Does anyone else do this? The idea is that you keep a decent distance in front of you so that you don't need to brake suddenly and you can keep a smooth flow instead of changing speed a lot.

www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/motoring/on-the-road/simple-road-rule-that-could-end-traffic-jams-forever/news-story/3f11ec52d082a6b436929b7819c72119

I have been driving like this for years ever since I read an article on this from a guy in the US that noticed this and figured out how to dissipate traffic jams.

The worst thing about this is that people absolutely hate you when you do it. I mean they really hate you. I have had people get absolutely inflamed by the idea that there is a gap of at least 2 to 3 car lengths in front of me, in the left lane, even though I am moving at the exact same speed as the car in front of me AND the traffic in my lane is moving smoothly because of this.

I have had people do almost anything to overtake me and then almost run up the arse of the car in front because they didn't realise that there was no magic empty lane in front of me.

This sort of approach would solve the crazy traffic problems you see in a lot of areas, but people think for some reason that sitting right up behind the guy in the front somehow magically makes things go faster. Instead it means that if the guy in front slows down, everyone else behind them has to brake, and it just leads to a conga line of people slowing down. Instead if there is a decent gap, you can absorb these slow downs without losing any overall speed.

Before anyone starts frothing at the mouth and doesn't understand what I am describing, I always do this in the left hand lane only. Its not worth the agro of doing this in the right hand lane as people go nuts. Of course they then think the left hand lane is now magic and jump into it, only to jump back out when they realise it is no different to the right hand lane.

Fully understand and agree with what you say. I try and do the same

There's a 'joke' (although the locals swear it's not a joke) that if you jamb your brakes on hard on the ring roads that circle London, in half an hour you be slowed down by the tail back you caused as the chain reaction circles the road and you catch up with it.

Yep, brake lights are the enemy on a flowing freeway. I do my best not to.

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Tamble said..

There's a 'joke' (although the locals swear it's not a joke) that if you jamb your brakes on hard on the ring roads that circle London, in half an hour you be slowed down by the tail back you caused as the chain reaction circles the road and you catch up with it.

Yeah, I understand. Sometimes I have had evil thoughts where I think I could purposely cause a traffic jam on Sydney roads, just by driving in the opposite way and deliberately making people drive erratically. I can't bring myself to do it though!

On my drive to the city in the morning it amazed me that you would see a traffic jam caused by an accident hours earlier that has already been cleared, yet the wave of traffic would keep the jam happening. The rubber-neckers would keep it happening as they slow down to look at something that is not there. The way to solve that jam is to actually slow down a lot before the place where the slow down is, and then ramp up your speed so that everyone behind you just follows and speeds up. Unfortunately all it takes is one person to be a rubber-necker to slow it down again

It still surprises me how many otherwise intelligent people are irritated by it because they think they are going slow.

Dr karl has a thing about this & the gradient of some of our tunnels are to steep for trucks & because of the car hard breaking to 60km per hour to stop for the truck speed they brake to 40km per hr & the next car goes back to then 20 until a car final comes to a halt & from then on its at a standstill .
I always drive like that its more economical & smoother.
P platers on phones in hatchbacks cutting in in front of my truck is a bit stressful especially as there too busy to indicate.

Yep and the same goes for merging.
D1cks don't realise that if they won't merge like a zipper - one lets one in- then people jam the brakes on and they are causing the stop-start that is annoying them....

Yes, I do that as well. Less wear on the car and better fuel economy. However, I think NSW and SA governments/councils could implement a lot of simple things to reduce traffic congestion. I thought SA was bad for the 50-80-60-80-100-60 confusion until I started driving a lot in NSW. Unfamiliar drivers like me have no clue what the speed limit is, give up and drive slow to prevent fines.

Should make learning to drive a compulsory subject when going to school. If you don't pass then you don't get to drive. And make at least 50% of the course about being curtious. Driving is a skill most of us use everyday of our lives. A lot more than a lot of the other stuff they tried to bash into me at school.

My work requires me to drive every day and gees there are some idiots out there. I'm not much of a driver but I'm extremely curtious. I drive the speed limit, not under and not over. If some one wants to get past, then I make it easy for them by slowing down when passing is possible at passing lanes or open sections of the roads. Truckers love this and always give me a flick with their indicators after they've gone past. I even pull over as I pass through towns to let people behind me pass. It's a pity some other c#$ts on the road couldn't learn these curtious habits.

