Here’s video of today’s Clover – A PT Cruiser Clover who leaves a full car length of air between his car and the car ahead, assuring that at least one car behind him won’t make it through the intersection before the light turns red again.
These spacialy impaired Clovers effectively double the number of cars on the road, making traffic much worse than the actual traffic density.
. . .
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This is being taught in drivers ed, traffic schools, and more. They scare people that they are going to be rear ended and need car lengths of space so that when they are rear ended they won’t be pushed into the car in front of them. And people wonder why there are traffic jams. Just about every day on my home from work I am blocked out of a LONG right hand turn lane because of short stoppers like that.
Actually that’s not the worst “space” clover. The worst is the yield clover. I’ve seen them come up to a yield sign and stop because there’s not enough space. Then wait 5 or 10 seconds for a car that was 300 or 400 yards down the road to finally pass and only then do they go. 2 or 3 other cars could have made it if they just went through without stopping since it was an insane amount of space but apparently they think “yield” is a super stop sign or something and you’re not allowed to go without an extra long stop.
Hi Dave,
We have that species of Clover here, too! The problem waxes as technological Band Aids for people who shouldn’t be driving at all proliferate. Example: Automated parking systems (both parallel and perpendicular). These are an outrage. If a person cannot park a car on their own, it strikes me as a self-evident truth that they have no business driving it at all. The ability to park being a basic competence.
It’s hilarious that the same saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety warblers who (usually) decry the fact that “anyone” can buy a gun don’t object to technologies that endanger everyone by making it feasible for people who have no business operating a car to be out on the road.
For some reason I have observed that many SD (Spatially Disabled) drivers choose PT Cruisers or Volvos. Probably because they are saaaaaafer. I gotta agree with Tom in regards to leaving space in case you need to make a quick getaway for whatever reason, and usually do so when I’m in a strange city.
Hi Rod,
Some space, sure . . . but a full car length? I doubt PT Clover is capable of exercising any evasive/high-performance moves, regardless!
When I’m in the Big City at a light, I leave at least a half-car length in front of me in case I have to get the hell out of there (e.g. car jack). Or, if the guy coming in behind me doesn’t see/react (’cause he’s on his damn phone!) then to scoot up so he doesn’t rear end me. Now, in the country, not so much for these two strategies…
So what’s a recommended distance to keep from the vehicle in front of you? I usually go by the rule of being able to see the tires of the vehicle, which might work out to be pretty far away. It doesn’t happen very often but I have been stuck behind people who, for example, can’t drive stick and stall out. It’s nice to be able to get around them if necessary.
Then there’s the “creeper clover” who doesn’t actually stop at a red light. I can understand why a fully loaded dump truck might not want to completely stop due to all the low gears, but a standard vehicle? I’ve been in situations where a light goes red, I stop, as do all the other vehicles, but here’s creeper, just continuing to go along at ~1 MPH, never coming to a complete stop. Why? If I stay stopped there can be quite a large distance between bumpers, sometimes several car lengths. So I have the choice of either stopping and letting this happen, or creeping right along with the creep.
But if I do let the gap expand at least I have the curtesy of closing it right away when the light goes green… until I once again meet with creeper who now fails to keep up with the vehicle in front.