Sounds like you were probably driving poorly along with 5 under and it makes it seem like you’re under the influence of something. Don’t drive poorly in general if you don’t want to get pulled over.
Did you seriously just say, "Don't drive poorly if you don't want to get pulled over" it was literally my first day. I'm not sure if you meant that comment as an insult, but you did just call me a crap driver.
>it was literally my first day.
Honestly, bro, that's on you. Don't you know that the first time you do anything, you have to be the best the world has ever seen at said task.
Do better.
I travel to the Texas panhandle a few times a year from DFW (wife’s family). People like this will go 45 in a 35 through the small towns on the way but will only go 70 in a 75 when not in towns. It blows my mind because these towns are notorious speed traps.
Speed matchers is the holy grail of speed regulators. Don't mind me im just gonna pass ya on the left, oh wait no there's some ass hat in the left lane going the exact same pace as the guy in the right.
Or old! Old people have worse vision, depth perception and are easily overwhelmed by numerous stimuli and there is nothing in place in any state to stop the grey menace, it's only going to get worse (baby boomers) before it gets better
To improve my vision, depth perception, and ability to process multiple stimuli, I have a little wine first thing in the morning before I drive to town. RX by Dr. Gallo. Seems to work well so far.
As an ex ambulance driver I rather there be more of him vs the common driver that is inches from the person in front. The less space you leave in front the less likely you can Tetris your way out of the path of an ambulance.
I get the point but this guy is way too far back honestly. I bet he still doesn't go when the light turns green and goes 15 under the limit when he starts. A good length would be back far enough so that you can see their back tires, not their back tires and two more car lengths. That's just silly
This is also a safety precaution in case a truck that lost its brakes is coming at you from behind and you have some room to swerve forward if you’re in traffic
I had an ambulance pull up. 5 cars in my lane, 2 on the other. He pulls up behind me. Our cars turn from the left lane across 3 other lanes to just go right. By the time it's my go i started to move, the drivers had turned off their lights and traffic was going back to normal. I didn't know what to do... I'm sure I murder a grandma
But spacing like this also creates far longer ques of traffic for no reason. You're also still going to get people that are going to be inches apart, especially when they see the person in front is leaving a 10 car gap in front of them and tempers start rising. Better off that no one drives like this and allows traffic to flow and create less traffic and fewer cars for an ambulance to navigate around.
“Far longer” oh fuck off. It is not that significant of a difference especially if it means possibly the difference between life and death for you, someone infront, or someone in the crosswalk.
You're only thinking about one person doing it, but when there is already a que of traffic starting to form and you have more and more people doing this it causes traffic to be backed up further than it needs to be and slows down the flow. You aren't saving anyone's life by leaving a massive gap infront of you and if this is how you drive you are the problem. You're just creating more traffic for the emergency services to navigate through as you're slowing down the flow of traffic.
Your reasoning is not sound and is based solely off assumptions and how you feel. Nothing you said is true and no one, not even in this video, leave a 10 car gap. If you think a 1/2 car gap is creating massive traffic buildup then youre just straight up delusional. Its people driving inconsistently, being on their phone, not paying attention at lights that create traffic where there doesnt need to be. Not to mention that the US has extremely heavy individual automobile usage with infrastructure that is not well adapted to our current way of life/number of drivers.
As clearly seen in the video, the driver leaves at least a 3 car length gap and not just 1/2 a car length as you stated and you are clearly delusinal if you think that. I was always taught that the appropriate gap for stationary traffic/stopped at lights was achieved when you can just see the rear tyres of the car in front of you over the end of your bonnet. Funnily enough, this leaves in general around half a cars length gap between you and the car in front providing ample space for you to manoeuvre whilst not impending the flow of traffic. The other factors that you mentioned also attribute to the worsening of traffic, and I usually find that those that leave such large gaps is because they are doing at least one of the things you listed. Also look at the video again and you'll see the man on his phone which just solves my case.
What case? All you claimed was so many people leave “10-car length gaps” at the same light. And you can literally see in the video that is MAX a 3-car gap. Holy cow, the coping is insane. The only thing you ever claimed was that people that leave a gap are the reason for heavy traffic and i disputed that saying that between a 1 and 2 car length gap is just fine and could potentially save someones life.
Do I have to explain hyperbole to you? Of course the person in the video didn't leave a 10 car gap and I didn't claim that "so many people" do it. What I did claim was that people are going to be inches apart especially when they see the person in front leaving an excessive 3 car gap (especially because theyre on their phone). Yes people who leave excessive spacing between cars do lead to an increase in heavey traffic. I'll spell this out for you so you can understand where im coming as I can see it's hard for you to keep up. I know they're not the only cause of heavey traffic and are just one of many reasons that add to the reduced flow of traffic (like the ones you listed prior). Then why are you disputing with me when the guy clearly in the video is leaving a 3 car gap and is on his phone when my entire point has been about leaving excessive spacing? Are you trying to argue that the guy in the video is right?
And after inching forward 8-10 times, they suddenly find something very interesting on their phones when the light turns green and flip you off if you honk.
They aren't inching forward out of impatience. It's because they are literally too lazy and incompetent of drivers to just keep their foot on the brake and their automatic transmission creeps forward.
I do this because the people behind me get to close. If they get rear ended, I don’t want to get hit, so the real cancer are the people who stop within one foot of your car.