I alway make room for merging trafics and keep an eye out for trucks or busses who no one is giving room to merge. These guys always appreciate it and usually give me a wave. I've got no problems with having a truck in front of me on the highway, better than up my arse. And trucks are hardly ever the slow vehicle on the road. It's those f##king caravans. I think about 10% of them are curtious but the rest need some serious education in manners. God I feel sorry for the truckers having to deal with these uncurtious pricks all the time.

Unfortunately some people believe they have as much right to be on the road as any one else's. They've got it wrong. What they have is a right to SHARE the road with others. Not f##king hog it.

As for tailgaters, they should be shot on site. I saw a post the other day where a driver was proud to say they always made sure there was at least 2 car lengths between them and the car in front. Its a bit sad really. I wonder how many other idiots think it's 2 car lengths. And as for 2 seconds rule, I don't think some drivers don't know how to count to 2 seconds. If you start by saying one (thousand) and then Two (thousand) you've still got to say Three (thousand) befor 2 seconds has passed. Think about it, because if this doesn't make sense to you, then you really need to ask some one to explain it.

Unfortunately some people think driving over the speed limit makes them a better skilled driver.

This topic came up here a couple of years ago.

I think the main cause of the problem with this and many other driving issues is that too many people drive with their ego in control instead of their intellect (if they have one).

I am often struck with the desire to have an illuminated sign in my rear window, "Stop Tailgating Me Arsehole!!!"

There seems to be a natural pursuit instinct in people. They see a car in front so speed up to catch up to it. Once they've caught it they want to pass, then catch up to the car in front.

There are a bunch of problems with this.

Everybody speeds up a bit at a time and it builds on itself.
Everybody gets to the inevitable bottleneck and has to stop.
The overtaker tail gates in the right line.
The overtaker passes on the left then has to jump back into the right lane.
The slower car moves left, then has to move right again because of parked cars or bikes or whatever.

Thing is, everybody in this thread seems to know how to drive a little slower to pass through traffic with less stress. So how come every other fackwit is trying to drive faster and whinging about low speed limits?

Crusoe has hit the nail on the head.
Two additions IMHO:

Firstly- we are taught to look in mirrors and at speedo every 4-5 sec, and to look ahead a few hundred metres . I can't not do it as it was drilled into me. I recon about 0% of people don't. The roadworks sign is a great surprise as T ^ means nothing to them (left lane closed bozo, may as well move over now I'm muttering but at last second its an emergency and they wanna be let in. FFS)
Looking ahead means less emergencies and surprises. Looking in mirrors every 4 sec means if something does go wrong you can swerve or brake hard as you know there is nobody next to you. But nup, own little bubble


Secondly - courtesy when turning on a green arrow. Why are people happy to sit up somebody's arse at 0kph, but then turning at 15kph they leave a 4-5 car length gap? That is a few cars that won't get thru on the green arrow because you sat back...... = more congestion and frustration. Seriously just think what the other guy may want, and try to do that.


Most importantly show this thread to your WAG's

I've been driving professionally on and off all my life. Sadly for most learning to drive is a life long experience as people move from mistake to mistake many of which are all too often fatal.

I am convinced that the only way to teach people to drive properly is to design a really rigorous drive simulator similar to the ones used for aviation. The technology has been around for yonks. That way you could eliminate all of the common **** ups that people make before they ever get into a car.

What Formula is talking about used to drive me absolutely nuts. I have developed a tactic which I now use which makes long journeys quite amusing. When I am on the open road, typically from Sydney to Coffs, I will pick a vehicle which is travelling at the speed limit (because my 98 Mazda ute does not have cruise control) and sit roughly 80 to 100 meters behind at 110 kph. More often than not the vehicle in front will be a commercial truck which pretty much stick to the limit unless there is a big climb in which case I overtake.

So what happens is a slug of cars will come through travelling at 10-15ks over the limit. The first one to pass inevitably pulls in in front of you and then, for some inconceivable reason , brakes. This has the effect of a) slowing you down and b) necessitating that you drop back a hundred meters in order to maintain a safe distance.

So this is where the tactic comes in and, as I say, i get a heap of amusement from it. Unfortunately it doesn't do much for the fuel consumption.

When the first car in the slug gets to a position where he is about two cars behind I start to speed up and continue to accelerate until the gap in front is too small for them to pull in. This often puts them into a dilemma. They have two choices, speed up and overtake the truck, or slow down and drop in behind. If the remaining drivers look as though they are going to do the same thing I maintain the reduced gap until they have all cleared and then drop back to the original distance.

As Formula says, this drives people nuts but I cannot for the life of me understand why it is that people cannot comprehend that driving 20 meters behind a car travelling at 120 ks is asking for **** to happen.

