<p>When you stop for the light do you stop with yards in front of you?</p>
<p>I think that is something that you start to do with more experience.
When I was rearended by a delivery van, that didn’t even see the red light, I was very glad that it wasn’t compounded by being pushed into the truck in front of me.</p>
<p>I always stop back far enough to see the wheels of the car in front of me. I have the backseat driving habit of telling other drivers to do it too - it only makes sense. I don’t do it with insurance in mind but with the front end of my car in mind. If someone is going really fast, it probably wouldn’t matter. </p>
<p>It annoys me when people stop too close to me at a light or stop sign. If they get hit and pushed into me, I think they should bear part of the responsibility.</p>
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I guess this seems sensible, but I also observe that if a lot of people leave a lot of space when they stop, it wreaks havoc on the traffic, at least in the congested area where I live. If people don’t pull up, then often a bunch of others are blocked from changing lanes, etc. How much space does it take to see the wheels? Half a car length? If so, that’s a lot of space.</p>
<p>Half a car length sounds about right. However, most people stop a few feet behind anyway so the entire distance is not added to the line. The other reason it is a good idea is in case the car in front of you stalls, you may have enough room to pull around.</p>
<p>Or we could demand people drive sensibly. In my case, the offender’s insurance called their driver had no business to be on the road.</p>
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I always stop far enough back that I can get out of the lane if necessary without having to back up and without the car in front of me needing to move. This actually saved me one time when I was stopped several cars back at a red light and happened to notice in my rear view miror that a car was barreling down my lane behind me and was not planning to stop despite the red light and the stopped cars. I managed to put the car in gear (stick), cut the wheel to the left, and move out of the lane into an adjacent shoulder. It may have been the movement of my car that caught the driver’s eye but he suddenly slammed his brakes on and skidded halfway through the space my car was a moment before. I’d have been crushed by him if I didn’t see him and have the space to move.</p>
<p>Staying back a bit allows me to switch to the other lane in the event the car in front of me stalls and can’t go for some reason. I don’t want to be stuck behind them.</p>
<p>I also stop back a bit out of habit in the event there’s a hill and a standard trans car in front of me who rolls back a bit - or a truck that rolls back a bit. </p>
<p>Staying back a bit also gives some room in the event of a mild rear ender.</p>
<p>I really don’t understand why some people pull way up very close to the car in front of them at a light. It makes no sense and they deprive themselves of the benefits I mentioned above. </p>
<p>However, as long as you were stopped and hit by someone else from the rear it’s not your fault if your car hits the one in front of you - it’s the fault of the person who started the rear ender. Regardless of whether you stop a foot, a yard, or several yards behind the car in front of you it’s just a matter of degree as to whether a car hitting you from behind will push your car into the one in front of you - a 10mph hit might push you a foot or two but a 40mph hit will push you much further.</p>
<p>Lucky you and good for you! Everything came together to save you at that time, enough space in front, seeing the other car in time, no one on the left lane you moved to. In my first rear incident, the guy was driving so fast we had a chain reaction of 4 cars. Leaving enough space would have saved the first one or two cars but the last car was doomed. In the second incident I was actually side-swiped. The traffic was jammed. No one could move in the direction I was traveling. We were just sitting there watching someone coming down fast hitting cars on the way, bounce bounce bounce boom. It was a good lesson for my kid in the passenger seat. If I lose money on this, I plan to regard it as driving lesson fee for the kid.</p>
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<p>What does that mean? I hope it doesn’t mean he wasn’t licensed or didn’t have permission to use the car. Coverage can be denied completely in certain cases.</p>
<p>Nothing illegal. Just highly reckless driving that angered the policeman on the scene and apparently the insurer as well.</p>