Leaving too much room

Peeve: Drivers in lane(s) for left turns leave enough space for another car, especially when it is a two lane turn lane, thereby blocking others who wish to enter that lane…when 7 or 8 cars do that, it causes unnecessary backups and drivers missing their long awaited for left turn.

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I take it you mean they don’t cozy up nose-to-tail to maximize the number that will fit in the left-turn lane. Yeah, that’s annoying.

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Would you rather they went bumper-to-bumper?
Many people can’t even judge how much space they have between their front bumper and the car in front of them. I’d rather they err on the side of leaving more than necessary. If only Massachusetts drivers would do that, they wouldn’t be known as the worst drivers in the country. :rofl:

Well, it’d help. :joy:

I’m talking about when stopped in the left-turn lane…are you?

Yup. If you read the rest of my post, particularly the part that states that many people don’t know where their bumper is relative to the car in front of them, you’d know that.

I would rather they leave a car space in between. If they are tight nose to tale they have to wait until the car in front of them moves and they percieve it moves, before they can start to move, If the stop a space between, they can start moving when the car in front of them moves and the line actually goes quicker. The people behind may stack up back into the left hand driving lane but just as many cars if not more will get through the intersection. Some drivers wait in neutral with their foot on the brake at a long light and when it is their turn put the car in drive before they take their foot off the brake and onto the gas. This causes their car to lurch a little bit before they start moving and if you are right on their bumper and misread the lurch you might rear end them. Then you will miss a lot of lights.

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It depends on the situation on whether it’s annoying or not. One intersection I have to cross has a short left turn lane, maybe 6 car lengths long, and a short left-turn signal. During high-traffic times, you would want those in the left turn lane to shorten up the distance to prevent backup in the left lane. When it’s not busy, it doesn’t really matter to me.

The annoying part to you may be just the lack of situational awareness shown by those drivers. We all can do little things to help us all get to our destination a little faster.

I was taught to stop just far enough back from the car in front of me, That I can see that cars rear tires touching the road.

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More or less related to the OP’s gripe is one of my pet peeves:
Why do some people think that they need to maintain a distance of 6 to 8 car lengths while they make a turn at a speed of 5-10 mph?

At that low a speed, a distance of–at most–2 car lengths is all that is necessary. These folks cause a drastic reduction in traffic flow when the light turns green, and as a result, a lot of people behind them wind up getting a red light.

I think this has to do with personal space.

Every person has a distance they feel comfortable having people or things outside of - and uncomfortable any closer than that! For some that value is quite large. For some, they have to be really close.

I don’t think you can change that.

I make it a point to leave enough room between me and the car ahead of me so that if necessary I can steer around it.

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Some of that might have to do with elderly people whose vision and reaction times aren’t what they used to be. I started leaving more space and more time to react when I had my cataracts, and I still do. I feel more comfortable with a bit more space.

@Bobbi44 just described my everyday driving environment!

I’ll add one more annoyance to that mix… the people who leave loads of space in front of their cars creeping up to fill that space during the red light until the car is 5 or so feet away from the car in front. Those that think this is about personal space or judging distance or any other excuse for this - wanna take a shot at explaining that?

There’s another issue at work here. I was in a driver safety class (my choice to get an insurance discount, NOT due to a traffic offense) and was told you should always stop behind the car in front of far enough back that you can see the bottom of their rear tire from the driver’s seat of your car. Reason? Liability. If some nimrod rear ends you while you’re stopped, and the impact drives you into the car in front of you, the driver of the car in front of you can sue you, and win, because you failed to maintain adequate distance between your car and his (unless of course the vehicle that rear ends you is a 80,000 lb 18 wheeler doing 40 mph. In the case, if you live, you won’t be liable to the driver of the car in front of you).

Having had a woman back into me in a drive through lane, I now leave at least a half car length before I get to the speaker. Also we are taught in defensive driving that you should be able to see the rear wheels of the car ahead of you. That gives you room to mitigate being rear ended but someone coming up behind you.

Another thing taught by the Smith Driving System.

The only thing I have been able to come up with is that creeping forward 6 inches every few seconds gives them an illusion of moving toward their destination rather than sitting still and making no progress. Although this is possibly a psychological defect my passing grade in Psych 101 does not qualify me to diagnose.

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One car length is acceptable, but more space is not. I try to leave about a half car length to allow others to get in behind me. The left through lane often gets so full that left turners can’t get in even if there is space to do so. The same goes for the left lane through traffic that leaves two or more car lengths of space. I’m not fond of inefficiency on the road no matter what lane it is.

Why do they do it? IMO, they don’t think about their surroundings, including the traffic they ride with. Kinda like 3 year olds that pay no attention to their surroundings.

So you don’t think they’re trying to judge the distance between them and the car in front of them?
Perhaps it is you who should try to offer an alternate explanation. :grin:

Not to change the subject but this was the third time now that someone cut me off making a turn on the blinking yellow arrow when I have the green going straight. I figured it out though that the person with the flashing yellow arrow does not realize that traffic going straight just had the light turn to green from red. About a 10-15 second delay on the flashing arrow would take care of the problem. Every time it’s been when I’ve been pulling a trailer which makes me a little less maneuverable.