I know though see. When I was 28 and the best driver in the world I took my eyes off the car in front to avoid hitting an elderly woman cyclist who saw fit to enter the road without looking. The car in front braked and I drove up his arse. Fortunately no injuries other than wounded pride and a ****ed car. Since then I rarely take my eyes off the road. If I am a passenger in a car driven by someone who needs to make eye contact while talking I feel very insecure!

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japie said..

As Formula says, this drives people nuts but I cannot for the life of me understand why it is that people cannot comprehend that driving 20 meters behind a car travelling at 120 ks is asking for **** to happen.

Oh, this as well, this sh1ts me. I am usually happily driving along in the left hand, doing the limit or so, and then someone who is obviously doing 5km/h or more than me goes past, and then pulls in front of me in 1 or 2 car lengths at 110kmh! Aggghhhh! I hate it!

Why do they do that, and then now sit at less than the speed they were cruising past? I don't want some numpty sitting a fraction in front of me at this speed. I make sure that on a clear road that I change back in front of the car on the left with a decent amount of distance, and I keep at a speed that is faster than them.

I usually flash people that do this (with the headlights), and I am sure they have no idea why. I guess its just me.

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Mark _australia said..

Secondly - courtesy when turning on a green arrow. Why are people happy to sit up somebody's arse at 0kph, but then turning at 15kph they leave a 4-5 car length gap? That is a few cars that won't get thru on the green arrow because you sat back...... = more congestion and frustration. Seriously just think what the other guy may want, and try to do that.


Most importantly show this thread to your WAG's

I often leave a little gap at the lights as well. If you are actually paying attention, versus the 99% who don't, you can start moving when the lights change and still have a buffer before the person in front of you wakes up and starts moving. It also seems to wake them up if you start moving and they haven't realised that the lights have changed. Unfortunately it doesn't take much for the person in front of you or behind you to be asleep.

As for the WAG thing, its the same as everyone else, some girls drive badly and some drive excellently. I have been in the car with one driving where she has made me so comfortable with her skill I could have happily had a sleep, and another where I have wanted to offer to drive to avoid the stress.

If you want a really interesting experience, I just went on a motorbike tour in Saigon, where they take you around town on the back of a motorbike. It looks chaotic, but it actually moves quite well with seemingly no rules. The cool thing was that one of the companies exclusively use women drivers/riders as they say that they are more aware drivers and less likely to take risks. I agree. They were awesome. Confident drivers that have been driving since 15 or 16, and have no problem riding with someone twice their weight on the back. They were really good drivers, and far superior to the ones you see texting on their phone, playing video games, and generally not paying attention. For anyone visiting there, I would highly recommend it.

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japie said..
If I am a passenger in a car driven by someone who needs to make eye contact while talking I feel very insecure!

Sorry for all the comments, but this as well. I have a friend that does this a lot and he's the sort that sits up too close behind other cars. I make myself not look at him to try and stop him doing this, as it scares the crap out of me.

you can cause significant frustration to other road users if, you and 4 mates all follow one after the other very closely into a round about and then slowly give the mate in front a little extra breathing room. We did it (when I was young & Sensible ) and completely blocked a major round about for 4 minutes then on signal all scapered quickly.

Every silly bastard is in a rush to sort out there silly little life and everyone else can get tucked

Quickly learnt this when running in armored convoys, that could stretch out for one to one and a half K's . You kept a constant gap at a constant speed, regulating speed as terrane changed.
The only time you didn't adhere, was when you mate was down the rear, and you were well up sharp end.
Still drive in this fashion when ever I come across bulk traffic.

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japie said..
....

When the first car in the slug gets to a position where he is about two cars behind I start to speed up and continue to accelerate until the gap in front is too small for them to pull in. This often puts them into a dilemma. They have two choices, speed up and overtake the truck, or slow down and drop in behind. If the remaining drivers look as though they are going to do the same thing I maintain the reduced gap until they have all cleared and then drop back to the original distance.

...

That's bizzarre. Understandable, but bizzarre. Another bunch of drivers behave like arseholes so you decide to be a bigger arsehole. Everybody loses.

I feel your annoyance, I have to admit I sometimes do similar things. But I usually catch myself and pull back. The key to driving safely, and most things when it comes to it, is to use your greater skills and intellect and maturity to avoid stupid situations.

