I recently had a driving assessment by an ex-traffic BIB. He picked me up for stopping too close the the vehicle in front.
I was taught to leave enough space to drive around the vehicle in front, in case it broke down.
The ex-BIB reckoned I was still a little too close when we stopped at the end of a slip road, because 'something coming up behind too fast to stop would push me into the vehicle in front'!!!
|
I taught my pupils to leave enough space to see the tyres of the car in front and a metre of tarmac.
This thread has however reminded me that I probably don't practice what I used to preach enough and I'm going to try and correct it from tommorow.
|
There's no hard and fast rule. Nice to be able to make a quick getaway when necessary and if possible, but when you're in one of the middle lanes of a multi-lane oneway there is in fact nowhere to go, so it becomes irrelevant. Certainly in crawling London stop/start, all too commonplace, the sort of distances being described may well cause irritation in some. Depends where you are, and when. Take your cue within reason from the surrounding traffic and blend in.
Blue: you may be right not to practise what you used to preach. I wouldn't bother to reform if I were you. Of course carry on preaching it by all means if you can think of a good reason.
Edited by Lud on 23/10/2008 at 00:52
|
|
I seem to remember watching a program a few years back about car-jacking and they said you should leave space in between you and the car in front so if someone tries to steal your car you can move/get away. I don't really think that car-jackers will be at work in static traffic (unless the lift doesn't go to the top floor, if you get my drift!) but I still leave a gap as I don't feel the need to become a filling in a car sandwich!
|
>>I don't really think thatcar-jackers will be at work in static traffic
Traffic lights are favourite hunting ground for these vermin.
Also, the car in front may be in cahoots with them.
|
>>Traffic lights are favourite hunting ground for these vermin.
> >Also the car in front may be in cahoots with them.
Sorry....I meant gridlock type situations where there's nowhere to run once they had the car. ;)
|
|
|
|
It's well worth leaving a decent gap to the car in front where it won't cause frustration to others. I avoided getting sandwiched by a 7.5T lorry on the M25 by being able to gun it onto the hard shoulder when he completely failed to spot the rear end of the traffic jam. He bounced to a stop about 1" from the bumper of the car that had been in front of me.
Scary.
|
Also, watch out for those in front of you who accidently engage reverse. I was with a newly qualified young driver a while ago and that's what happened. Happily, he had heeded my advice to stay well back. Generally disinclined to believe anything I said, his jaw dropped and a lesson was well learnt.
The muppets who draw right up to your back bumper are probably tailgaters on the move too. I've noticed among them a disproportionate number of those who can't parallel park either . . . spatial awareness or something, I believe.
|
Could be a generational thing. My father in law who is not exactly in the first flush is a perfectly fine driver, but he will insist on drawing up about two inches of a car in front.
I asked why once and he said he was taught that if the chap in front starts to roll back, he won't have any momentum in two inches so little or no damage is done, whereas if you leave a few feet by the time he hits you it's a lot more serious.
I guess this came from the days when bumpers were used as, well, bumpers and old habits die hard.
|
|
|
There are psychopathic tailgaters who react with anger if you drop back a bit to leave more clearance from the car in front.
Similarly there are those who resent your moving forward a bit after you have both stopped in traffic.
There are two tempting strategies for people who stop too close behind. One is to delay starting off again by a few seconds after the flow has restarted, so that he is left riding his clutch or jamming on the brakes again. The other, on a hill, is to let your car roll back a bit to give the impression that you cannot control it very well. Nervous types respond well to this, and stay back at the next stop.
But as with all motoring actions, you have to remember that there murderous drug-crazed pschos out there, and one of them may be in a car near you.
|
Also leave a bit of extra room when you're behind someone at a roundabout. I've seen so many people go into the back of someone whom they thought was moving off then didn't that I'm sure I'll do it myself one day so I give myself an extra couple of metres to recover it.
|
|
Another reason to leave enough room is in case the car in front hits the car in frnt of them or breaks down. At least then you can get round the obstacle rather than be trapped whilst everyone else flows around you.
|
|
or jamming on the brakes again.
That's the main problem with leaving a gap - you have to be careful not to anticipate the lights, or the start of other traffic moving, and set off before the car in front is moving - you might realise and jam the brakes on but the eager guy may not and could run into your car. OK, his fault, but you still have all the hassle of sorting out (even assuming he's got valid insurance).
|
I always leave a space - especially on a hill.
I got a load of abuse from the driver behind me last time for some reason.
I gave him the pathetic "my colleagues will be in touch" routine and he shut up.
This got me thinking about stopping in a tail back on the motorways after that tragic accident on the M6. I thought when I see a tail back should I get into the outside lane to stop any HGV's piling in to the back of me. I suppose you stand a bit more of a chance with 2T hitting you than 40T.
|
. I suppose you stand a bit more of a chance with 2T hitting youthan 40T.
Thats the quandry in a nutshell, i've seen hundreds of accidents over the years in the outside lane, fewer in the inside lane but the results if it happens can be devastating.
|
|
Morbidly, what strikes me is that with modern flat fronted trucks, the crumple zone, if there is one, is the driver. Must concentrate the mind during emergency stops that you in effect have 40 tons on your back and you are the nearest thing to to the fast approaching obstruction. Well it would make me purse my lips a bit anyway.
|
I suppose Humph after so many years it sort of goes with the job, you tend to hope it won't be your turn, and many of us still try to drive properly... adequate gaps etc.
As for crumple zone, hah just above that nicely designed front plastic bumper, probably half an inch behind are the main chassis rails with a huge cross member complete with 2 towing points capable of easily taking the whole weight of the vehicle....in other words whatever happens it will not give.
Funny how the designers have given trucks a 'friendly face' nowadays, years ago when the front bumper was RSJ or similar bolted straight to the chassis, drivers of other vehicles would sensibly avoid at all costs, now covered with some nice painted plastic gives a false impression of safety.
A friend of mine driving almost identical truck to mine had a small hatchback suddenly turn across the front of him, speed approx 50mph.
Small hatch T boned spun off, rolled, completely wrecked, driver hospitalised.
Truck unmarked, and i mean hardly a scratch, just carried on after the event had been dealt with.
My friend recalled later that he didn't really feel the impact, insect like. Scary stuff.
In accidents where a car or van hits a truck, there is no comparison, brick wall syndrome, but where a truck hits another truck especially up the back where the rear chassis/body is usually so high that the impact comes in above the cab chassis, and the cab strength is weak its a very different story.
Hope we all keep safe out there.
|
|
|
|
|
I always get into the laft hand lane if coming up to queueing traffic and leave a gap in front for the same reason. There is somewhere to go if something is bearing down on you and doesn't look like stopping. Whether you would have time to react however is another matter. I wonder if it isn't time to fit all HGV's with collision avoidance systems that sense the traffic in front and automatically bring the vehicle to a stop. Volvo have such a system available I believe. Might also stop them tailgating.
|
I do not react to static tailgaters in any way, shape or form.
I do not roll back when starting on a hill, ever (partly as a result of not sitting at the lights with my right foot on the brake!!!). If someone else hits me, tough.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