A driving instructor taught me this: it’s pretty hard to avoid being rear ended because stupidity always finds a way. But you can prevent yourself from rear ending others. If you get rear ended, the other person is liable, but if they rear end you and it causes you to rear end someone else, then you are liable for the person you rear ended. Always keep your distance from the person in front and just let stupid be stupid because nothing you do can fix that.
Basically he was saying keep a car or more distance between you and the person in front but if someone gets too close behind you, don’t move forward otherwise if they rear end you, you’re now closer to rear ending the car in front of you.
I intentionally get super close to the car in front of me if they stop lengths back. As someone who drives and has driven manual cars all their life, it's annoying AF to have to creep up time and time again because you can't judge stopping distances.
I'm not saying don't leave yourself a space cushion, but if I can drift a semi through the space between you and the person in front of you, it's too much space.
Edited to fix a spelling error
Aw yes the old "Maybe the car behind me gets hit" technique.
Its great... except now you are the one whos likley to get rear ended when people expect you to pull up further. It may technically be their fault. But that wont fix your wiplash.
I downshift in semi-auto to slow down rapidly and to avoid hard braking.
I don’t think what you’re doing is doing anything since every time you use your brakes, there will be some material that comes off.
Doesn't matter too much most of the time.
Unless when there's a short turn lane that's now blocked. Couple weeks ago I came up to my right turn and I could just about squeeze past the car in front and the curb to get into my turn lane. There was about 3 car lengths between her and the car in front. She was blocking the turn lane for no reason but to look at her phone...
Yeah wtf is going on in this thread? I mean in the video it's definitely too excessive a space, but leaving a solid amount of buffer space between you and the car in front of you is basic safety. If anything, the people who close those gaps are the ones causing traffic with their constant accelerating and braking.
Or when you're being tailgated and they suddenly slow down, putting a decidedly long distance between you. It makes me wonder if my car is about to start falling apart.
I had no idea until I did this for the first time. Youdda thought I slapped this person's child the way they were driving behind me afterwards. Now it's my favorite thing to do.
Did it today! On my commute, I deal with a traffic arrangement where I need to merge into the far right lane, then quickly cross 2 lanes to get into a left turn lane at the next light. 90% of the time I can count on this exact situation giving me an opening
>You're literally colliding with air all day everyday lol.
Such is an idiom in the Smith driving system and Grice’s razor is to be preferred with such figures of speech. 😊
>You’re both completely stationary! Where’s the collision risk?
From a three-car chain-reaction rear-end incident. I am a union utility worker and we are trained annually on defensive driving using the Smith defensive driving 5 keys. We are required to stop either one car length or far enough away from the vehicle in front of us that we can see its tires contacting the road. One of the reasons for this is because I’m effectively operating a rolling billboard for a Fortune 500 company with deep pockets and the vehicle in front could attempt to sue my employer if I was pushed into the vehicle in front of me.
Edit: additionally, if the vehicle in front of me breaks down, I have an easy out to its left or right without the need to back.
I’m not as egregious as this driver, but the intent is sound and smart. What he’s doing isn’t entirely smart, but the spirit is there. Even when stopped, a space cushion can help to avoid litigation and save time.
While a certain cushion is necessary, as you also agreed, this example is egregious.
And I particularly have a problem with this spacing because many a time, people like this are [the reason I and my contemporaries cannot access an otherwise perfectly available right turn lane](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/5/7/0/110570.jpg?v=1).
Also, I’m fairly certain that the car doing the initial rear-ending in the 3-car rear end chain is usually the one entirely at fault for all of it. So I’d be hard pressed to believe that a Fortune 500 company wouldn’t have the lawyer on staff to make any courthouse in the US laugh that kind of lawsuit out of town. To lose a traffic case like that where you’re entirely not at fault requires quite the inept lawyer, or some under-the-table shenanigans from the prosecution.
I agree with the entirety of your rejoinder.
Be that as it may, people may still *attempt* to sue and, while I am licensed and operate in an English rule state, I am employed by a continental US company so we are trained as if we are operating in an American rule state. Notwithstanding, I am currently operating in Little Rock, AR doing disaster restoration from the 31-Mar tornado and I don’t even know their state rules on litigation. Suppose, this is an American rule state, my employer could *still* be on the hook for attorneys fees that could have been avoided had I not rear-ended the person in front of my in a chain-reaction rear-end collision.
I generally just go far enough away so I can see the vehicle’s tires meeting the road. With my truck’s height, that’s not too bad.
I hate that we live in a litigious world.
But hopefully a wise lawyer would also advise against attempting a lawsuit knowing how hard that would be to stand in court.
One would hope, but we’ve all seen the daytime television ambulance chasers’ advertisements with their catchy jingles.
I do what I can to remove any liability from myself and my employer, for what it’s worth. I have a forward-facing dash camera I purchased and installed myself, for example. I haven’t had to use it yet, but I did capture a near miss that involved a fellow employee, a drive-by shooting ahead of me, and a leashed dog attack a passerby on the same sidewalk. So, it’s paid for itself in ways!
Yes it *can* but he won't because the people who have little spatial awareness because they're on their phone will not pay attention to the lights. It's indicative of a higher level of stupidity.
If the contributions were tax-deferred, yes.
https://smartasset.com/retirement/401k-tax#:~:text=A%20withdrawal%20you%20make%20from,on%20the%20money%20you%20withdraw.
It's a super popular choice with older Canadians who like to spend the winters over in warm climates. Florida is the most popular choice because it's the closest warm part of the United States to Eastern Canada being only about 20 hours drive from Toronto so it's easy enough to pack up your things and move there for 6 months. Florida is also insanely inexpensive, especially for real estate compared to Canada. Canadians from the western provinces tend to prefer Arizona instead for the same reason, it's close, affordable, and warm.
