Following too closely

[Bignate603]

If people just got over when they knew they had to get over 5 minutes ago and waited in line instead of waiting until the last minute thinking they will cut in front it wouldn't be a problem. But there are always those people who think they are more special than everyone else and will ride out the merge trying to cut ahead because they are too special to wait their place in line like everyone else who already got over into the CORRECT lane.

This guy talks about "cheaters" won't have to "cheat" if you let them in... I've had people fly passed the 1 open car space in front of me and ride the shoulder and nearly cause accidents just so they could squeeze their way ahead by 2 additional cars. He's full of shit.

I hate people like that. There's a couple places where the highway goes from 3 to 2 lanes on my commute in to work. There are always people there that ride the edge of the lane that's ending and slowly shift over without signaling or even looking. I've had people try to merge into the side of my car multiple times. They won't even try to find an opening, when their lane disappears they move over.

 

[ShawnD1]

that's why we have engine braking. Slow down with no tailights = catches all these idiots off guard

Can't do that in 'Merika or Canada because 99% of the cars on the road have automatic transmissions. The transmission works in 1 direction, mostly. If my engine rpm is 2000 while I'm touching the gas, it will drop all the way down to 1000 when I'm not touching the gas yet the car does not slow down at all.

I miss having a manual. Driving in light traffic was so much easier. Just keep 1 foot over the gas and engine brake instead of constantly jumping from gas to brake because there's no other way to slow the shitty car down.


btw good luck with that 2 second rule thing

 

[LTC8K6]

Can't do that in 'Merika or Canada because 99% of the cars on the road have automatic transmissions. The transmission works in 1 direction, mostly. If my engine rpm is 2000 while I'm touching the gas, it will drop all the way down to 1000 when I'm not touching the gas yet the car does not slow down at all.

I miss having a manual. Driving in light traffic was so much easier. Just keep 1 foot over the gas and engine brake instead of constantly jumping from gas to brake because there's no other way to slow the shitty car down.


btw good luck with that 2 second rule thing

Can you not grasp the idea that the 2 second rule changes the distance with the speed? 2 seconds at 3mph creep is like 8 feet...about what you see in the photo...

 

[KDKPSJ]

Looks like an usual suspect is not understanding the concept of 2-second rule AT ALL (any surprise?)

2 second rule = You pass the point where the front car passed 2 second or more later

If there is traffic and everyone is driving slow, you don't even need 2 second rule. You automatically follow 5 or more second rule, anyway.

For our usual suspect in elementary school, you see a truck right under Rt 41 sign? Assume you are a white car behind the truck. If you reach the sign 2+ seconds later, you are already following 2 second rule.

 

[ShawnD1]

Can you not grasp the idea that the 2 second rule changes the distance with the speed? 2 seconds at 3mph creep is like 8 feet...about what you see in the photo...

God damn you must live in a ridiculously traffic dense town if it jams that bad. 'Round these parts, the drive on the freeway has cars spaced about 2 car lengths apart and the flow of traffic is about 50-55mph. The very busy 2 lane (each direction) highway between my city and the nearest major city has that same 2-3 car length spacing even when there's no real traffic, but everyone goes a minimum of 70mph.
On single lane highways behind a slow moving RV going maybe 60mph will create a huge line of cars that are bumper to bumper going 60mph.


I urinate on your 3 second rule. If there's a 60 second green light, a maximum of 20 cars can pass through each lane??? It would take a billion hours to drive to work. What time do you guys wake up and what time do you get home? Even when taking the bus to work it only takes about 45 minutes and my travel is about 11 miles into the downtown core of the city; I live on the outer rim of the city. We tailgate because it gets there faster. More cars going through each light = more better than.

 

[JCH13]

I don't think you understand the 2 second rule.

Further proof that there should be an intelligence test before you can get a license.

...or reproduce...

Can't do that in 'Merika or Canada because 99% of the cars on the road have automatic transmissions. The transmission works in 1 direction, mostly. If my engine rpm is 2000 while I'm touching the gas, it will drop all the way down to 1000 when I'm not touching the gas yet the car does not slow down at all.

