From: tam@eel.ocgy.ubc.ca (Joe Tam)
Subject: Re: Tailgaters abound!
Reply-To: tam@ocgy.ubc.ca
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 21:13:46 GMT

geoffm@purplehaze.Corp.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) writes:

>	Why would anybody _want_ to leave more than a few feet of
>	space between you and the car in front of you?

I guess as a driver who leaves "an enormous amount of space" in front of me
at all times, I feel obligated to address some of the points that Geoff has
brought up.  At first I left the proscribed amount of space between me and
the vehicle ahead of me because I was brainwashed by the driving school that
taught me (Young Drivers of Canada - very paranoid school).  After a couple
of years of driving though, I was able to see the wisdom of leaving that bit
of breathing room in front of me.

First and foremost, of course, is the safetly aspect.  Not only does it leave
me with ample time to react to situations that develop ahead of me, it also
allows me to see what's going on.  If you're nose to tail behind a car, it
makes it much more difficult to see what's going on.  I also found out that it
makes practical sense for the aggressive driver because it gives you room to
change lanes.  I passed many cars that couldn't change lanes because they were
following too close to the vehicle ahead of them, then the lead vehicle
suddenly brakes and signals for a left turn on a busy street.  The car behind
has to slow down and can't change lanes because, ironically, the cars in the
other lanes are packed too close together.  In short, leaving space ahead of
me (as well as besides me) gives me options - it allows time to prepare and
space to move).

>	I don't know why, but there's an epidemic in my area (the
>	San Francisco Peninsula and South Bay) of people leaving
>	enormous amounts of space between their car and the car
>	ahead of them, or between their car and the crosswalk,
>	while stopped at red lights -- almost a full carlength in
>	many cases.  Not only is that a waste of space, which is
>	annoying in principle and inefficient during times of heavy
>	traffic, but it often results in needless blockage of
>	adjacent left- and right-turn lanes.  It can also have a
>	cumulative effect within a given lane, sometimes making it
>	hard for the rearmost drivers in the pack to get through an
>	intersection during a given light cycle.

I generally also leave a car length ahead of me when stopped at a light.
I do this for the same reason as stated above.  It affords me better
visibility and if the driver ahead of me suddenly decides to make a turn or
if the driver behind is inattentive and is screeching to a halt behind me,
I at least have the opportunity to change lanes.  I will conceded that
strictly following the spacing rules at turn lanes could result in
backing up traffic in through lanes, so I usually compromise in this
situation by taking up the space in front of me if there is at least one car
behind me.  If you see me leave what seems to be a football field length
space ahead of me, it means I feel anti-social that day and that I'm
purposely that far back so that my car rests on the traffic sensor beneath
the asphalt to trip the turn-only signal.

>	And to make things worse, I've observed that many of the
>	people who do this are very lethargic drivers --
>	contestants in the Valium Grand Prix -- who accelerate
>	extremely sluggishly once the light changes, creating a
>	rolling roadblock.  Their inefficient use of space offers a
>	certain amount of insight into their general mindset, and I
>	therefore avoid getting behind such people at red lights
>	when I can avoid it, as I do when I observe certain other
>	"danger signs."  But that's not always possible, and it
>	should never be necessary.

Oh dear, I guess your portrait of this kind of driver if fitting me to a 'T'.
Well, I'm not quite that bad - I usually keep up with traffic if it is
advantageous to do so.  Let me explain - since I'm very familiar with the
routes I drive, I'm also familiar with the timing of the lights.  Since
most of the lights in the city are timed for the speed limit, that's what
I drive at.  In other words, I drive at the speed which will get me from
point A to point B in the shortest amount of time without being reckless.
I've lost count of how many times I've seen other drivers jackrabbit up
to their cruising speed only to have to stop at the next light.  Meanwhile
I come up to the light knowing it will turn green for me and passing a line
of cars that have to accelerate from a dead stop only to have them pass me
and get stopped at the next light.  Sometimes I use the parking lane to pass
(naughty me) because I know I can overtake them.  So for me, driving slower
in certain situations actually decreases my trip time (and lowers fuel
consumption).

I sometimes drive slowly to bait other drivers into passing me and tripping
traffic sensors.  I also let speeders ahead of me, then follow them at a
large distance so they can warn me of police traps.

>	I'm sure there's somebody out there, finger hovering over
>	the "F" key, who's just itching to tell me that it won't
>	kill me to be delayed for the time it takes the traffic
>	signal to cycle around again.  Of course it won't -- but I
>	submit that situations need not become life-threatening
>	before one is justified in being annoyed by them.
>	Traffic has become quite a bit heavier in my area during
>	the last several years, so it's doubly annoying to observe
>	bad habits that contribute to inefficient traffic flow.

In heavily congested traffic, aggressive driving really gets you nowhere.
It's just not worth it for me to get worked up about it.  I let people
cut me off and take the space ahead of me because it only sets me back a car
length.  I'd rather trade a few minutes of my travelling time and get
that extra cushion of safety.  Think of it this way: the time you lose
driving conservatively will be offset by the saving in time in avoid getting
into a fender bender or worse.

I'm not flaming you for your driving style, I'm just saying that I have good
reasons for the way I drive.  I would get just as annoyed as you would if
I thought that the driver ahead of me was driving inefficiently for no good
reason.


Joseph Tam <tam@ocgy.ubc.ca>   \___ \___________
Department of Oceanography     \___ \___________
University of British Columbia \___ \___________
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