Waiting at traffic lights, if you leave > 8 foot gap between you & car in front

[lljkk]

why do you do this?
is there an actual reason to do it?
Driver in front with this habit affected me the other day on a single carriageway road, because some of the traffic lights (we went thru) were short-duration on green, another car could have got thru junction in the time available, or at least it felt that way.

There was Good visibility, no one being aggressive, all level ground so no worries about cars slipping backwards, nor frantic lane changing to accommodate. The driver in front just did this habitually, they stopped with a big gap between them & car in front. My car is 12' long & could possibly fit within some of the gaps they left.

i dont remember any rule about tyres and tarmac

So many annoyances when driving eg tailgating, people at the front when lights go green and faff about so only 2 cars get through, people thinking giving way at a roundabout is optional - let it go OP, there are so many people now using the roads and it can be stressful but the only thing you can affect is your reaction. Breathe and let it go. You might get to your destination a couple of minutes later but in the grand scheme of things, just not a big deal.

no it doesn't. It means you can be rolling when the car in front of you starts to move. 8ft makes no real difference BUT not being ready to move at the same time the car in front of you moves, is a much bigger problem.

Not a rule. It's just common sense. If the car in front of you breaksdown you want to be able to move away from that situation. In the same light of being ready to move when the lights turn green.

It wasnt something that was taught when I did lessons many moons ago, it seems it must be now with a catchy reminder, but I was told the principle much later and instantly thought it was sensible advice and started doing it.

Like me you probably learned to drive before it was a thing

T&T is an approximation. If you know where you car front and rear starts and stops you will know how much space is required to manoeuvre.
The problem with thinking T&T is not a legal definition. It's a recommendation so people leave adequate space. Someone who sits very low in their seat or is short will have a very different view point than a tall person who sits high in their seat. If you know anything at all about angles you will know what I'm talking about.

Just leave adequate space but not a whole bus length.

i know about keeping my distance, never break the 2 second rule, while driving.
i passed my test 30 years ago

I hate it when people in front stop with a massive gap and then keep stopping and starting nudging forward while the lights are still red so then you end up with the huge gap in front of you.

They probably don't even realise they are doing it.

Oh useful rule!

and the point about moving is right- if all cars in a queue start at the same moment rather than sequentially, more can get through a set of lights.

But, what about the mega trucks w high bonnets some fools have? They would need to leave 20 foot!! Still can’t believe they are allowed - so dangerous for pedestrians…

If you go into the back of me and shunt me forward into the car in front, whilst not moving at traffic lights / it’s still my insurance the car in front claims off / not yours

so perhaps that has happened now they leave a big gap so if shunted, they don’t go into the back of another vehicle 🤷‍♀️

It isn’t the gap that stops traffic getting through, it’s not being ready to move when the lights turn green.

Oh and talking about traffic lights, red means stop. Always. Do not go through. Even at temporary traffic lights because you can end up coming a cropper and be met head on by the vehicle who legally has the right of way.
Then end up mounting the pavement and almost knocking pedestrians over (dd and I.)
There are complete arseholes driving who really shouldn’t be.

I leave enough on a gap so I can move if I need to, around the car in front or move over if an emergency vehicle needs to get through.
I leave a bigger gap on an uphill, especially if it's a large vehicle in case of rolling back.
I'll also leave a bigger gap for L & P plates and if the driver in front, or behind, has been driving erratically.
Being able to see the rear tyres & a bit of tarmac to give that room to manoeuvre isn't usually 8ft plus though.

Was following 2 cars on a road that drops from a 40, to 30 and then 20 the other day with 2 sets of lights. The car in front of me was tailgating the car in front of them, weaving back & forth over the white line to overtake but there wasn't a gap and the car in front of them responded by going even slower and repeatedly brake checking.

Gave them plenty of room until I turned off at the second set of lights, including at the lights because I really didn't need to be involved in anything that happened there when 2 drivers are engaged in something like that.

On the other hand I drove my usual route home the other night where it's normally a free for all where speed, indicators, junctions and roundabouts are concerned.
A police van was leading the pack, doing the limit for each bit of road, (varies from 60 to 20 and includes roundabouts) and suddenly everyone could read the speed limits, stopped to give way, observed braking distance and found their indicators 😂. Including on an uphill stretch that's got a crawler/overtaking lane. Never seen the overtaking lane so empty!

I hadn’t heard tyres and tarmac but it seems like a good mantra and I am going to remember it now. I think I broadly do it already .

On the basis that I don’t get out of the car to measure the gap I can’t tell you how big the gap is, it’s not something I’ve ever thought about - what I do know is that I can see the bottom of the rear tyres and a small strip of the tarmac underneath them of the car in front.

That might be 3ft, it might be 4ft - I don’t know.

What I do know is that there’s nothing wrong with my spatial awareness - I parallel park, reverse park and navigate multi-storey car parks daily without incidence.

To those berating the poster saying she doesn’t know the distance to the car in front - eh? I think the poster meant she didn’t know if it was 4ft or 6ft or whatever. I have the mantra “only a fool breaks the two second rule” in my head but I don’t know what it means in feet, only that it means “a safe distance at motorway speed”

I've never been taught tyres & tarmac but I was taught the principle.

My biggest bugbear is when you're first in the queue at traffic lights, and the car next to you is half a mile behind the line!

Why do cars do this?

When I stop (at the line) I can see the lights out of my window perfectly so it's not that.

Someone further up suggested in case you're rear ended....but why?
It really does bug me 😂

I was also taught tyres on tarmac, it is so you can manoeuvre out if there is an issue with the car in front, and yes I do it,

I do it because I went into the back of someone pulling off in traffic as they hesitated so now I do it so if someone hesitates again I have time brake without hitting them

Tyres on tarmac here too. My bugbear is people not leaving gaps in traffic for people to turn into roads, it just stops the flow of traffic.

That's interesting. I learned to drive with BSM and have never heard of tyres and tarmac. It must have come in after my time.

Although I learned in London, and if I leave a gap of 8 feet, it fills up with cyclists and scooters, so a bit pointless really.

I leave a couple of feet, maybe a bit more if the driver in front gives me any reason to be cautious, as you hear of these people who deliberately reverse in to you to make a claim. However 8 feet is a bit excessive. I too have some traffic lights near me where you're lucky if you can get two cars out before they change again. You get someone slow to put their car in gear and it's just one. So bloody annoying! I'm patient most of the time but I don't want to have to wait for multiple light changes to get where I'm going.

All sorts of reasons: avoid a car rolling back, to leave space to manoeuvre in case an ambulance comes through, to be able to get round the car in front in case it breaks down or a road rager hops out, maybe the car in front's catalytic converter was broken and spewing fumes at their own car.

It's hard to say but any reasonable distance left when stationary shouldn't really affect traffic flow if people anticipate the movement of the car in front.

Although I learned in London, and if I leave a gap of 8 feet, it fills up with cyclists and scooters, so a bit pointless really.

I’m a Londoner & the scooters will go in any gap regardless of the length.

But they don’t stay there long!