yeah me too. i get a lot of rollerskaters squeezing into the space so i keep backing off til theyre all jammed ass to mouth like a human centipede. gotta keep my distance for when the chain binds. and it will
Intelligent people leave a space of about two cars ahead of them on the freeway.
Stupid people think that space must be for them.
Intelligent people leave a whole fucking lot more than just two car lengths.
When i was 13 bill Clinton told me 1 car length per every 10mph i was traveling at. Ive been following that advice ever since
And I know it’s state dependent, but the highways by me, each white line is about one car and each gap is one car, so if you’re doing 50, having two to three white dashed lines between you and the car in front of you is probably good.
Fun fact: In most states, this length is 40ft, but there are some exceptions, like CA, where it’s 24ft or 48ft depending on the road.
3 seconds is the minimum safe distance, regardless of speed
What is this in imperial? How many bullets per square-child?
Depends, African or European?
3 seconds from you to get to where the other car was previously.
Yes
I leave enough room for me to have time to react and give the person behind me enough time to react to my breaking. Because most people drive way too close to avoid a rear-end collision if I have to slam my breaks for an emergency. Sometimes that means I’m 4, 5 or 6 car lengths away from the car in front of me, but that has the added benefit of pissing off tailgators who will almost immediately choose to pass me which works out great for me. The less space the person behind gives, the more space I leave between me and the person in front.
Spoken like a true left lane hogger
If they’re matching the pace of the car ahead, explain the offense.
If you’re pacing the car in front of you, you’re already wrong.
Never. Pace. Strangers.
You pass them or let them pass.
Spoken like a true entitled bad driver
Nope, I stay in the slow lane, unless my exit is in the left lane of course.
I have a two lane road for most of commute every morning. What hate is when you pick up a buttplug. A buttplug is some dipshit who crawls up your ass and refuses to pass. They wont leave enough gap for the person behind them to pass without passing both of us and they wont pass themselves.
What is crazy about this is that person will usually stay there until every car behind them has passed. After that they usually pass almost immediately.
In my experience, slowing down to just below the speed limit will usually irritate these tailgators enough to shake them off. Your mileage may vary though.
This is the way. Though I’ve had to come to a full stop and pull off the road a couple times…
I’ve always followed the rule of 1 car length for every 10 miles per hour you’re going.
How am I supposed to leave 10 car lengths while speeding through a school zone? Explain!
If it’s a school zone you leave 10 school bus lengths.
I always (sometimes) do three seconds between me and the car in front of me. That automatically adjusts for increased speed.
3 seconds when under 65. 5 seconds when it’s raining or I’m moving faster than posted highway speeds. It pisses people off but I’m hauling a ton of steel and plastic around, I’m not going to risk my life and everyone’s around me just because some guy is late for work or can’t be patient and needs to get where he’s going a few seconds before me. People tend to lose the reality of the situation when driving their super fast metal explosion machines.
When I did driver’s training, they recommended about 2 seconds of distance. I find it to be a reasonable distance most of the time.
2 seconds is not enough. Average human reaction time takes more than half that time. I was also taught to keep 3 seconds minimum distance on average 80 km/h zone. Faster driving, more distance should be kept.
I think my biggest pet peeve about driving is when you come to a stop and the car behind you tries to shove their nose up your ass. Like bruh you don’t need to ever be that close
Especially annoying if you’re driving a manual and are stopped on an incline.
I drive a 6 speed. This is where my rage for this comes from.
But even in automatics rollback isn’t uncommon on an incline.
I can usually set off on an incline with no rollback but I’ll be damn if it doesn’t slightly stress me out every time someone pulls that shit.
I feel like it really isn’t your fault if you role back 6 inches and hit them. If you were to roll back 4 feet it would be different but in this case you can’t control something so small.
In court it won’t be your fault if they’re that close, but it’s still the hassle of dealing with people who don’t understand basic driving etiquette.
My driving instructor taught me that I should still be able to see the other car’s back wheels when I stop. I actually don’t know how close that looks from the other driver’s perspective.
Terrible, terrible advice. That leaves a full car-length of empty pavement with the driver sight-lines of modern SUV and crossover designs. Pickup trucks are worse; I’ve seen pickup truck drivers stop a full 30 feet back. It wastes huge amounts of space on the street, and causes traffic congestion. On the other side of the coin, van and bus drivers can still get right up on your ass when following this advice.
