I leave 2-3 seconds following distance minimum on interstate highways.
“Only a fool breaks the 2 second rule.”
I was taught to repeat that phrase, at a normal steady pace, when I saw the back of their car go past something, to use as a marker (a signpost, the end of one of the lines on the road, whatever).
If you finish the phrase after the front of your car has gone past the same marker, then you don’t have a big enough braking distance and need to ease off a bit.
I think my biggest pet peeve about driving is when you come to a stop and the car behind you tries to shove their nose up your ass. Like bruh you don’t need to ever be that close
Id get that close if I want to give the phone enjoyer behind me plenty of time to stop
My car’s “smart cruise control” leaves what seems to be around a car length for every 10 mph, which is what I remember hearing in driving school. Feels a bit excessive in practice, but I also never feel like I’m being an asshole so I’m okay with it.
I was rear ended, HARD once. That distance gave me the space to control both my vehicle, and the one that hit me. It turned a potential multi car, multi lane pileup into a 2 vehicle wreck, either 1 more dinged car.
The space isn’t for the 99.999% of the time, but that 0.001% OH FUCK time.
The simplified distance rule we learn in europe is: half your speed (km/h) in meters or as an equation, v/2000. E.g. you drive 120km/h, keep 60m distance.
I’ve always preferred the 2 second rule. You don’t need to do distance math in your head, just find a tree and count the time it takes to get from their car to yours.
In France the way we learned is (for the highway at least)
- 110km/h: 5 small markings between you and the other car
- 130km/h: 2 large markings
In the US, usually it’s one car length per 10mph.
Probably not much more intuitive than yours, but less math required on the fly.
Tbh the math required is pretty similar, I just divide the speed by 2 and am done.
That’s very reasonable if you’re accustomed to operating in metric … Which we all should be, but here we are.
We all should be?
Ah, that could be interpreted at least two different ways. I have a suspicion of how this conversation will go, but I’m interested to find out.
It’s my opinion that the metric system is superior to the imperial, so we should all be primarily exposed to the superior system. Some may disagree and I won’t claim that I’m objectively correct. No worries if you disagree - regardless of my opinion, the imperial system is what I’ve been exposed to and what I use.
Alternatively, the statement might be interpreted as “you should be familiar with the metric system even if you reside in a country where it’s not the primary system.” That’s probably less true - while it might behoove one to be familiar with the metric system, I don’t blame the individual for the limitations placed on them by the government, regardless of what’s better.
If you have a third interpretation, it’s probably not what I meant, but I would be interested in hearing it.
Do European cars come with distance measuring equipment??
Many places have roads markers every 100m. Or you can count the seconds from any fixed point and figure it out.
No but humans typically do
Humans aren’t actually that good at visually measuring distances.
Only in cyberpunk literature.
I may not be good at giving it a number, but I can usually see how far apart two things are.
I just leave enough room to come to a stop in the gap between us.
That’s the underlying reason to keep distance ofc. The rule of thumb gives you an easy to calculate solution to how far that approximately is.
I don’t need math for this. Once you have a feel for your car you can just visually gauge it in an instant.
When I leave two car lengths, four cars will go into it, and at least one of their drivers will throw a half empty beer can at me.
If what you’re doing makes idiots angry, feel good about yourself and keep doing it.
I’d be fuckin raging if someone was driving two car lengths behind me. That’s fucking idiotic
Yeah, when you’re going 90km/h, it’s fucking idiotic. It’s way too fucking close, you’re going to kill someone. Random brake check incoming!
Why? Do you want them to tailgate you instead?
That is tailgating!!! 😂
More space means less braking, reducing bunching up. Check this article on traffic waves out
nothing gets me more pissed off than when I’m driving the speed limit on an open road with an open passing zone, no one coming towards me or ahead of me, and some dipshit decides to ride my ass
Then you need to lift off the accellerator, don’t brake check or anything, just slowly slow down.
If the car behind you won’t give you enough safety margin to maintain a high speed, then your only option to maintain safety is to reduce your speed so that the safety margin they give you is enough to stop in time for an accident.
Here in Sweden we have plenty of roundabouts, I will use those to also get rid of annoying drivers who just can’t manage their distance, if I have someone like that behind me when I get to a roundabout, I just drive a full lap of the roundabout and let them pass.
I will allways let these guys past when I can, they are in a rush to their own accident, and I am not, let them pass and and make them stop being my problem, if I can’t find a place to let them pass I will reduce my speed to compensate for their lack of safety margins
I already subconsciously do this because I know it pisses them off, but I like your justification much better
It isn’t even a justification, it is simple defensive driving, as I was taught in driving school, and reenforced by my dad many times.