I miss having a manual. Driving in light traffic was so much easier. Just keep 1 foot over the gas and engine brake instead of constantly jumping from gas to brake because there's no other way to slow the shitty car down.

Uh, try dropping into drive instead of overdrive. You can shift an automatic. I've done it plenty of times when going down mountain passes. It works like a charm.

 

[LTC8K6]

God damn you must live in a ridiculously traffic dense town if it jams that bad. 'Round these parts, the drive on the freeway has cars spaced about 2 car lengths apart and the flow of traffic is about 50-55mph. The very busy 2 lane (each direction) highway between my city and the nearest major city has that same 2-3 car length spacing even when there's no real traffic, but everyone goes a minimum of 70mph.
On single lane highways behind a slow moving RV going maybe 60mph will create a huge line of cars that are bumper to bumper going 60mph.


I urinate on your 3 second rule. If there's a 60 second green light, a maximum of 20 cars can pass through each lane??? It would take a billion hours to drive to work. What time do you guys wake up and what time do you get home? Even when taking the bus to work it only takes about 45 minutes and my travel is about 11 miles into the downtown core of the city; I live on the outer rim of the city. We tailgate because it gets there faster. More cars going through each light = more better than.

I realize you have difficulty comprehending, and that you are attempting to pull our collective chains, but I already mentioned that I follow the rule unless traffic makes it impossible to do so.

 

[ShawnD1]

Fair enough. I can accept that

The only rule people seem to follow religiously is the rule that you don't drive right next to someone (unless it's really dense traffic). People right next to you have a nasty habit of being invisible until you are about to change lanes and you realize there's a person right fucking there and there's no other car in any other direction!

 

[jtvang125]

I hate people like that. There's a couple places where the highway goes from 3 to 2 lanes on my commute in to work. There are always people there that ride the edge of the lane that's ending and slowly shift over without signaling or even looking. I've had people try to merge into the side of my car multiple times. They won't even try to find an opening, when their lane disappears they move over.

These past few days on my way home from work I've noticed traffic enforcement has been cracking down on late merging. This is at a ~3/4 mile long exit lane that a-hole drivers will get on, ride til the end and jump back in. There's a sign about 200 ft before the exit that says Right Lane Must Exit and line turns solid white. Since the freeway curves to the left you won't see the motorcycle cop stopped on the shoulder watching out for cars jumping back in.

I guess they can't technically go after late merging directly because I don't think such a law exist so they are using the "Not obeying traffic sigh" as the reason for the ticket. I applaud their effort but there are just so many people doing it that it won't make a difference.

 

[kornphlake]

I urinate on your 3 second rule. If there's a 60 second green light, a maximum of 20 cars can pass through each lane??? It would take a billion hours to drive to work. What time do you guys wake up and what time do you get home? Even when taking the bus to work it only takes about 45 minutes and my travel is about 11 miles into the downtown core of the city; I live on the outer rim of the city. We tailgate because it gets there faster. More cars going through each light = more better than.

Your math makes sense, but you're trying to sensationalize the conclusion. 20 cars passing through a signal in 60 seconds isn't too bad, 20 cars is quite a bit of traffic. The 20th car is somewhere in the neighborhood of 400ft from the signal when the light turns green, at 35 mph you travel 51 ft/sec so it takes almost 8 seconds to reach the signal driving the speed limit, but you've got to accelerate from 0-35 mph which for an average driver will take several seconds, so figure it takes 12 seconds to reach the signal if a car is stopped 400ft from an intersection with no traffic in front of it and the driver accelerates at a reasonable speed up to the speed limit before crossing the intersection.