My preferred option is to do whatever it takes to remove myself from exposure to stupids. Very rarely that might mean accelerating to get away. Usually it means moving into the left lane and slowing down so the bunch of stupids moves away. Amazingly, backing off for a couple of minutes usually gives the pack time to get away a bit and I end up with the whole road to myself. Speed back up to the limit and cruise in peace.

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Subsonic said..
Yep, brake lights are the enemy on a flowing freeway. I do my best not to.

It's the same everywhere. Even on a country road you shouldn't need to brake on every single corner like some motorists do. There's a smooth speed you can maintain. Works in carparks too.

My vehicle's top speed is little more than 100kmh. I just stay in the left lane. No decisions to make.

It depends where u are.
Us Aussies are good drivers but we don't comply.
Were better at complaining than driving.
Anyone that has been to Asia sees manic crazy driving work.
We all come home saying how to give way and how it should work ,
But a couple weeks in , we just become pushy same, same.
We are our own demise .

A couple of months ago, driving in western Sydney on a busy road I slowed and stopped at a red traffic light. I had maintained a safe distance between my car and the car in front before slowing down and stopping. As I slowed I reduced this distance to around two meters and stopped.

Shortly afterwards the driver behind me started flashing their lights and honked the horn. I ignored it as moving forward a meter or more would not make the light go green so we could get moving again.

Around the same time I was driving up to an intersection to turn left around the corner. I stopped at a red light. An elderly couple started crossing the road at the pedestrian crossing towards the corner when the little man turned green. Shortly afterwards the traffic light turned green. I did not move because if I had turned left at that time I would have run over the couple crossing the road.

The driver behind me decided to start honking his horn and flashing his cars lights because he was held up for ten seconds.

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Shifu said..
My vehicle's top speed is little more than 100kmh. I just stay in the left lane. No decisions to make.

Don't believe you. We've got trucks here tacho limited to 80kph and they like to pull out and overtake the other truck that's doing 78.

Yep, I've been doing this for years also. I do it in the right lane also although usually the space gets filled by tools and I just try and not slow down too much to recall my larger following distance. Problem is that only 2% of the population are smart enough to even consider this concept so it's almost never going to work.

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FormulaNova said..
Does anyone else do this? The idea is that you keep a decent distance in front of you so that you don't need to brake suddenly and you can keep a smooth flow instead of changing speed a lot.

www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/motoring/on-the-road/simple-road-rule-that-could-end-traffic-jams-forever/news-story/3f11ec52d082a6b436929b7819c72119

I have been driving like this for years ever since I read an article on this from a guy in the US that noticed this and figured out how to dissipate traffic jams.

The worst thing about this is that people absolutely hate you when you do it. I mean they really hate you. I have had people get absolutely inflamed by the idea that there is a gap of at least 2 to 3 car lengths in front of me, in the left lane, even though I am moving at the exact same speed as the car in front of me AND the traffic in my lane is moving smoothly because of this.

I have had people do almost anything to overtake me and then almost run up the arse of the car in front because they didn't realise that there was no magic empty lane in front of me.

This sort of approach would solve the crazy traffic problems you see in a lot of areas, but people think for some reason that sitting right up behind the guy in the front somehow magically makes things go faster. Instead it means that if the guy in front slows down, everyone else behind them has to brake, and it just leads to a conga line of people slowing down. Instead if there is a decent gap, you can absorb these slow downs without losing any overall speed.
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Before anyone starts frothing at the mouth and doesn't understand what I am describing, I always do this in the left hand lane only. Its not worth the agro of doing this in the right hand lane as people go nuts. Of course they then think the left hand lane is now magic and jump into it, only to jump back out when they realise it is no different to the right hand lane.

you jamb your brakes on hard on the ring roads that circle London, in half an hour you be slowed down by the tail back you caused as the chain reaction circles the road and you catch up with it.

Ride a scooter in Asia for a while for some relief

Check it. Apologies if it's been posted before.

You have to wonder at the complete absence of intelligence of some drivers.

Heading North out of Grafton this morning, still dark and fairly thick fog so poking along at about 80 clicks with a goose right up my arse. His headlights shining in my mirrors eventually gave me the ****s so I indicated and pulled over in the nearest available spot so he could pass.

Of course my braking gave him a shock because he was so close and he angrily used his horn.

Completely ignorant of the fact that his, dangerous, proximity was the cause of the whole incident.

Wish the bastard had been behind me ten days ago when I left skid marks on the road narrowly avoiding the biggest roo I have seen in a while!

Yeah and it's not always angry male geese.

I reckon the worst offenders for tailgating are women driving SUV's, sometimes on their P plates and sometimes with kids in the back. Well it seems that way....