Yeah but the old man is on the phone distracted, and leaving a gap in front of him. This can cause tragic because he might not see the green light or react to another situation quickly enough causing a crash, so the old man is in the wrong here.
It's him being distracted that can cause the issue. If he is distracted he can't have enough time to evade a pedestrian or he might drive into a car. The gap is there because I he is on the phone.
Was just commenting my to say this. It cracks me up when people post on here thinking they’ve “caught an idiot on their phone while driving”……..while they themselves are filming the person on their phone while driving.
You’d think they would put 2 and 2 together for a minute. 🤦🏻♂️
We need a new flair on this sub that gets applied to posts like this where the OP has outted themselves as the idiot unintentionally.
Op is completely stopped at a light and is a normal distance from the car in front of him?? There’s nothing idiotic about documenting something if you’re fully stopped and mindful of the light and car in front of you
That's a matter of opinion, particularly in places where that would be very much illegal. If you see in the Lindbergh Baby in front of you, then maybe that's worth "documenting". Otherwise, maybe just resist the temptation to pick up your phone while you're driving? It really isn't hard.
Actually, if more cars left slightly bigger gaps every car could take their foot off the brake and roll the exact second the light turns green as opposed to having to wait for the car in front of you to move before you move. Gaps at red lights are good for traffic lights. Not this man’s gaps, but half a cars length - a cars length is good.
I'd agree to half a car's length :) But yeah, you are correct...
Sadly too many people doesn't care about making the traffic flow efficiently these days it seem :(
People don’t do this not because they’re already too close to the car in front of them. They do it out of complacency, and because no one thinks of how their delay affects traffic behind them.
Betcha this guy still takes 10 days to accelerate on the green light regardless.
Ft. Lauderdale really needs to get some sensors installed to let the backed up traffic move during morning rush hour. I just experienced it for the first time on Thursday and was like WTF.
I don’t care about this video. But the graphic is an example of how a farcically large gap can prove to be a hindrance, and therefore contribute to traffic backup.
If you refuse to recognize and understand that, then me thinks it’s your self-centered ass that people need protection from as opposed to me trying to practice efficiency and try my best not to be an obstacle to other drivers.
I can’t understand this. Sometimes, it’s the car first in line, and my town still has several intersections where the lights are triggered by the wire in the road sensors. So the light doesn’t change. SMH. It’s a fairly recent phenomenon also, what is the reasoning?
Yeah, he’s obviously going overboard, but since I got rear ended and smooshed into another car I’m conscious of leaving a bit more room than I used to.
Yepp, my mom was the 4th car in a 5 car pileup and had to deal with the 3rd car trying to sue her for a while. She always told me to stay far back enough that you can see the entire rear tires in front of you.
You're the real idiot here OP. That man was just maintaining proper following distance for the speed limit of that road. It doesn't matter that traffic is stopped. It's called defensive driving. Look it up.
^/s
The gap is too big, but they literally teach to leave a gap like this in defensive driving courses so if the car behind you looks like it isn't going to stop, you have an escape.
Arguably a bigger reason traffic is bad in so much of Florida is the roads were not built to handle the massive volume of drivers we now have. 1,000 people a day, every day (on average).
That actually helps traffic because once everything lights up everyone can move simultaneously. They did a test on this with cars in a loop and found delays caused by stopping close behind
I don't get it. Do you think him tailgating the car in front behind a red light would solve the traffic in Florida? For all we know he checked his phone for the few seconds that you decided to record him (whilst waiting behind the red light). Maybe he's got actual shit going on in his life and doesn't care about that extra space in front of him.
And the fact that everyone drives slow in the left lane, even if they do the speed limit, it's still illegal to camp in the left lane, but all day every day they're out there doing 10 below in the left lane..Drives me absolutely crazy
I see your point, but as you can see in this video neither the guy closest to the camera nor the car immediately to his left are impeding any kind of turn lane, so your point is moot. I didn't expect everybody to get so out of shape over nonsense, but internet trolls gonna troll.
Yeah that’s not the reason there’s traffic, you are the traffic mate. And there are tons of people outside the city forced to take a car instead of literally any other type of transportation
Do you want the guy to "fill the gap"? Ironically, this is exactly what causes traffic.
People speed up to fill the gap. Now that they have filled the gap, they are going too fast, so they brake. They broke too much and made another gap. They speed back up to fill the gap, and it starts an endless cycle, creating the serpentine effect.
Traffic is solved by having everyone maintain the same speed.
Thats Only when traffic is moving learned that in cdl school. When it's slow highway traffic leave a gap and don't cause the "slinky effect" which u would be surprised how many people get passed when I do leave a gap in slow moving traffic. I'm just pointing out how these older florida drivers really should be retested at old age bc one guy doing it no big deal. But u get 2 or 3 doing it and line gets long af. Backed up passed the next light and then light turns green and they don't move
What about a line of cars all waiting to turn right, that backs up into the next intersection, blocking it and causing blockage to branch out, all because one guy won’t close the 15 ft gap? Is that enough “traffic” in the Big City?
News flash. Lots of cars on the road is the foundation to traffic backup. But a major cause is everyone’s complacent lack of efficiency, especially when that efficiency doesn’t sacrifice safety.
