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 was cursing the person in front of me yesterday.

We were coming up to traffic lights on a single lane road which then splits into two dedicated lanes by the roundabout. It’s a slow 4 way change.

There were enough cars in front of me to fill the “go straight ahead ” lane and I was the only one wanting the right hand lane. All would have been fine if the car in front of me had pulled up at the end of the queue. He hung back so far I couldn’t get into my lane. By the time all the cars in front of me had moved enough and he followed, we both missed the lights.

Some people have no idea.

Defensive driving technique to allow room to get out of trouble.

I know someone involved in a rear end shunt that was pushed into the car in front due to being close to it so I think they probably allow a fair bit of room when driving now to avoid that possibility happening again.

Just quickly zip into the gap between and get to your final destination 3.5 seconds earlier.

Thank you. It's a VW Up!, prob quite a basic automatic gearbox. I got it second hand and didn't deliberately choose automatic. If I select neutral whilst waiting at traffic light or wherever, it does seem to give me an instant or so where it prevents roll-back while I am pulling off, but it doesn't seem enough -- especially given that it has this new-fangled habit of switching off the engine every time I pull up. By the time the engine has reactivated, I always feel I am in danger of roll-back, and I over-compensate by gong too heavy on the gas. Flipping annoying. I thought automatics would be better at clutch control (or the automatic equivalent of clutch control) than humans, not worse.

I might be doing something wrong. Perhaps I should get a lesson in how to drive optimally with an automatic

The trouble with leaving even a moderately-sized gap is that the traffic lights will sense it, think the end of the queue is nigh, and change to red. It never used to be an issue when they were on timers, but now they monitor the end of the queue it is a pain in the arse if the person in front of you hangs back.

I've no idea how big the gap is between me and the car in front but I was taught that so long as you can see "tyres and tarmac" then that's appropriate.

That is what my driving instructor told me to do, and I do this.

I suppose it depends on the height of the car you are driving and the height of the driver.

I always drive defensively..always as if every other driver on the road is terrible (and tbf they often are).

Leave plenty of space, keep speed down, drive to the conditions, slow down if being tail gated and always better to get there a few minutes late than not at all.

Yes moose. I'm always pointing out to my teens that I don't want to get involved in other drivers stupidity.

You'd still be able to move out of the way if necessary though as the bikes and scooters would scoot and bike off so I wouldn't say that a reason not to do it

I was taught to leave one car length in front at lights, to avoid being shunted into the car in front.

Also taught not to turn wheels when waiting to turn, so as not to be shunted into traffic.

And the theory of turning wheels when parking on a hill, though not needed to use that really.

Not to change gears in a junction, in case of stalling and then being hit and pushed into traffic.

The instruction was meant to help with defensive driving, not just passing test. (Not UK, but I still do the things)

And the theory of turning wheels when parking on a hill, though not needed to use that really.

It's a legal requirement when parking on a hill in San Francisco apparently.

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.

@Meadowfinch I passed my driving test in 1981. It was a "thing" then.

Yes. Can you imagine a really short driver in a really tall SUV. The gap would be several car lengths before they could see tyres and tarmac 🤣

I can't imagine being able to see in front of the car in front conclusively enough to be able say they have left 8'.

It also wouldn't bother me unless I'd put myself in a precarious position by assuming they would go further.

They do have it, but it isn’t like a hill hold on some other cars that will hold for a long time. It really is like it’s stuck for a moment and then it moves. So it’s still a handbrake job for most hills.
it can be turned on and off by a dealer / independent with the software.

the auto box in the up is more of an old fashioned box than the complicated DSG boxes in most of the VAG cars. It means it fits in the car better and is cheaper to fix if it goes wrong. As it really is a great car for keeping costs down in motoring.

fantastic choice by the way! Interesting about your auto comment, me and dh are motor trade for too many years, and both of us drive autos differently. I’m obviously right in how I drive them

8 ft isn't a particularly huge gap. Tyres and tarmac rule actually leaves more space than you'd think. Far more annoying is the people who want to sit half an inch behind your bumper at the lights as if that's going to get them anywhere quicker.

Surely the tyres and tarmac thing depends on how tall you are, and the height of the car seat? If I were 6 inches taller and in a big car with high seats, using that rule I would end up much closer to the car in front than I would at my current height and in my bog-standard hatchback.

I was always taught by my excellent driving instructor (who at the time had a 97% first test pass rate) to leave TAT...tarmac and tyres. No idea of what distance that entails but i always do it in case of a shunt from behind, if the car in front of the car in front broke down and the car in front of me had to reverse back a bit to get out etc. I've been at traffic lights where the vehicle behind has been literally at my bumper, and it really annoys me.

Thanks very much, @BourbonsAreOverated . I think I'll chat with the garage at its next service just to check if there are any tweaks that might suit me better.

Yes, I love the car overall, just not a fan of automatic I guess. Still, it has been instructive to learn about this kind of driving, after several decades as a manual-only driver. I bought the car cos I wanted something little and cuddly, and because I trust VW, but most of all because I wanted to buy from the lovely used car dealer that has also maintained my cars for decades. I trust them so much, so I was happy to make a choice from the relatively small set of options they had available at the time.

I think I'm quite a 'punchy' driver, though. I like to pull off promptly and get quickly up to the appropriate speed. The automatic seems to want me to drive more soggily. I think I'll get a carrot can of engine oil on a long stick to hang in front of it

I follow the tyres and tarmac rule. If I can't see the number plate of the car behind me in my rear view mirror then they are probably too close for comfort.

There's and tarmac ?

Never bears of r ag but been driving 33yrs

Is this a new ish phrase

I don't think you need to leave a cars length in front at traffic lights

But a good space when driving is safe sensible driving

Ffs

Heard of that

So pissed off cant edit on app.

I was taught tyres and tarmac when I learnt to drive twenty years ago. You basically need enough space between yourself and the car in front so that let's say the car in front broke down, you would have space to drive round it.

@Comedycook it just appeared after I passed in 1991