Stopping short at traffic lights

[Pugwash]

Fair enough. I’m not telling anyone how they should be driving. Just trying to understand the mindset of why >car-length gaps have seemingly now become necessary (and not in the past).

It is probably someone just not thinking, best to assume everyone on the road is a distracted idiot and you won't be far wrong !. I had someone pull out in front of me at at T Junction last week, I had to do a full emergency stop with most of the contents of the car flying forward at high speed. I have no idea how or why they failed to see my car.

 

[bramling]

Fair enough. I’m not telling anyone how they should be driving. Just trying to understand the mindset of why >car-length gaps have seemingly now become necessary (and not in the past).

Must admit I tend to leave a car’s length in most situations, for the reason that if a rear-end collision happens in this situation this is less likely to then involve the vehicle in front. If that inconveniences others behind then it’s essentially tough luck. Having said that, I will leave less of a gap if it’s dense traffic in a heavily built-up area, if I’m in a good mood and no one has pissed me off that journey/day.

In any case gaps aren’t really such a bad thing as they allow flexibility if something unforeseen happens for example a breakdown. Especially somewhere like London where many people drive like pigs so some extra breathing space is often very useful.

 

[gswindale]

I seem to recall being taught to stop far enough behind the car in front that I could see the bottom of their wheels touching the ground. Seems to work reasonably well. What tends to annoy me (especially in Winter) is the number of people who sit at the traffic lights with their foot permanently on the brake pedal. Maybe it is my eyesight, but I don't particularly like being blinded by bright red lights.

 

[The exile]

Don't forget being just over the white line is technically jumping the lights and you can be done for it (does being on the line also count?), i understand why people play it safe if they arn't sure.

Especially since under many light / road conditions it is very difficult to see the white line

 

[birchesgreen]

Especially since under many light / road conditions it is very difficult to see the white line

Plus a lot of road marking are faded and not renewed frequently enough.

 

[Ediswan]

Plus a lot of road marking are faded and not renewed frequently enough.

Some of the painted-on mini-roundabouts near me are currently completely missing. Drivers seem to be coping.

 

[D365]

Must admit I tend to leave a car’s length in most situations, for the reason that if a rear-end collision happens in this situation this is less likely to then involve the vehicle in front. If that inconveniences others behind then it’s essentially tough luck. Having said that, I will leave less of a gap if it’s dense traffic in a heavily built-up area, if I’m in a good mood and no one has pissed me off that journey/day.

You make some good points. I’ve been lucky enough to not have been in a rear-end, so that certainly didn’t occur to me.

 

[Ken X]

I seem to recall being taught to stop far enough behind the car in front that I could see the bottom of their wheels touching the ground. Seems to work reasonably well. What tends to annoy me (especially in Winter) is the number of people who sit at the traffic lights with their foot permanently on the brake pedal. Maybe it is my eyesight, but I don't particularly like being blinded by bright red lights.

The subject of illuminated brake lights when stationary was raised recently in our household. The current chariot has an electric handbrake. Switch on to apply and switch off, or drive away to release.
All good, however, it also has a queue inching button which, when pressed, applies the handbrake automatically if the foot brake is firmly pressed and the car stops. Again it can be switched off or driven through to release, so in a queue you can brake and pull away to put handbrake on and off. Great, thinks I, until I notice, when playing with the system, that the brake lights are always on when stationary in this mode. I now never use this function as it always seems poor form to have the brake lights on unnecessarily.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

I seem to recall being taught to stop far enough behind the car in front that I could see the bottom of their wheels touching the ground

Ditto. A sound rule of thumb I use when pulling up behind a stationary vehicle. But also something I take note of in the rear view mirror. Amazing how many tail-gaiters get so close (on the move) that their front road wheels have vanished below the level of my rear screen. Taking the foot of the gas and leaving it to coast/naturally slow often gets the message across, but not always.

 

[PG]

Mark 4 Zephyrs and Zodiacs had very long bonnets but short V4 or V6 engines, which meant lots of unused space up front. I believe they did have their spare wheels mounted in front of the engine.

I've a vague recollection of the late 70's Renault 5 I owned having the spare wheel plonked on top of the engine...

 

[david1212]

I pull up to the line, or where I think it should be, unless marked so bikes go to the front line but cars should stop at the line further back.

One junction near to work is awkward as there are a couple of shops on the corner with an entry to the few parking spaces.
Should anyone stop two car lengths back the sensor then do not think a car is waiting. A small car then a big gap can also be not detected.

OTish but at a junction near home to trigger the right turn filter requires once the lights turn green moving a car length forward. If the front car does not nor go as the oncoming traffic stops even if the light to them is amber for that cycle no vehicle makes the right turn and the traffic just backs up. The right turn lane is as long as it can be but is only the length of 4 average cars.

 

[Sultan]

Whilst you should always be considerate to other users of where you position your car (at traffic lights), on occasion it can look poor tp someone arriving a few seconds later, and things have changed since you deployed the stop / start. Depending on your vehicle (older Fords, for example), they don't always switch off again after being restarted for the sake of moving a few feet and in this age of fuel cost / emissions, it all adds up (especially true on a stationery motorway).

 

[Dr_Paul]

My driving lessons were in a Ford Zephyr 6 where the bonnet alone seemed longer that the rest of the car! Had to learn how to judge distances very quickly!! Not sure, but I think the engine also included the spare wheel in there - anyone??

I'm pretty sure that they had the spare wheel in the front, in front of the engine. I remember a review of the Mark IV Zephyr at the time of their appearance, saying that it was like driving a bus from the conductor's platform. The Mark IV Zephyrs and Zodiacs are very rare these days; I've seen more Mark IIs and IIIs around than the later version.

 

[Gloster]

I always stop as close to the white line as I can that still allows me a comfortable view of the lights when sitting normally. When I stop behind another car I stop a good 6’ behind in case the driver of a car behind me accidently lets the clutch out with a jerk just as I am releasing the handbrake: I have that half-second to brake if he hits me up the rear end.

 

[IanXC]

Yes I can think of a junction like this. The lights normally change quite quickly when someone want to turn right. One day I was very surprised to see a queue of about 20 vehicles. After a few seconds I got bored and moved into the next lane and up to the front of the queue. The leading car had stopped about five metres short, so they would never change. I pointed this out to the driver and then nipped in front of him and the lights changed straightaway.

I'm currently particularly amused by a junction where there is a cycles box at the head of the queue, with two lanes of car traffic behind. The lights have a separate sensor and cycle green light for each lane too. I'm usually turning right, which you'd expect to be the most restrictive phase of the lights.

Its amazing how many people are in such a hurry and feel so important that they pull up beyond the white line, so triggering the cycle phase and delaying themselves . I even once had some crazed driver shouting about why the #@&? I'd got a green and he hadn't(!)

 

[plymothian]

Last night I was stuck at a junction for 5 minutes because both cars at the front hadn't pulled up to the white line leaving a whole car length, so the induction loops didn't call for that direction. Lo and behold, as soon as one of the cars got bored and edged forward to go through on red, we got a green.

Conversely, coming out of my estate nearly daily the first car is over the line.

 

[172007]

A number of new traffic light schemes in Birmingham only have traffic lights sighted either side of the carriageway at the stop line and no repeater light out front. Most cars now stop a good car leng if not 2 car lengths from the stop line as you can't see the lights any further forward. Cars that do stop at the stop line are often swamped / passed by cars stating either side when the lights change.