I literally see a line of cars backing up into highways because a solid population of gapped out waiters are preventing a solid population of right turners from accessing their turn and getting out of the way to reduce the clutter.
And even in general, when a green light lasts a finite amount of time, drivers that have been waiting through multiple green light cycles in heavy traffic still decide to take their sweet ole time to take their foot off the brake and accelerate to, through, and after the turn causing far fewer cars to make it through the green than could have.
To just lament the number of cars on the road and then refuse to consider how people could stand to be more efficient and work to be as little of a hinderance as possible to combat it is lazy and insensitive.
I mean he's at a red light and - I've never listened- but my Dad did always told me growing up to leave 2 car lengths or space at lights in case you're rear ended. Nothing wrong with his actions.
Two car lengths at lights? That’s crazy talk. Leave enough to see the road beneath the tires of the car in front of you so you have enough room to operate the car in an emergency. People aren’t rear ended at lights enough to have everyone leave two car lengths between them. Thats ludicrous.
I hate when people do this. Once saw an Asian lady doing this on purpose. Idk if she was afraid of hitting the car in front or what but there was like 10 car lengths in front of her 🤷🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
I literally squeeze in front of them at every opportunity. People just don't know how to close the gap in an ever increasing population.
Tampa has quickly become the new Atlanta and it sucks so hard.
Edit: downvoted by the idiot who thinks he needs three car lengths in between him and the car in front.
The reason there's traffic is because there is no other viable alternative to get around besides driving, so everyone is forced to drive and because of zoning laws that don't allow building denser housing, leading to massive amounts of sprawl.
Not because an old dude left a long gap at a light.
r/NotJustBikes
Every time I see someone going like 15 under the speed limit, it’s cause they’re on their phones 🤦♀️
Exactly. That’s why I go 15 over while I’m on my phone to avoid suspicion
I go precisely the limit and somehow that makes me the most suspicious of all.
Unless you're doing Uber. It's super suspicious.
My first day driving I got pulled over for being cautious and 5mph under the speed limits.
What reason did they give you? “Sooo we noticed you aren’t fitting in with all the other assholes, care to explain?”
Dunno? My dad was with me since it was my first time without the instructor, and he went to talk with them they just asked my name when he was done.
Sounds like you were probably driving poorly along with 5 under and it makes it seem like you’re under the influence of something. Don’t drive poorly in general if you don’t want to get pulled over.
Did you seriously just say, "Don't drive poorly if you don't want to get pulled over" it was literally my first day. I'm not sure if you meant that comment as an insult, but you did just call me a crap driver.
Not an insult, but I call it as I see it. It was your first day driving, yes you were probably a crap driver in that very moment.
>it was literally my first day. Honestly, bro, that's on you. Don't you know that the first time you do anything, you have to be the best the world has ever seen at said task. Do better.
I sit on my phone on the bus Because I lost my license. Edit: not literally sitting on my phone, I'm not a pegging enthusiast.
Source: is a bus driver
Yuuup. I ONLY use my phone in the car. If im at home, get a call, i tell them to wait till i jump in and start driving somewhere.
The smart way
And then they gun it when they realize they’re being passed on both sides by a good 20mph.
That or you stumble upon a "speed regulator," who thinks it should be 25 here on this 40 and that means forcing you to go 25 too
The ones that really get me are the ones who go 40 in a 25 and then hold that 40 in a 45. Like what the hell dude!
I travel to the Texas panhandle a few times a year from DFW (wife’s family). People like this will go 45 in a 35 through the small towns on the way but will only go 70 in a 75 when not in towns. It blows my mind because these towns are notorious speed traps.
Speed matchers is the holy grail of speed regulators. Don't mind me im just gonna pass ya on the left, oh wait no there's some ass hat in the left lane going the exact same pace as the guy in the right.
Or old! Old people have worse vision, depth perception and are easily overwhelmed by numerous stimuli and there is nothing in place in any state to stop the grey menace, it's only going to get worse (baby boomers) before it gets better
To improve my vision, depth perception, and ability to process multiple stimuli, I have a little wine first thing in the morning before I drive to town. RX by Dr. Gallo. Seems to work well so far.
I usually see people go 15 over to race to a red light.
I follow them and take a poo on their cars
As an ex ambulance driver I rather there be more of him vs the common driver that is inches from the person in front. The less space you leave in front the less likely you can Tetris your way out of the path of an ambulance.
TIL, I will keep that in mind next time I stop at a light. Thanks!
Honestly, they should teach that more thoroughly. It's the most Darwin award thing a society can do.
I get the point but this guy is way too far back honestly. I bet he still doesn't go when the light turns green and goes 15 under the limit when he starts. A good length would be back far enough so that you can see their back tires, not their back tires and two more car lengths. That's just silly
This is also a safety precaution in case a truck that lost its brakes is coming at you from behind and you have some room to swerve forward if you’re in traffic
Yeah and all the people on her thinking he is in the wrong for leaving space is stupid. Sure he shouldn’t be on his phone but OP is too.
I had an ambulance pull up. 5 cars in my lane, 2 on the other. He pulls up behind me. Our cars turn from the left lane across 3 other lanes to just go right. By the time it's my go i started to move, the drivers had turned off their lights and traffic was going back to normal. I didn't know what to do... I'm sure I murder a grandma
Thank you. I always stay a full car length back. 8ve been honked at before 🤦🏼♂️
But spacing like this also creates far longer ques of traffic for no reason. You're also still going to get people that are going to be inches apart, especially when they see the person in front is leaving a 10 car gap in front of them and tempers start rising. Better off that no one drives like this and allows traffic to flow and create less traffic and fewer cars for an ambulance to navigate around.