12 seconds for the car at the end of the line to make it through the intersection sounds like a really short amount of time to make it through a signal when you're behind 20 cars at a red light doesn't it? Think about it, the first car in line will have a reaction time of a half second or so after the light turns green, maybe another half second to check the crosswalks and other traffic conditions before pulling into the intersection, the second car has another half second reaction time plus another second to cover the distance between where he was stopped and the intersection, the third driver has already been waiting 2 seconds since the signal turned green before the traffic in front of him has cleared so he can start moving toward the intersection and won't cross into the intersection until 4 seconds have passed since the light turned green the 4th car will be a few seconds behind the car ahead of him... by the time the 19th car has started rolling forward several seconds have passed and the 20th car still has 12 seconds of driving to reach the intersection. Next time you are behind 19 people at a signal check your watch to see how long it takes to get through the signal, I'm guessing even the way you drive it will take close to, if not more than, 60 seconds.

 

[DivideBYZero]

An even better way to look at it is this; If you follow at a 1 second gap, you get to your destination 1 second sooner than the 2 second gapper.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

http://theoatmeal.com/panel/minor_differences?f0=motorists-jpg&f1=pedestrians-jpg

haha, nice! I like it.

 

[ShawnD1]

The 20th car is somewhere in the neighborhood of 400ft from the signal when the light turns green, at 35 mph you travel 51 ft/sec so it takes almost 8 seconds to reach the signal driving the speed limit, but you've got to accelerate from 0-35 mph which for an average driver will take several seconds, so figure it takes 12 seconds to reach the signal if a car is stopped 400ft from an intersection with no traffic in front of it and the driver accelerates at a reasonable speed up to the speed limit before crossing the intersection.

This is all true enough, but I bolded your conclusion. With reasonable uniform acceleration and tailgating, it takes 12 seconds + tax to get 20 cars through an intersection from a dead stop. With the 3 second follow rule, it takes a full minute. Efficiency is reduced to less than 1/3. In regular traffic where it's normal to have 20 cars in each lane waiting for a light to change, the follow distance is probably a lot closer to 1 second, which is less safe, but it doesn't seem to be a major cause of accidents. A lot more accidents are caused by cutting people off, running red lights, and left turns.

Think about it, the first car in line will have a reaction time of a half second or so after the light turns green, maybe another half second to check the crosswalks and other traffic conditions before pulling into the intersection,

We don't do that here. The ticket for walking across the street at the wrong time is something nuts like $250 (and you might die), so reasonable people don't cross against red lights. The ones who do cross get mowed down. This city actually has been labeled as having the worst drivers in the country because of idiots trying to trip cars.

the second car has another half second reaction time plus another second to cover the distance between where he was stopped and the intersection,

Not exactly. Car 2 would follow the same half second reaction time as car 1 because he's looking at the light as well. He sees it change color before he can start moving. What car 2 does is exactly the same as car 1, but with a delay of X seconds. If car 1 took 5 seconds to cross the intersection from a dead stop, car 2 would take 5 seconds + follow distance. Follow distance would be the 2 or 3 second rule.

 

[MotF Bane]

An even better way to look at it is this; If you follow at a 1 second gap, you get to your destination 1 second sooner than the 2 second gapper.

Nope, because someone cuts into that two second gap, you drop back to reset the two, someone else cuts in.... repeat.

 

[kornphlake]

This is all true enough, but I bolded your conclusion. With reasonable uniform acceleration and tailgating, it takes 12 seconds + tax to get 20 cars through an intersection from a dead stop. With the 3 second follow rule, it takes a full minute. Efficiency is reduced to less than 1/3. In regular traffic where it's normal to have 20 cars in each lane waiting for a light to change, the follow distance is probably a lot closer to 1 second, which is less safe, but it doesn't seem to be a major cause of accidents. A lot more accidents are caused by cutting people off, running red lights, and left turns.



We don't do that here. The ticket for walking across the street at the wrong time is something nuts like $250 (and you might die), so reasonable people don't cross against red lights. The ones who do cross get mowed down. This city actually has been labeled as having the worst drivers in the country because of idiots trying to trip cars.

bad drivers make traffic flow better? What city do you live in, I really don't want to visit...

Not exactly. Car 2 would follow the same half second reaction time as car 1 because he's looking at the light as well. He sees it change color before he can start moving. What car 2 does is exactly the same as car 1, but with a delay of X seconds. If car 1 took 5 seconds to cross the intersection from a dead stop, car 2 would take 5 seconds + follow distance. Follow distance would be the 2 or 3 second rule.

