this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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Cars - For Car Enthusiasts
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I don't understand your perspective. Please elaborate, what did they do that made them an asshole?
It's inconsiderate to take up space in a queue by not moving forward. People behind you would stop sooner, and if taking up extra space is exacerbated across more people, people who arrive at the end of the line continuously must stop sooner. Unless people are moving forward, this unnecessarily slows and lengthens the queue.
Granted, for cars, a car space or so between bumpers shouldn't be that bad. It accounts for the chance an idiot at the back doesn't brake in time and tries to start car-dominoes. I was taught to match the top of my hood with the bottom of the car's wheels in front.
Sometimes, by failing to pull up to the stop bar, they don't trigger the loop detector and the traffic light skips us.
Another reason is that they could be blocking somebody from pulling into a turn bay, completing their turn, and continuing on their way.
That makes sense, I had assumed the car would be 2nd in line or greater, and I suppose I'm also envisioning American roads, which in my area have plentiful space. In cities I can understand your PoV, or in an area where multiple lights chain together. Nonetheless, this is all very unscientific, and I feel the folks arguing aren't being specific enough. Thanks for your input.
But why do you need to be close? I find I can accelerate more smoothly when traffic is starting if I have a nice bit of room. I can start moving at the same time as the car in front (most of the time). Nobody's going to get anywhere faster if I were a few feet further ahead when stopped. Only caveat to that is someone trying to squeeze around for a right turn. Then I try to accommodate as much as possible.
The major determining factor in the time it takes you to get through the light is the number of cars ahead of you, not the amount of room you have for a run-up. What you're talking about might save you a quarter second at the end of the day, but it more likely to not save any time at all and it unnecessarily contributes to traffic by reducing the effective carrying capacity of the road. There are also situations where hanging back can block a turn onto a minor road or into a parking lot and moving forward may let a person behind you turn off the road thus alleviating traffic. Ultimately, there is nothing you can do to make the person in front of you go faster, so just pull up as far as you safely can to make room for other people to join the queue or get around you.
You’re supposed to be far back enough to see the bottom of the tires of the vehicle in front of you, but I wouldn’t be so much further back than that
Also just slooooooowly crawl up. I have a start-stop engine, I want to full stop as soon as I can.