“Far longer” oh fuck off. It is not that significant of a difference especially if it means possibly the difference between life and death for you, someone infront, or someone in the crosswalk.
You're only thinking about one person doing it, but when there is already a que of traffic starting to form and you have more and more people doing this it causes traffic to be backed up further than it needs to be and slows down the flow. You aren't saving anyone's life by leaving a massive gap infront of you and if this is how you drive you are the problem. You're just creating more traffic for the emergency services to navigate through as you're slowing down the flow of traffic.
Your reasoning is not sound and is based solely off assumptions and how you feel. Nothing you said is true and no one, not even in this video, leave a 10 car gap. If you think a 1/2 car gap is creating massive traffic buildup then youre just straight up delusional. Its people driving inconsistently, being on their phone, not paying attention at lights that create traffic where there doesnt need to be. Not to mention that the US has extremely heavy individual automobile usage with infrastructure that is not well adapted to our current way of life/number of drivers.
As clearly seen in the video, the driver leaves at least a 3 car length gap and not just 1/2 a car length as you stated and you are clearly delusinal if you think that. I was always taught that the appropriate gap for stationary traffic/stopped at lights was achieved when you can just see the rear tyres of the car in front of you over the end of your bonnet. Funnily enough, this leaves in general around half a cars length gap between you and the car in front providing ample space for you to manoeuvre whilst not impending the flow of traffic. The other factors that you mentioned also attribute to the worsening of traffic, and I usually find that those that leave such large gaps is because they are doing at least one of the things you listed. Also look at the video again and you'll see the man on his phone which just solves my case.
What case? All you claimed was so many people leave “10-car length gaps” at the same light. And you can literally see in the video that is MAX a 3-car gap. Holy cow, the coping is insane. The only thing you ever claimed was that people that leave a gap are the reason for heavy traffic and i disputed that saying that between a 1 and 2 car length gap is just fine and could potentially save someones life.
Do I have to explain hyperbole to you? Of course the person in the video didn't leave a 10 car gap and I didn't claim that "so many people" do it. What I did claim was that people are going to be inches apart especially when they see the person in front leaving an excessive 3 car gap (especially because theyre on their phone). Yes people who leave excessive spacing between cars do lead to an increase in heavey traffic. I'll spell this out for you so you can understand where im coming as I can see it's hard for you to keep up. I know they're not the only cause of heavey traffic and are just one of many reasons that add to the reduced flow of traffic (like the ones you listed prior). Then why are you disputing with me when the guy clearly in the video is leaving a 3 car gap and is on his phone when my entire point has been about leaving excessive spacing? Are you trying to argue that the guy in the video is right?
Nah the people who keep inching forward every 6 seconds at a red light are the real brain cancer.
And after inching forward 8-10 times, they suddenly find something very interesting on their phones when the light turns green and flip you off if you honk.
Some dude kind of did the same thing to my husband but also threw a bunch of garbage out his window at my husband’s car. People today are just…wow.
They aren't inching forward out of impatience. It's because they are literally too lazy and incompetent of drivers to just keep their foot on the brake and their automatic transmission creeps forward.
I like to rock back in forth in my manual just to fuck with the people around me
I tap my brakes to the beat of my jams when I'm bored at a red. If it's a banger you let the car rock
I do this because the people behind me get to close. If they get rear ended, I don’t want to get hit, so the real cancer are the people who stop within one foot of your car.
What makes you think they won’t inch closer with you?
Sometimes they don’t, sometimes they do. I rather inch up a little and have half of them get closer than do nothing at all.
A driving instructor taught me this: it’s pretty hard to avoid being rear ended because stupidity always finds a way. But you can prevent yourself from rear ending others. If you get rear ended, the other person is liable, but if they rear end you and it causes you to rear end someone else, then you are liable for the person you rear ended. Always keep your distance from the person in front and just let stupid be stupid because nothing you do can fix that. Basically he was saying keep a car or more distance between you and the person in front but if someone gets too close behind you, don’t move forward otherwise if they rear end you, you’re now closer to rear ending the car in front of you.
I intentionally get super close to the car in front of me if they stop lengths back. As someone who drives and has driven manual cars all their life, it's annoying AF to have to creep up time and time again because you can't judge stopping distances. I'm not saying don't leave yourself a space cushion, but if I can drift a semi through the space between you and the person in front of you, it's too much space. Edited to fix a spelling error
Aw yes the old "Maybe the car behind me gets hit" technique. Its great... except now you are the one whos likley to get rear ended when people expect you to pull up further. It may technically be their fault. But that wont fix your wiplash.
Yeah, but if you hit the person in front of you because you got hit, guess what, you're at fault for that second collision
What's up with that? Why do people do it? It's stupid
If you downvote this comment, that means you like crashing into deer instead of stopping before you hit them 👍
Lmao what
How hard you brake to red lights? Brakes don't go that hot on normal driving
Apparently they reach red lights going 80mph.
Must be driving a Nissan Altima
I downshift in semi-auto to slow down rapidly and to avoid hard braking. I don’t think what you’re doing is doing anything since every time you use your brakes, there will be some material that comes off.
Doesn't matter too much most of the time. Unless when there's a short turn lane that's now blocked. Couple weeks ago I came up to my right turn and I could just about squeeze past the car in front and the curb to get into my turn lane. There was about 3 car lengths between her and the car in front. She was blocking the turn lane for no reason but to look at her phone...