Roads in your city must look more like train tracks than the roads in my city, I got owned

 

[ShawnD1]

Nope, because someone cuts into that two second gap, you drop back to reset the two, someone else cuts in.... repeat.

solution: buy a beater truck and let them hit the side of it

 

[MotF Bane]

solution: buy a beater truck and let them hit the side of it

So you're back under the two second rule.

 

[ShawnD1]

So you're back under the two second rule.

yup.

I mean when someone is going to cut you off, just don't let them. If they keep going, they hit your truck.

cost to not repair your beater truck = $0
cost to repaint BMW after it hits the beater truck = fuuuuuuuuuuuu

 

[hanoverphist]

Can you not grasp the idea that the 2 second rule changes the distance with the speed? 2 seconds at 3mph creep is like 8 feet...about what you see in the photo...

youll seethat spacing at 55-65 here in az lol

i love dropping down to 3rd gear in my truck when some douchenoodle in a douchemobile decides he wants to make me move. i rarely do this tho, i have mastered my traffic anger over the years.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Nope, because someone cuts into that two second gap, you drop back to reset the two, someone else cuts in.... repeat.

LOL, get out. I've driven a fair bit in the US and it's all you can do to get most people moving at all, if they are not too busy eating or feeding pets at the wheel (real situation...!) over there, let alone cutting people up all the time. Much more cut throat in the UK, and you can still drive safely here without people cutting you off all the time. You've just chosen a contrary position and feel you need to stick to lest you lose face. That's pretty much the same attitude you have on the road. So worried that the guy who gets in front of you is 'winning' that you eliminate safe driving techniques.

So you win, yay, but what did you win?

 

[kornphlake]

You've just chosen a contrary position and feel you need to stick to lest you lose face. That's pretty much the same attitude you have on the road. So worried that the guy who gets in front of you is 'winning' that you eliminate safe driving techniques.

/thread

 

[KentState]

Had a pair of high school girls riding my ass on the way to work last week. I was going about 35 in a 30mph zone and could not see the hood of their car. Slowed down to 30 and the still didn't get the hint so I tapped the brakes. All I got from that point was two girls flipping me off and tailgating me the rest of the way. I often wonder how new drivers learn to drive in such a manor. I know I was taught the 2-3 second rule and follow it to law and probably avoided rear ending people in a lot of panic stop situations.

 

[TridenT]

Had a pair of high school girls riding my ass on the way to work last week. I was going about 35 in a 30mph zone and could not see the hood of their car. Slowed down to 30 and the still didn't get the hint so I tapped the brakes. All I got from that point was two girls flipping me off and tailgating me the rest of the way. I often wonder how new drivers learn to drive in such a manor. I know I was taught the 2-3 second rule and follow it to law and probably avoided rear ending people in a lot of panic stop situations.

Parents.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Volvo City Safety FTW!!!

 

[ShawnD1]

Had a pair of high school girls riding my ass on the way to work last week. I was going about 35 in a 30mph zone and could not see the hood of their car. Slowed down to 30 and the still didn't get the hint so I tapped the brakes. All I got from that point was two girls flipping me off and tailgating me the rest of the way. I often wonder how new drivers learn to drive in such a manor. I know I was taught the 2-3 second rule and follow it to law and probably avoided rear ending people in a lot of panic stop situations.

If you're having a really really bad day you could always do the ol stop short slam on the brakes when the light turns red and let them rear end your beater truck which may or may not cut their heads off.

I don't really do anything if someone is tailgating me. People who hardcore tailgate you are the same people who won't fuck off if you tap the brakes.

Similarly, I hardcore tailgate old people who go half the speed limit. DRIVE THE SPEED POSTED ON THE SIGN YOU GOD DAMN RETARD. So they slow down more. Still tailgating. A couple weeks ago me and the old people in front were going about 20mph in a 50mph zone. They would actually slow down that much just to annoy me. I wasn't in a hurry so I just stuck with it.