The Duck Lady In Canada

[AmbrosiaWriter]

his wife was riding behind them. you're literally arguing that the person closer should have been able to stop because the person further behind them could. [/I]

That's incorrect.

She arguing that if he had been maintaining proper distance, he - like his wife - would have been able to stop and avoid.

And she's right.

One of the things one is taught as they are learning to drive is that the person in front controls the speed, the person behind controls the distance. It is your responsibility to maintain enough distance that if the car in front of you were to slam on their breaks hard, you have the distance to come to a safe, complete stop.

That is why in many places, it is always the person in the rear whose is at fault for an accident when it involves one care rear-ending the other. Because, as you are taught, if you do not have enough distance to stop, you were driving too close in the first place.

Motorcyclists need to be even MORE aware of this distance, due to the fact that they (as you so vehemently pointed out) cannot just "slam on the breaks."

That is why whenever I see a motorcycle zipping in and out of traffic, weaving through either slow moving cars or fast moving cars, I cringe internally and pray that no one they cut behind has to make a sudden stop - because the motorcyclist will probably end up dead or at least paralyzed.

[HYHYBT]

Legally and ideally, yes. Anyone who says it's always possible in the real world is lying, because everyone knows full well that, in traffic, if you try to leave more room than the other cars think you ought to have, someone will move into the gap, and that slowing down makes it worse.

[Andara Bledin]

Legally and ideally, yes. Anyone who says it's always possible in the real world is lying, because everyone knows full well that, in traffic, if you try to leave more room than the other cars think you ought to have, someone will move into the gap, and that slowing down makes it worse.

People keep telling me that, and yet, despite driving in southern California, in the greater Los Angeles area and through the heart of downtown itself, I have yet to actually have a problem maintaining a safe following distance.

There was a huge thread on Ars about safe following distance in relation to an article about zipper merging, and everybody who spoke up who has taken the time and effort to specifically follow at a safe distance at all times mentioned that they don't get cut off any more than usual, they don't take any longer to get where they're going, and they build up a lot less stress during the trip. Plus the added bonus of having a lot more time to react to anything that does happen and avoiding becoming part of someone else's accident.

[Anthony K. S.]

everybody who spoke up who has taken the time and effort to specifically follow at a safe distance at all times mentioned that they don't get cut off any more than usual

Really? None of them have encountered this difficulty, ever?

Andara, you don't find that just a little bit strange?

Even if you've been fortunate enough not to encounter this yourself, does it really seem likely to you that nobody would?

I'm sure that some of them were telling the truth, at least as they perceived it. Possibly, they actually were getting cut off more often but just didn't realize it.

But I'm willing to bet that at least some of those people were only saying that because it supported their position for them to.

[Andara Bledin]

Honestly: I don't really care.

All that matters to me is that I'm a safer driver and am less likely than those who follow too close to be involved in an accident. I've watched cars ahead of me skid off the side of the road because they couldn't stop in time while I barely have to put any effort into not hitting them or the people they were avoiding.

I'm just amused (and a little bit depressed) at the lengths people will go to in order to excuse unsafe driving practices.

[Jetfire]

It may be because I don't drive as often as others (don't own a car so I only drive when I'm around my parents usually), and I try my best to keep a safe distance with the cars around me. At a bare minimum, I make sure I can at least see the rear wheels of the vehicle in front of me, and more often I try to make sure there's bare pavement between me and them.

And generally speaking, in my experience, I rarely have any issues with other drivers. Someone pulls in in front of me, I just slow enough so I have the safe distance between me and them instead.

In city traffic, seeing the wheels is usually enough (since you tend to go slower). Highway, I like a few car lengths since speeds are faster.

[Andara Bledin]

It may be because I don't drive as often as others (don't own a car so I only drive when I'm around my parents usually), and I try my best to keep a safe distance with the cars around me. At a bare minimum, I make sure I can at least see the rear wheels of the vehicle in front of me, and more often I try to make sure there's bare pavement between me and them.

Visual estimation of distance isn't really very reliable; instead, use a 2-3 second rule. 2 seconds is the minimum for safety in a typical car, while many places in the US actually require 3 seconds between cars, but that's unrealistic for the way most other people drive.

Seeing where the tires hit the pavement is actually a guideline for how far back to stop at a light or when in stop and go traffic, to leave a buffer in case you get hit from behind. Another guide for in case you get hit is to keep your wheels pointed straight when waiting for cross traffic to clear to make a turn, as if you turn them prior to making the turn and were to get hit, you'd end up in front of cross traffic. If you're turning to the near side, however, you turn your wheels so you get sideswiped more than t-boned if you get pushed into the intersection.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

In my experience, when I am maintaining a nice long space between me and the car in front of my in traffic, if someone moves into that gap, they typically then ride right up on the bumper on the car that was originally right in front of me. Or at least get pretty darn close to them (which they shouldn't be, but they do >_<.)

That means that it takes minimal effort to re-create the safe distance for me. If I do have to take my foot off the accelerator for a time (which just charges my battery mwahahaha) I find the negligible amount of time has never made me late or take so much longer I curse the car that legally switched into my lane ahead of me.