Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Drivers - what’s with the gap?

130 replies

tanstaafl · 10/07/2020 20:09

For the first time in months, I’ve been out this morning at rush hour ( or what constitutes rush hour in this ruralish place I live ).

There it was , ‘the gap’.

Car in front waiting at lights. There’s a gap between the front of their car and the white line you could get an old mini into.

I was taught you pull up to the line imagining the bumper ( remember them!) just about above the white line.

Are drivers taught differently now?

I see it between cars queuing at lights too.
Is everyone being taught VIP protection techniques these days?

Yabu - times have moved on , keep up grandma
Yanbu - I too want to tap on their window and ‘offer suggestions’

OP posts:
SkelingtonArgument · 10/07/2020 20:12

I don’t understand why it matters?
Although I would like to know why so many drivers pull up in the clearly marked box in front of the white line, which is specifically there to assist cyclist safety

Alsohuman · 10/07/2020 20:14

Ffs.

1vandal2 · 10/07/2020 20:15

Because it gives room to manoeuvre in case an ambulance etc is trying to get through without getting caught and fined by automatic cameras that go off if you go over the line and fine you that don't care you're trying to get out the way for an ambulance

lockdownsunflowers · 10/07/2020 20:15

I was taught that in a queue you should be able to see the bottom of the wheels of the car in front

BobbieDraper · 10/07/2020 20:15

Well, you dont pull up bumper to bumper in stopped traffic because if the car infront of you doesnt start, you need to be able to manoeuvre around them. You leave a small gap enough to be able to pull around).

At the lights though, you should pull up to the line. I only ever sit back from the line if a cyclist has cycled up to the front. I dont want to risk hitting them when we pull away.

lockdownsunflowers · 10/07/2020 20:15

I was taught that in a queue you should be able to see the bottom of the wheels of the car in front

Bargebill19 · 10/07/2020 20:15

People leave gaps incase they are shunted from behind and as escape gaps - you may need to turn around eg when queuing for some inexplicable reason on a country road.

vodkaredbullgirl · 10/07/2020 20:16

I hate a gap too, especially when you are stuck in traffic for ages. Pull up to the next fucking car, then there wouldnt be a gap.

RHOBHfan · 10/07/2020 20:16

Tyres and tarmac...

Bargebill19 · 10/07/2020 20:16

Plus there’s the roll back factor of the driver who hasn’t mastered his hill starts...!

NatashaAlianovaRomanova · 10/07/2020 20:16

Because you hold your clutch at the biting point & when the lights move to red/amber you move slowly ready to cross over the line as soon as the light goes green

Raera · 10/07/2020 20:16

Social distancing is ingrained now

Clymene · 10/07/2020 20:17

For bikes, for manoeuvres, for making sure you have a full view of pavements and pedestrians.

There are lots of good reasons for sitting back a bit

MashedPotatoBrainz · 10/07/2020 20:17

I find that nowadays you can't see the lights properly if you pull up to the line. I have to stop back a bit for this reason.

PapsofJura · 10/07/2020 20:18

We have sensor activated lights and if you are not up at the line it won’t “see” you and change.

vodkaredbullgirl · 10/07/2020 20:18

@Raera Grin so true

DameCelia · 10/07/2020 20:19

1 Because if someone rear ends you (because they are too busy tutting at the gap you've left to brake in time) you won't be shunted into the car in front or into the traffic crossing in front of the junction.
2 Because a gap is left for cyclists and motorcyclists to wait in before leaving the junction, after they have moved to the front of the queue of traffic, which they are supposed to do in the Highway Code before anyone starts. Smile

whatswithtodaytoday · 10/07/2020 20:19

Tyres and tarmac. I leave a gap so I have room to move if something happens.

Bargebill19 · 10/07/2020 20:19

Then there’s the crash for cash twats. - if you leave a gap you have time to realise they aren’t moving!

Galvantula · 10/07/2020 20:20

@lockdownsunflowers

I was taught that in a queue you should be able to see the bottom of the wheels of the car in front
Yes, me too.

Instructor was mainly concerned about other cars hitting you and shunting you into the one in front.

I think I'd be near the line if I was at the front though. (Unless I am imagining this wrong?)

TARSCOUT · 10/07/2020 20:20

Because all the idiots who dont leave "the gap" are sitting nose to tail at traffic lights. Someone at the back doesn't stop in time. All cars shunted forward and car in front shunted into oncoming traffic...

Babs709 · 10/07/2020 20:23

I was never taught anything specially about it (learnt to drive 15 years ago) but I have very little spacial awareness so tend to leave a massive gap to be on the safe side! Sometimes I feel like I’m hanging out onto a junction too far.

OneMoreLight · 10/07/2020 20:24

I was taught to stop so the line was visible at the bottom of my windscreen. Also when stopping behind another car so I could still see their tyres.

I now also leave more space because I've had 2 dickheads go into the back of me. The fact I left a space means I wasn't pushed into the back of some one else.

TitianaTitsling · 10/07/2020 20:24

@1vandal2

Because it gives room to manoeuvre in case an ambulance etc is trying to get through without getting caught and fined by automatic cameras that go off if you go over the line and fine you that don't care you're trying to get out the way for an ambulance
Yep! Same for bloody bus lanes!
0blio · 10/07/2020 20:25

YANBU and usually the people who leave this gap at traffic lights will edge ever so slowly towards the line well before the lights go green, leaving you yards back from the line and feeling stupid!