On the motorway, we drive much too close to the car in front. Even on almost empty roads cars can commonly be observed driving convoy 1 car length apart.
Driving closer than 6-12 car lengths distance at any speed on the motorway provably causes tailbacks[1]. Kills people in (completely avoidable) "accidents" -- they're not accidents, but socially we write them off as such.
It stops other people merging efficiently onto the road. It severely hampers overtaking. It restricts ability to change lanes for upcoming exits and it promotes risk taking.
Leaving a significant gap (12 car lengths?), in almost all situations has a demonstrable positive impact on the everyone's pace, safety and independance of movement.
When questioned guilty drivers responses range from denial at one extreme, to self fulfilling prophesies of what the "numpty drivers" will get up to with an extra 8 car lengths of space all around them.
The roots of our reasoning range from learned ignorance, indifference and lack of skill to misguided attempts at efficiency, self appointed policing and aggression.
How do you convince a nation that in all circumstances leaving a gap of 6-12+ car lengths (erring on the side of larger gap wherever it's not absurdly excessive) instantly raises average speeds, evaporates traffic jams, reduces fatalaties & generally makes driving more efficent and thus more pleasurable for everyone involved?
I for one write self righteous monologues to captive audiences. ;-)
[1] Google for the RAC foundation's research into tailgating & phantom traffic jams. The same google result will give many many informative, balanced and well reasoned arguments supporting the very significant increase in average distance from the car in front i put forward above.
No research i can find has come to the conclusion we drive with enough distance between cars already, or that we should decrease gaps to improve speed, safety or throughput / capacity.
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Not distance
TIME
I generally seem to leave 3 seconds
I'm a bit of an anal anorak & time myself, from time to time
This also helps to smooth out traffic flow
Edited by dieseldogg on 19/01/2010 at 13:13
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Not distance TIME
Time is absolutely better measure and much easier to apply & also calculate. I 100% agree with you.
I considered writing it with time first attempt but was scared it wouldn't make much sense.
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I don't have an answer as to how we educate people to do this. All I know is that if I ever try to leave a large gap on the m way, some idiot fills it then promptly slows down to just under 70!
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All I know is that if I ever try to leave a large gap on the m way, some idiot fills it then promptly slows down to just under 70!
This is a self fulfilling prophecy -- by noone leaving a gap, you are preventing others returning to the left, or overtaking, or making a move for an exit etc. etc. so when that 1 gap does appear you can find *multiple* drivers racing for it.
If everyone left a gap, what would attract anyone to your gap over all the other gaps available? Why would yours be more popular than the others?
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the point I made was that if I'm the only sap who leaves a decent space, then there's always someone who will fill it thereby compromising my 'safety zone' I'd created.
In my experience said driver usually then slows down meaning I have to alter my driving style and slow down too or am forced to pass, pull in and go through the same uneccessary procedure again and again throughout my journey unless I stick behind someone doing 65 in which case they are unwittingly enforcing their style of driving onto me.
As I get older and another year more experienced I am always mindful of leaving a decent gap for my safety and as you say to allow cars to pull in front of me from the right or the left (from a slip lane). I also like to try to control the gap behind me but this is far harder to do because I have little or no influence on a following vehicle.
We all know what would work and how perfect all our lives would be if everyone did what we are suggesting but the sad reality is a little different.
I have noticed however that utilising the left lane on a motorway works best for leaving a decent gap because apart from trucks, every other wotsit is too busy driving up each others chuffs in the other two lanes and the left hand lane is a small black ribbon of emptyness.
ps don't tell anyone or everyone will be using it.
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I have noticed however that utilising the left lane on a motorway works best
My experience exactly, switched to following the rules of the road (return to the left) in my attempts to "be a safer driver" around a year and a half ago. Never looked back.
We all know what would work
I don't think we do, or we don't believe it even if we do know the theory. Otherwise, we'd all do it.
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Size of a sensible gap depends on speed, so it's better to think of a '2-second rule' than a 6-12 car gap. The reason roads such as the M25 grind to a standstill for no obvious reason is that there is simply not enough tarmac for the number of vehicles trying to use the road. Hence the variable speed limits which, in theory, allow the road to carry more vehicles by restricing the speed and narrowing the gaps (I think...)
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is that there is simply not enough tarmac
Miles of tarmac is a finite quantity. However, could we get more vehicles *through* a given stretch of tarmac in a given period of time, if all drivers attempted to maintain a larger gap?
From what i've read from qualified sources, the answer for more throughput is more gap between cars. From toll roads which had less throughput after introducing fast pay lanes. To tunnels with artificially restricted (traffic lights) entry into the tunnel which provably increases throughput.
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'Accident' is perfectly correct for the crashes that occur as a result of insufficient spacing on the roads. An accident is an unintended or random event; such a crash is clearly not random but it's not intentional either, so it's an accident.
That's not the same as saying, as Clarkson has at least implied while arguing against improving safety measures, that because it's an accident, no-one is to blame.
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An accident is an unintended
Not leaving a safe gap is surely not intent to travel safely?
Is it therefore intent to travel with disregard for safety? Or is it just ignorance of the dangers? Is ignorance an acceptible excuse?
Good point, well made. I don't think i can (or want to) wholy dispute what you've said.
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CraigP, you're not the only one to have thought of this, have you heard of "anti-traffic"?
trafficwaves.org/trafexp.html
Much the same idea.
However, it all goes very much against the common human foible of "me first"! So, it'll never take off...
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However, it all goes very much against the common human foible of "me first"!
Ahh don't be so defeatist OilBurner! :-P
1 or 2 folks after reading this might have a shot at leaving a gap in traffic tonight on their drive home. Then they'll fight with their conscience, some will shy away never to try again (i felt so self conscious first time i tried leaving a gap).