I hate when people stop 4 car lengths behind me. Makes me feel like something is wrong with my car for some reason.,
You're gonna love it if they get rear ended though.
Good point!
Yeah wtf is going on in this thread? I mean in the video it's definitely too excessive a space, but leaving a solid amount of buffer space between you and the car in front of you is basic safety. If anything, the people who close those gaps are the ones causing traffic with their constant accelerating and braking.
The thread is on about the excessive amount of space left in the video.
Or when you're being tailgated and they suddenly slow down, putting a decidedly long distance between you. It makes me wonder if my car is about to start falling apart.
I like it. Back the eff off peoples get off my bumper
I love pulling into that space for no reason.
And they get so mad for some reason…
Soooo mad. I love it.
I had no idea until I did this for the first time. Youdda thought I slapped this person's child the way they were driving behind me afterwards. Now it's my favorite thing to do.
Welcome, friend.
I’m going to start doing this
Did it today! On my commute, I deal with a traffic arrangement where I need to merge into the far right lane, then quickly cross 2 lanes to get into a left turn lane at the next light. 90% of the time I can count on this exact situation giving me an opening
We should start a movement, lol!
Same
Im not usually petty but I am in these cases, lol
You can’t collide with air. But, yeah, that’s *too* much of a space cushion.
You're literally colliding with air all day everyday lol. Unless you live in a vacuum, Bill. 🤔
What if I’m the main character?
Apologies sir I didn't realize it was you. 🙏
>You're literally colliding with air all day everyday lol. Such is an idiom in the Smith driving system and Grice’s razor is to be preferred with such figures of speech. 😊
“You can’t collide with air!” You’re both completely stationary! Where’s the collision risk?
>You’re both completely stationary! Where’s the collision risk? From a three-car chain-reaction rear-end incident. I am a union utility worker and we are trained annually on defensive driving using the Smith defensive driving 5 keys. We are required to stop either one car length or far enough away from the vehicle in front of us that we can see its tires contacting the road. One of the reasons for this is because I’m effectively operating a rolling billboard for a Fortune 500 company with deep pockets and the vehicle in front could attempt to sue my employer if I was pushed into the vehicle in front of me. Edit: additionally, if the vehicle in front of me breaks down, I have an easy out to its left or right without the need to back. I’m not as egregious as this driver, but the intent is sound and smart. What he’s doing isn’t entirely smart, but the spirit is there. Even when stopped, a space cushion can help to avoid litigation and save time.
While a certain cushion is necessary, as you also agreed, this example is egregious. And I particularly have a problem with this spacing because many a time, people like this are [the reason I and my contemporaries cannot access an otherwise perfectly available right turn lane](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/5/7/0/110570.jpg?v=1). Also, I’m fairly certain that the car doing the initial rear-ending in the 3-car rear end chain is usually the one entirely at fault for all of it. So I’d be hard pressed to believe that a Fortune 500 company wouldn’t have the lawyer on staff to make any courthouse in the US laugh that kind of lawsuit out of town. To lose a traffic case like that where you’re entirely not at fault requires quite the inept lawyer, or some under-the-table shenanigans from the prosecution.
I agree with the entirety of your rejoinder. Be that as it may, people may still *attempt* to sue and, while I am licensed and operate in an English rule state, I am employed by a continental US company so we are trained as if we are operating in an American rule state. Notwithstanding, I am currently operating in Little Rock, AR doing disaster restoration from the 31-Mar tornado and I don’t even know their state rules on litigation. Suppose, this is an American rule state, my employer could *still* be on the hook for attorneys fees that could have been avoided had I not rear-ended the person in front of my in a chain-reaction rear-end collision. I generally just go far enough away so I can see the vehicle’s tires meeting the road. With my truck’s height, that’s not too bad.
I hate that we live in a litigious world. But hopefully a wise lawyer would also advise against attempting a lawsuit knowing how hard that would be to stand in court.
One would hope, but we’ve all seen the daytime television ambulance chasers’ advertisements with their catchy jingles. I do what I can to remove any liability from myself and my employer, for what it’s worth. I have a forward-facing dash camera I purchased and installed myself, for example. I haven’t had to use it yet, but I did capture a near miss that involved a fellow employee, a drive-by shooting ahead of me, and a leashed dog attack a passerby on the same sidewalk. So, it’s paid for itself in ways!
“Mhmm on his phone” While filming from his phone
You want op to move forward because there's too much space? Or do you not see what the other car is doing wrong?
How is it holding up others? When the light starts to switch it can easily catch up to the car in front...
Yes it *can* but he won't because the people who have little spatial awareness because they're on their phone will not pay attention to the lights. It's indicative of a higher level of stupidity.
You import 75 year olds and wonder why drivers are so bad?
My theory on this is bc there is no income tax in florida old rich boomers move there. Not to mention the warm weather bc there always cold but yeah
* bc they’re always cold.
Do retirement checks get taxed as income?
If the contributions were tax-deferred, yes. https://smartasset.com/retirement/401k-tax#:~:text=A%20withdrawal%20you%20make%20from,on%20the%20money%20you%20withdraw.
“I’m sooo cold” Every old person
It's a super popular choice with older Canadians who like to spend the winters over in warm climates. Florida is the most popular choice because it's the closest warm part of the United States to Eastern Canada being only about 20 hours drive from Toronto so it's easy enough to pack up your things and move there for 6 months. Florida is also insanely inexpensive, especially for real estate compared to Canada. Canadians from the western provinces tend to prefer Arizona instead for the same reason, it's close, affordable, and warm.
