People leaving 2-4 spaces in front of them at stoplights?? Why?? (floor, move)

[madison999]

I see this all over. Sometimes as many as 5 vehicle lengths of space in front of them. And I've looked, it's not to stay back and in the shade, or to stay back and be able to see the lights themselves over a taller vehicle in front of them.

Why?

[pbenjamin]

Try not to worry about it.

[azdr0710]

they are busy on their phone and don't want to accidentally lighten up on the brake and rear-end the car in front.....

[JustMike77]

I hate when the front car hangs back in left turn lanes. Often, if you don't move over the magnet in the street, the signal doesn't know you're there and the left turn light will never come on.

[new2colo]

Maybe they've been rear ended before and don't want to risk rear ending the person in front of them should they get hit. Granted, I certainly don't leave multiple car lengths in front of me at red lights, but I do leave a decent amount of space. I never understood why some drivers feel the need to get right up on your rear bumper at red lights. I'm not going to floor it at the light just because they're practically in my backseat.

[exit2lef]

I don't know why, but it's far better than the opposite: cars stopping in the crosswalk and blocking people crossing the street on foot. I see this just as often, and it has a far more negative impact than cars stopping too far back.

[adriver]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

they are busy on their phone and don't want to accidentally lighten up on the brake and rear-end the car in front.....

YEP,

Its because this way they can go back to there phones while they are still slowing from 30mph and don't need to look up to know right where to stop. SERIOUSLY..

[43north87west]

I don't know, but I could hazard a few guesses.

[ddandano]

it will not justify 4 or 5 spaces but there are weight sensors embedded in the asphalt. these control the traffic lights (especially on the smaller half mile streets). People stop on the sensors to trigger the light change

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by ddandano

it will not justify 4 or 5 spaces but there are weight sensors embedded in the asphalt. these control the traffic lights (especially on the smaller half mile streets). People stop on the sensors to trigger the light change

Drivers around here are definitely not that smart. It's because they're on their phone and they want to get to a stop quickly so they can get back to texting. I like it; I'll take the gap if I want to be in that lane.