Try putting on your right blinker, sometimes they get the message you’re encouraging them to pass.
If that doesn’t work, there’s always the Chechen wave
I salute you good sir! That’s plenty of space to squeeze past if necessary 😁 Just maintain a constant speed and you’re a hero
If you’re only two lengths away from the car in front of you while driving at highway speeds, you are tailgating. Back off. It’s far more dangerous than speeding.
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At 65mph, you cover two car lengths (~30 ft) in about 1/3 of a second.
Typically human reaction time for braking is about 1.5 seconds.
If something went seriously wrong in front of you (like a sideways car, or a hidden obstacle in front of the car in front of you) you would have covered 10 car lengths before your foot touches the brake pedal.
Help me out with this, because it’s driving me crazy. Whenever I leave anywhere close to 2 seconds between me and the car on front of me, someone cuts in, and I’m now too close to them, so I slow down, leaving a 2 second gap, and another cuts in. Rinse, repeat. I end up being the slow ass that everyone keeps zooming around unless I tailgate.
Just… Don’t care? Let people in and adjust the distance with them. Driving is an involved process, get a car with adaptive cruise control if you want one that will do exactly that for you.
Let them hop in and keep your 2 seconds. I used to have a 40 minute commute and on a busy morning would have 10-15 people do that. Know how much time that sets me back? 20 to 30 seconds. Following this rule I have a 25 year clean driving record and I guarantee these lane hoppers can’t make that claim
it’s probably even less, maybe even negligible because of traffic lights at either end: you can’t calculate a single journey because you’re never going to hit the same light exactly the same every time. I have four lights between my house and the freeway, and 7 between the freeway and one of the sites for my job. Each one adds between 0-60 seconds randomly for an average of 6 minutes sitting and waiting per day. I would have to have a commute of like 120 miles of uninterrupted freeway driving for that to matter.
It just be that way. Idiots will see your safe following distance as their opportunity to switch lanes. Just keep being the safe one.
Truckers call it the Idiot Space.
Because idiots think it’s for them.
Just be safe. You’re still close to your desires speed
The gap you leave should be speed-dependent and about 2 seconds to allow for reaction time. Yes, this caps the highway’s capacity to 0.5 cars per second per lane but roads are inherently inefficient.
3 seconds is the guideline I’ve been taught here in Sweden, but yeah. Riding too close is crazy dangerous and I don’t understand why people keep doing it.
2 isn’t much, over here they recommend 3 at highway speeds
I was taught to look when the car in front drives past a landmark like a lamppost, then say to myself “Only a fool breaks the two second rule”
If you pass the lamppost before you finish saying it, you’re too close
This is the only good answer. No need to distract yourself by figuring out your speed and guesstimating your gap like others are saying. Just count the seconds whenever you need to
Aye, and 2 seconds is the bare minimum. A company I have worked for wanted 4 seconds between you and the car in front. That always felt a little much, but it definitely helped prevent wrecks.
In my state, it’s one car length(15-20 feet) for every 10mph. Good luck getting anyone to actually follow it though! Getting on a major highway here is like the Autobahn.
Two car lengths? You absolute madman! That’s positively grotesque!
For the purposes of this comment, I’m assuming that cars are about fifty feet long.
Limo driver moment
At 60mph with a 2 second following distance, you’d need about 176 feet, so you’d want 3 car lengths with 50 foot cars.
What I don’t get is the current trend of leaving 1-2 car lengths at traffic lights. At first I thought it was maybe all the new cars with their assisted driving features. But I’ve seen older cars do it too.
You don’t need to leave a crazy amount of space when stopped at a traffic light, but you still should be leaving some. So if someone rear ends you, it minimizes the risk of your car then smashing into the person in front of you, so it reduces the risk of additional people being involved in an accident.
Cars are getting bigger, but people aren’t getting taller (as fast). Little granny can barely see her hood over the steering wheel so she needs to leave 2.75 miles of space between her and the car in front.
Little granny needs to jack up her seat to its maximal height. And maybe get a booster seat if necessary. Either that or a periscope.
You should be able to see the tires (generally) of the car ahead of you. That means you can easily / quickly turn out if the car ahead is stalled or something.
It also means you might not rear end the car ahead of you if someone hits you
It’s in case some jackass on their phone rear ends you, if you’re too close you’ll get pushed into the car in front of you. IIRC you can be liable for the damages to the car in front of you while stopped if a multiple car accident happens.
I leave one, maybe one and a half when stopped. I like having ample room to GTFO if I need to.
Should be about one car length for every 10mph. On a highway unless you’re going slow that would be too close.