What it looks like:
Not actually as the “see the tires” rule is fairly good advise. Keep in mind sometimes it is smarter to give a little more space depending on the situation. Think of it as more of a minimum. Also lose most of your speed farther back and then role forward. This allows for recovery time in case of failure or loss of traction.
if they are following the two second rule they should be less than a foot from your car. If your car is stopped you are always more than two seconds from the car in front of you.
Never heard of that rule. I was always taught to leave enough space that you can see the bottom of their back tires.
The two second rule is for following distance. Applying it to stopped cars makes no sense at all, but it is funny . You have it right.
Ah I misunderstood. I understand it now.
I leave enough space to be able to drive around them if I need to
I can’t believe this comedy gold is not upvoted more. Maybe it needs /s?
Id get that close if I want to give the phone enjoyer behind me plenty of time to stop
So you can hit the car in front of you too?
It’s not only a safety hazard but it leads to slower traffic. If you maintain the right distance at a stop the whole line of cars can accelerate faster because you don’t have to wait as long for the car ahead of you to move. There are zero actual benefits of sniffing my ass at a stop.
phone enjoyer is ungovernable
That doesn’t mean you should be acting like an asshat yourself.
It takes two to tango
calm down
Weird guy is right though. Best practice is to leave enough space so that in the event you get rear ended you don’t get shoved into the car in front of you.
fair point
I leave 2-3 seconds following distance minimum on interstate highways.
“Only a fool breaks the 2 second rule.”
I was taught to repeat that phrase, at a normal steady pace, when I saw the back of their car go past something, to use as a marker (a signpost, the end of one of the lines on the road, whatever).
If you finish the phrase after the front of your car has gone past the same marker, then you don’t have a big enough braking distance and need to ease off a bit.
I think you mean a 1/10 of a second. (Local drivers, apparently)
My brother in law does this. Gets so close that you can’t see the rear tires of the car ahead, going 80+ mph. He’s been in multiple wrecks, including one where he totaled his custom BMW and almost died. He blamed the other driver (somewhat reasonably, they were drunk, but he was driving like a psycho), and refuses to change any of his driving habits.
He also used to street race in Florida, with his family in the car. No, they did not consent to it, they’re just too scared of him to say anything.
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.
Driving isn’t supposed to be as stressful as this comment put it. If it is then you shouldnt be allowed to drive.
I think they are getting down voted due to distracted driving
My car’s “smart cruise control” leaves what seems to be around a car length for every 10 mph, which is what I remember hearing in driving school. Feels a bit excessive in practice, but I also never feel like I’m being an asshole so I’m okay with it.
I was rear ended, HARD once. That distance gave me the space to control both my vehicle, and the one that hit me. It turned a potential multi car, multi lane pileup into a 2 vehicle wreck, either 1 more dinged car.
The space isn’t for the 99.999% of the time, but that 0.001% OH FUCK time.
I almost had that happen to me a year ago. Traffic had stopped on the interstate and I hear skrrt, skrrt, skrrt, skrrt getting closer and closer to me. I looked up in my mirror and see a Silverado rapidly closing the distance and thought “god damn it”. I fortunately left enough room between me and the car in front of me that I was able to give him some more space and turned a full on collision into a tap that didn’t do any damage. Pretty sure my foot was actually off the brake when he hit me and that helped absorb some of it as well. I was still pretty pissed though because I had more than enough time to think about all these things and consider moving onto the shoulder but I thought he would do that instead and still hit me with how fast he was going. Being an idiot, he did not and hit me anyway.
OH FUCK time.
I live for those moments
Do you wreck your car often?
Well you want the automated system to be overly safe usually. It is better than the other way around.
Having more space also gives the driver the to react.
Oh I’m not saying anything against it! I love that it leaves as much space as it does. Sometimes I just have to give it a little umpf to pass a semi because it sees the car waaay ahead and slows down.
If what you’re doing makes idiots angry, feel good about yourself and keep doing it.
I’d be fuckin raging if someone was driving two car lengths behind me. That’s fucking idiotic
I assume the post is describing a 20 mph school zone because then yes, perfect thanks
Yeah, when you’re going 90km/h, it’s fucking idiotic. It’s way too fucking close, you’re going to kill someone. Random brake check incoming!
I’m always tempted to do the brake check thing, but that’s fucking idiotically dangerous as well!
I just take my foot off the throttle and gradually slow down until the shitty driver passes me
Why? Do you want them to tailgate you instead?
That is tailgating!!! 😂
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.
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.
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 would be safer if we were all riding the train/bus. Getting in a car in america is accepting the risk that you share the road with everyone. no matter the qualifications or mental state we still all gotta get to work/grocery store/wherever, and the only way is by ~4000 pound metal speed box.
