How much distance to leave when at a red light?

Hi....my mom and I were having a disagreement...which one of us is right? When you are in a line of cars, (like you are stopped at a red light) how close are you supposed to get to the car infront of you? When I did driving schools recently (I'm 18, so it was like 2 years ago) my instructor told me to just pull up far enough to see the bottom of the person in front of me's tires, but I think that's too far, so I usually pull up to the bottom of their bumper. My mom said when she did driving school (and she's 15) they taught her to pull up until you see the bottom of their license plate, and she usually pulls up even farther, saying she thinks its annoying when people leave big spaces.

So which one of us is right? How much of a space should you leave?
Additional Details
I mean to say my mom's 55...not 15 haha :]

Todd R

You are suppose to stop at least 1 car length from the car in front of you this approximately 15 feet. This way you can if needed go around the car you are behind if it stalls or if someone tries to enter your vehicle i.e. Carjacker or other. Also this distance gives you lee way if you are hit from behind, this way you hopefully don't hit the vehicle in front of you.

Pulling up to someones bumper is rude. If you are lucky you might behind a standard vehicle on a hill, and the driver may roll back into you before he/she gets his/her car going. Also if you are that close you have no room to maneuver if an emergency vehicle approcahes.

This is what I was tought in drivers ed in 1984. I try to practice this whenever I can.

I will tell that one night in February 2004 at 2:00am I pulled up behind a SUV right up to him and didn't give any lee way. Well a van pulled up behind me and boxed me in at the red light and some guy walked right up to my car and tried to open my drivers door. I couldn't go anywere as I was boxed and had to wait what seemed like an eternity for the SUV to go when the light turned green. Well the SUV took his time and the guy had his hand on my door handle before I was able to go. If I had stopped a good 1 car length I could have pulled around and taken a right turn and been gone and not scarred for my life. Luckly I had my door locked also.

In ending give at least 1 car length and you will be fine and if mom doesn't like that then tell her what happened to me and see if she would like to be in the same situation. I don't think so and I will say it is not fun when someone tries to enter your car and you have no where to go.

PhilbertFlange

In general, you should be able to see both the back tires, and pavement under the car in front of you. It's often called the T&A rule (Tires and Asphalt).

If you have a car with an extremely long or short nose, you'll have to modify the distance.

504reppa

The important and safe thing to do is leave enough space for you to turn without hitting the car in front. Think if you needed to get to the shoulder (i.e emergency vehicle approaching or a vehicle in your rear view about to run into you) you gotta have enough room to pull over or change lanes. By the way if you can't read the license plate you are too close.

Rapid Fire

I just took a defencive driving course through my school board last week. The above responders that stated you should see the rear tires and pavement beneath are 100% correct.

Jane

You are correct, you should see there tires all the way to the road.

pbleek

Seeing the bottom of the tires is right, you can also think of it this way, if the car in front of you was stalled out, you should be able to pull out and go around without having to back up.

romankrivenko@ymail.com

How are you 18 and your mom is 15 *scratches head*
But yea the correct one is the tires

sgoldperson

I was wondering about that age lol. Seriously you leave the larger gap so that if something happens. Truth is cars DO break down at red lights. If that happened you could pull around them at your distance no problem, of course that is assuming there is a lane around them that is clear. You are more correct in leaving enough distance to make a maneuver if you need to. I was taught to drive by a former State Trooper and was taught you always leave room, that includes at lights, just in case.

Richard

License plate in my day.

Greg

ur moms 15 holy ****

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