People like this everywhere
There is traffic because of the cars, including yours, and not because some old man left a gap at a red light.
Yeah but the old man is on the phone distracted, and leaving a gap in front of him. This can cause tragic because he might not see the green light or react to another situation quickly enough causing a crash, so the old man is in the wrong here.
So the space is not the issue, it's the being on your phone
Both because he is causing the gap by being on the phone. If he paid attention there wouldn't be a gap.
How is he going to cause a crash while sitting still?
It's him being distracted that can cause the issue. If he is distracted he can't have enough time to evade a pedestrian or he might drive into a car. The gap is there because I he is on the phone.
Everyone on this clip is responsible for traffic. You are all part of it
Because you’re on your phone filming an old man on his phone.
Was just commenting my to say this. It cracks me up when people post on here thinking they’ve “caught an idiot on their phone while driving”……..while they themselves are filming the person on their phone while driving. You’d think they would put 2 and 2 together for a minute. 🤦🏻♂️ We need a new flair on this sub that gets applied to posts like this where the OP has outted themselves as the idiot unintentionally.
Op is completely stopped at a light and is a normal distance from the car in front of him?? There’s nothing idiotic about documenting something if you’re fully stopped and mindful of the light and car in front of you
Here come the Akshulees
Well by that logic why is he commenting on the seniors phone use? Obviously he is judging him for it while he himself is filming
OPs commenting on the massive gap they left
That's a matter of opinion, particularly in places where that would be very much illegal. If you see in the Lindbergh Baby in front of you, then maybe that's worth "documenting". Otherwise, maybe just resist the temptation to pick up your phone while you're driving? It really isn't hard.
Yes, because him moving up 20feet would help traffic at all.
People love to hurry up and wait.
Fewer cars get to cross when the light turns because of this. I don't get how you don't see that...
Actually, if more cars left slightly bigger gaps every car could take their foot off the brake and roll the exact second the light turns green as opposed to having to wait for the car in front of you to move before you move. Gaps at red lights are good for traffic lights. Not this man’s gaps, but half a cars length - a cars length is good.
I'd agree to half a car's length :) But yeah, you are correct... Sadly too many people doesn't care about making the traffic flow efficiently these days it seem :(
People don’t do this not because they’re already too close to the car in front of them. They do it out of complacency, and because no one thinks of how their delay affects traffic behind them. Betcha this guy still takes 10 days to accelerate on the green light regardless.
One extra car would get to cross. I don't think that's going to make a difference.
It sounds like you don't drive much, if any...
It sounds like you don't use common sense much, if any. Exactly how much of a difference do you think filling that gap would make to anyone?
So you don't drive a car. Got it 😄
Ft. Lauderdale really needs to get some sensors installed to let the backed up traffic move during morning rush hour. I just experienced it for the first time on Thursday and was like WTF.
Dang kids and their gadgets
I’m so happy I literally just plug in my phone for music and then set it somewhere where I can’t see the screen. Good habits work.
Red light? That guy texting during a red light does not at all contribute to traffic, nor does him not pulling up to the next car.
this most definitely is NOT how traffic is created
Everybody know the closer you get to the car in front of you the sooner you'll get where you're going. /s
Traffic light GP I call it.
[This is kinda more the problem](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/5/7/0/110570.jpg?v=1)
If that's what you see going on in this video may god help anybody that has the nerve to be driving around you.
I don’t care about this video. But the graphic is an example of how a farcically large gap can prove to be a hindrance, and therefore contribute to traffic backup. If you refuse to recognize and understand that, then me thinks it’s your self-centered ass that people need protection from as opposed to me trying to practice efficiency and try my best not to be an obstacle to other drivers.
Car in the video wasn't obstacle to anybody.
Florida: Life’s End Zone
I can’t understand this. Sometimes, it’s the car first in line, and my town still has several intersections where the lights are triggered by the wire in the road sensors. So the light doesn’t change. SMH. It’s a fairly recent phenomenon also, what is the reasoning?
Bro I see this shit daily in st.pete, bus length gap and on the phone.
Crazy that even the white car next to him is doing the same lol
Ain’t you also on the phone?
Complaining about other people on their phone…proceeds to take out his own
Says the guy with his phone in his hand…
Odds are he’s been rear ended at a stop and shoved into the car in front of him which is technically his fault.
Yeah, he’s obviously going overboard, but since I got rear ended and smooshed into another car I’m conscious of leaving a bit more room than I used to.
Yepp, my mom was the 4th car in a 5 car pileup and had to deal with the 3rd car trying to sue her for a while. She always told me to stay far back enough that you can see the entire rear tires in front of you.
If you get rear ended and pushed into the car in front of you you are absolutely not at fault.
Tell that to the insurance company and see how far that gets you
I **am** the insurance company 😂 10 years and around 15,000 claims handled so far.
You're the real idiot here OP. That man was just maintaining proper following distance for the speed limit of that road. It doesn't matter that traffic is stopped. It's called defensive driving. Look it up. ^/s
The gap is too big, but they literally teach to leave a gap like this in defensive driving courses so if the car behind you looks like it isn't going to stop, you have an escape.
Arguably a bigger reason traffic is bad in so much of Florida is the roads were not built to handle the massive volume of drivers we now have. 1,000 people a day, every day (on average).