Worrying about safety on the highway is about making sure you are in situations you can handle and react to, staying attentive to the styles and mental states of other drivers and being a step ahead of the road conditions
Unfortunately I can’t see how public transport would be feasible without accepting that the vast majority of places I might want to go are simply inaccessible, and the places I could go would take 3-5 times longer. Case in point, there are no public transportation options to get to my son’s high school. It would be a 35 minute bicycle ride. I can drive there in 12 minutes. Getting to my local Wegmans would take 37 minutes by bus. I can drive there in 9 minutes. I live on the outskirts of a medium size city on the east coast in a low density residential neighborhood.
But people need to change lane sometimes and if you’re the one giving them the space to do so then more power to you, don’t complain
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:
It just be that way. Idiots will see your safe following distance as their opportunity to switch lanes. Just keep being the safe one.
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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 be safe. You’re still close to your desires speed
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.
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The simplified distance rule we learn in europe is: half your speed (km/h) in meters or as an equation, v/2000. E.g. you drive 120km/h, keep 60m distance.
I’ve always preferred the 2 second rule. You don’t need to do distance math in your head, just find a tree and count the time it takes to get from their car to yours.
In my country it’s 3 seconds out of town and 2 seconds in town, by law. And I think that’s beautiful.
In the US, usually it’s one car length per 10mph.
Probably not much more intuitive than yours, but less math required on the fly.
Tbh the math required is pretty similar, I just divide the speed by 2 and am done.
That’s very reasonable if you’re accustomed to operating in metric … Which we all should be, but here we are.
We all should be?
Ah, that could be interpreted at least two different ways. I have a suspicion of how this conversation will go, but I’m interested to find out.
It’s my opinion that the metric system is superior to the imperial, so we should all be primarily exposed to the superior system. Some may disagree and I won’t claim that I’m objectively correct. No worries if you disagree - regardless of my opinion, the imperial system is what I’ve been exposed to and what I use.
Alternatively, the statement might be interpreted as “you should be familiar with the metric system even if you reside in a country where it’s not the primary system.” That’s probably less true - while it might behoove one to be familiar with the metric system, I don’t blame the individual for the limitations placed on them by the government, regardless of what’s better.
If you have a third interpretation, it’s probably not what I meant, but I would be interested in hearing it.
In France the way we learned is (for the highway at least)
- 110km/h: 5 small markings between you and the other car
- 130km/h: 2 large markings
Do European cars come with distance measuring equipment??
Many places have roads markers every 100m. Or you can count the seconds from any fixed point and figure it out.
No but humans typically do
Humans aren’t actually that good at visually measuring distances.
Only in cyberpunk literature.
“In the year 2147, technology has given humans abilities beyond the natural senses, it has given them… eyes.”
I may not be good at giving it a number, but I can usually see how far apart two things are.
I just leave enough room to come to a stop in the gap between us.
That’s the underlying reason to keep distance ofc. The rule of thumb gives you an easy to calculate solution to how far that approximately is.
I don’t need math for this. Once you have a feel for your car you can just visually gauge it in an instant.
Judging by how close people follow me on the Interstate, I have a feeling most drivers think this but only a small percentage can do it effectively.
And judging by how close 9 out of 10 pickup truck drivers
followtailgate me on the interstate even when I am doing 10-15 over, I have a feeling most don’t care and would prefer to run me over in their lifted Rams and SuperDutys.Some of us don’t have LIDAR-eyes, cut us some slack
The gap you leave should be speed-dependent and about 2 seconds to allow for reaction time. Yes, this caps the highway’s capacity to 0.5 cars per second per lane but roads are inherently inefficient.
3 seconds is the guideline I’ve been taught here in Sweden, but yeah. Riding too close is crazy dangerous and I don’t understand why people keep doing it.
I was taught to look when the car in front drives past a landmark like a lamppost, then say to myself “Only a fool breaks the two second rule”
If you pass the lamppost before you finish saying it, you’re too close
This is the only good answer. No need to distract yourself by figuring out your speed and guesstimating your gap like others are saying. Just count the seconds whenever you need to
2 isn’t much, over here they recommend 3 at highway speeds
Aye, and 2 seconds is the bare minimum. A company I have worked for wanted 4 seconds between you and the car in front. That always felt a little much, but it definitely helped prevent wrecks.
2 seconds assumes an instantaneous reaction and perfect road conditions. In the EU they’ll teach you about 3s and at least +1 in poor conditions.
In my state, it’s one car length(15-20 feet) for every 10mph. Good luck getting anyone to actually follow it though! Getting on a major highway here is like the Autobahn.
