting. Like I posted earlier, roundabouts and barriers here are put in to slow down traffic, not make it flow. The goal, to make the streets safer for bike riders and pedestrians. Of course, we also have ramp meters at the END of many of our freeway ramps here in California. Those were called acceleration ramps when I was in driver training. Now you get to the end of the ramp, have to complete to a complete stop, and have a very short distance to try and get up to freeway speed. Plus, it backs up traffic on surface streets instead of getting cars on the freeway out of there.

 

[sasywtch]

I leave a half of car length. I was in a rear end accident years ago and still think about that. But, I don't leave 1-2 car lengths. It is legal in CA to pull into an intersection to turn left. I don't really see that too much here in Sacramento as they have left turn lights everywhere. What is not legal and happens from 4-6pm daily off Hwy 50-10 cars blocking the intersection because the lanes are full ahead of them. Even if you have a green light, you are not suppose to proceed ahead until a space is open past the next line (out of the intersection). I'm sure TVGuy can attest, trying to get off 50 onto Howe, Watt and Sunrise between 4-6pm is a PAIN. Trying to get off the offramp, your left turn light comes and you have no where to turn because cars are all in the intersection.

 

[DisneyOma]

I leave a half of car length. I was in a rear end accident years ago and still think about that. But, I don't leave 1-2 car lengths. It is legal in CA to pull into an intersection to turn left. I don't really see that too much here in Sacramento as they have left turn lights everywhere. What is not legal and happens from 4-6pm daily off Hwy 50-10 cars blocking the intersection because the lanes are full ahead of them. Even if you have a green light, you are not suppose to proceed ahead until a space is open past the next line (out of the intersection). I'm sure TVGuy can attest, trying to get off 50 onto Howe, Watt and Sunrise between 4-6pm is a PAIN. Trying to get off the offramp, your left turn light comes and you have no where to turn because cars are all in the intersection.

How can it be legal to pull into an intersection to turn left if you can't pull past the the first line if the way is not clear?

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

DS was told to do it in Driver's Ed class. The reasoning is indeed to prevent chain-reaction collisions.

I should probably also mention that decades ago I was advised by a cop friend in New Orleans to do it anytime that I was driving alone at night or in an iffy neighborhood, as a defense against carjacking, as at that time there was a rash of incidents where the thieves had used 2 other cars to box in the victim at a stoplight.
[/QUOTE]

SO TRUE!! When you pull up too close you can't maneuver around to escape. You can't control the space behind you but you can control the space in front! It doesn't have to be a full car length though

 

[Heigh-Ho]

It doesn't have to be a full car length though

As I've been reading the thread that was my first thought. So much of what people are talking about is defensive driving and paying attention skills. These do not as a matter of principle require 1 to 2 car lengths. People parallel park all the time with being able to get out of a spot and don't need 1 to 2 car lengths to get out and around a spot.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

When people were talking about the escape reasoning it didn't seem to get mentioned what you do if you can't get out at all because there are vehicles all around you. I thought the conversation was about stop lights. I don't know about everyone else but the times where I have no one next to me is not very often and if you're in the turn lane to begin with you only have one direction you can go depending on left or right turn. I've actually seen accidents caused several times by drivers who were in a specific lane and then whipped their car suddenly out of that lane into the next one, it wasn't the fault of the other car but the one who moved their car out of the way.

 

[design_mom]

I have been genuinely curious about something for awhile and wondered if y'all could provide insight. I have been coming across more and more drivers that stop 1, sometimes 2, car lengths back from either an intersection or the car in front of them at a stop light. Does anyone know why? The only thing I can come up with is that they may have had a bad experience and been rear ended and pushed into an intersection/other car at some point in their past. Is there another reason I am missing? On the negative side, they don't trigger a sensored light when they are first in line at the intersection. Aside from that, it really doesn't bother me. Just curious more than anything.

I was recently driving with my newly-licensed driver and she stopped pretty far away from the car in front of her. I said "you can pull up closer" and she replied "No. In driver's ed, they told us you should be able to see the rear wheel of the car in front of you on the pavement. If you're too close to see that, then you're too close." So it sounds like they're teaching extra distance in driver's ed. There are a number of things that are different from when I took driver's ed (like "hands at 9 and 3" instead of "hands at 10 and 2."

 

[Orion Nebula]

DS was told to do it in Driver's Ed class. The reasoning is indeed to prevent chain-reaction collisions.

I should probably also mention that decades ago I was advised by a cop friend in New Orleans to do it anytime that I was driving alone at night or in an iffy neighborhood, as a defense against carjacking, as at that time there was a rash of incidents where the thieves had used 2 other cars to box in the victim at a stoplight.

Yep always give yourself an "escape" route. Or don't drive in those area's. lol

 

[aprilgail]

the only time I stop back a bit is at a railroad crossing when I am the first car and the gates are coming down- I have a weird thing that someone is going to hit me from behind and push my car in front of the oncoming train.