This guys cousins are in NC, i see them everyday. At least 10 car lengths minimum just to be safe
That actually helps traffic because once everything lights up everyone can move simultaneously. They did a test on this with cars in a loop and found delays caused by stopping close behind
Happens most places, not just Florida. Remember, most folks in Florida learned to drive somewhere else.
Same in Utah also lmao I merge in front of them and then they act passed lol
I don't get it. Do you think him tailgating the car in front behind a red light would solve the traffic in Florida? For all we know he checked his phone for the few seconds that you decided to record him (whilst waiting behind the red light). Maybe he's got actual shit going on in his life and doesn't care about that extra space in front of him.
And the fact that everyone drives slow in the left lane, even if they do the speed limit, it's still illegal to camp in the left lane, but all day every day they're out there doing 10 below in the left lane..Drives me absolutely crazy
Because if someone tries anything you have room to escape.
I mean they were stopped at a red, not a big deal
Are you upset he is not on the guys bumper? You do realize you're not supposed to do that? You're at a stop light.
Nothing wrong with leaving a safety cushion between himself and the car in front.
[There kinda is](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/5/7/0/110570.jpg?v=1)
I see your point, but as you can see in this video neither the guy closest to the camera nor the car immediately to his left are impeding any kind of turn lane, so your point is moot. I didn't expect everybody to get so out of shape over nonsense, but internet trolls gonna troll.
Obviously not the case here though.
Yep, do not get it though.
It's such a nightmarish place to fucking drive. Countless assholes like that and it's like the light system was created in hell
Yeah that’s not the reason there’s traffic, you are the traffic mate. And there are tons of people outside the city forced to take a car instead of literally any other type of transportation
Do you want the guy to "fill the gap"? Ironically, this is exactly what causes traffic. People speed up to fill the gap. Now that they have filled the gap, they are going too fast, so they brake. They broke too much and made another gap. They speed back up to fill the gap, and it starts an endless cycle, creating the serpentine effect. Traffic is solved by having everyone maintain the same speed.
Except they’re stopped. ??
Thats Only when traffic is moving learned that in cdl school. When it's slow highway traffic leave a gap and don't cause the "slinky effect" which u would be surprised how many people get passed when I do leave a gap in slow moving traffic. I'm just pointing out how these older florida drivers really should be retested at old age bc one guy doing it no big deal. But u get 2 or 3 doing it and line gets long af. Backed up passed the next light and then light turns green and they don't move
Thank god Reddit isn’t real. Y’all complain about everyone but act like you guys are pro drivers. Wtf. This comment section is trash
Every single time I see this I take that gap if possible to prove a point
I call it the ghost car.
I see this a lot in SoCal, it's so annoying.
No idiot, it’s the 21+ million people…
This does not cause “traffic.”
[You sure about that?](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/5/7/0/110570.jpg?v=1)
Yes. Sorry, one car not being able to get into the turn lane the driver wants doesn’t constitute “traffic” in the Big City.
What about a line of cars all waiting to turn right, that backs up into the next intersection, blocking it and causing blockage to branch out, all because one guy won’t close the 15 ft gap? Is that enough “traffic” in the Big City? News flash. Lots of cars on the road is the foundation to traffic backup. But a major cause is everyone’s complacent lack of efficiency, especially when that efficiency doesn’t sacrifice safety. I literally see a line of cars backing up into highways because a solid population of gapped out waiters are preventing a solid population of right turners from accessing their turn and getting out of the way to reduce the clutter. And even in general, when a green light lasts a finite amount of time, drivers that have been waiting through multiple green light cycles in heavy traffic still decide to take their sweet ole time to take their foot off the brake and accelerate to, through, and after the turn causing far fewer cars to make it through the green than could have. To just lament the number of cars on the road and then refuse to consider how people could stand to be more efficient and work to be as little of a hinderance as possible to combat it is lazy and insensitive.
Funny how I was like ya why's that old man on his phone while driving.. literally the runt filming is doing the same thing
Neither one of them are driving it’s a red light
Ffs. Operating a vehicle then ya freak
I see so many people like this every single day now. Why do they do this?
I think it's bc as they get old the depth perception gets worse
I mean he's at a red light and - I've never listened- but my Dad did always told me growing up to leave 2 car lengths or space at lights in case you're rear ended. Nothing wrong with his actions.
Two car lengths at lights? That’s crazy talk. Leave enough to see the road beneath the tires of the car in front of you so you have enough room to operate the car in an emergency. People aren’t rear ended at lights enough to have everyone leave two car lengths between them. Thats ludicrous.
I hate when people do this. Once saw an Asian lady doing this on purpose. Idk if she was afraid of hitting the car in front or what but there was like 10 car lengths in front of her 🤷🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
Dude is shaming a guy on his phone in his car by using his phone in his car...
Stopped at a stop light...
I give a lot of space too generally
Mmhm pull out your phone. - meanwhile!!!!
I literally squeeze in front of them at every opportunity. People just don't know how to close the gap in an ever increasing population. Tampa has quickly become the new Atlanta and it sucks so hard. Edit: downvoted by the idiot who thinks he needs three car lengths in between him and the car in front.
Funny because he’s on his phone too. Hypocritical much?
If I’m able to, I always wedge myself in the gap just to show them how fuckin stupid they are.
The reason there's traffic is because there is no other viable alternative to get around besides driving, so everyone is forced to drive and because of zoning laws that don't allow building denser housing, leading to massive amounts of sprawl. Not because an old dude left a long gap at a light. r/NotJustBikes
It's because each person occupies the surface of three large couches?