Now i've experienced the benefits for others around me i'm converted. You don't always get a thank you when your gap allows someone to merge or exit but i see a lot more thank you hazard flashes than i ever have previously.
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"How do you convince a nation that in all circumstances leaving a gap of 6-12+ car lengths"
You don't need to - just leave sufficient gap yourself and if someone fills it ease of the accelerator for a few seconds.
If others want to drive idiotically close its their problem
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You don't need to
I 80% agree with you. Just me leaving my gap improves my journey (and hopefully those immediately behind and in front of me) significantly.
Truth be told i'm happy enough just me doing it, i used to suffer *terrible* road rage which i've been cured of since leaving a gap.
However, it's logical to try and improve even further.
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The main thing about any journey is giving yourself enough time, if you do that you don't need to tailgate or any of those other silly things those in a rush always do!
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The main thing about any journey is giving yourself enough time, if you do that you don't need to tailgate or any of those other silly things those in a rush always do!
You're too sensible to have a UK driving licence :-P
A close relative of mine is a compulsive tailgater. We regularly arrive early having set off in plenty of time. In a bad mood, for quibbling over tailgating all the way there!
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There is no correct gap for all speeds and all circumstances. You can't drive rigidly by numbers. Proper drivers remain fluid and relaxed at all times.
The closer you drive to the vehicle in front, the more quickly you will have to act if it brakes or swerves suddenly. Unless you are some sort of vegetable (quite a lot of cars are operated by these) you can feel yourself tensing up when the gap is smaller than it should be. If you drive too close all the time you will get tired much more quickly and arrive in a bad mood.
Very crowded motorways are often dangerous and tedious. Not always, admittedly, but when you see waves of brake lights going on and off in front of you it's time to seek a nice roundabout alternative route.
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CraigP, I am 100% with you on this subject - it is one that is close to my heart. My own feeling is that the safety gap is an instinctive calculation for a safety conscious driver. I regularly get a lift from a good friend who is a very aggressive driver and my heartbeat must be at the very maximum permissible level for 80% of each journey because of his insistence of being within a maximum of 2 cars length from the bumper of the vehicle ahead.
I feel that most drivers get too close to the bloke in front and, as we all know, if you leave a sensible gap it will be filled by a less considerate motorist.
Funnily enough I have, this evening, had to make a journey that I usually dread because of the types of road involved - busy single lane roads with varying speed limits interspersed with stretches of 3 lane sections (all of those unlit) followed by 20 miles of motorway, varying between 2 and 3 lanes during the rush hour. I do this journey maybe twice each month and it is usually very stressful. Tonight it was a doddle because every driver seemed to be on my wavelength with regard to leaving a sensible gap and what a pleasurable journey it made for.
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I regularly get a lift from a good friend who is a very aggressive driver and my heartbeat must be at the very maximum permissible level for 80% of each journey because of his insistence of being within a maximum of 2 cars length from the bumper of the vehicle ahead.
Show it, then. Hold tight to the sides of the seat. Make audible indrawings of breath. Tread heavily on an imaginary brake in the passenger footwell. Do these things from time to time in appropriate circumstances. The mesaage may get through!
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It's interesting to note the reaction of some drivers to driving properly.
I always leave a 2 second gap wherever possible. But last week, while passing two lorries perhaps 100-150m apart, in a convoy on the right hand lane of a 2-lane motorway, I was undertaken by a tailgater for the heinous crime of not being 2 feet from the chuff of the guy in front.
Frankly I was rather pleased that he had someone else to annoy with his antics, but it shows just how challenged some of these folk are.
Now convoys are another pet-hate of mine. The space between those two lorries was just passable, but not really long enough to pull in and out again.
But I have found an unfortunate tendency amongst the sheep drivers to bunch up in the right hand lane when the roads get congested. They'll sit there travelling at *exactly the same speed* (and sometimes slower) as the left hand lane, just because they can't be bothered to move over.
What is more, a few of them become quite excited when I exercise my right not to slow down straight away having been in the left lane for the last mile or two, and "undertake" a few of them en-route to catching up with the cars up ahead. I never have any intention of pulling over to the right in front of them, but they don't see it that way.
Perhaps a read of the HC is in order; it makes allowances for such convoys of slow-moving traffic in an outer lane....
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You misunderstand, PD: it's not that the drivers in the right-lane crocodile can't be bothered to pull over; it's the fellow in front who should get out of their way. That's why they drive so close; if that one car would pull over, Black Audi Man and his over-bright headlamps would be free to cruise to his destination in the style they're entitled to.
};---)
We won't change it, so it's best to avoid it, just as you, Craig and others here have been advocating. The left lane is barely any slower at times like these; you just need to look ahead for slow vehicles and plan your overtaking manoeuvres a little further ahead. Once you get used to it - and I used to be a dedicated crocodiler, albeit one who tried to leave a gap - it becomes second nature and makes motorway life so much less stressful.
One thing to watch out for, though: if you're Making Progress in Lane 1 and looking ahead for trucks, it's possible to miss the dark blue Polo with one tail lamp out and doing barely 50, which gets lost against the Blackpool Illuminations favoured by certain HGV drivers. But that's probably for another thread.
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One thing to watch out for though: if you're Making Progress in Lane 1 and looking ahead for trucks it's possible to miss the dark blue Polo with one tail lamp out and doing barely 50 which gets lost against the Blackpool Illuminations >>
In Scotland, that'll be the Nissan Note or Renault Modus. And since we poor sods in the East of Scotland aren't within 30 miles of a motorway (if you can call the M8 that), it'll be those holding us up on what 60mph roads we've got by doing 25 - 30 in their "I'm flat out" Notes/Moduses.
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