Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroMPG
Now your escape / crash mitigation room is the space you left in front of you.
Of course this assumes the car behind is actually braking.
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So you're supposed to stop several hundred yards from the light, or the car ahead? That's how long it would take to get up to a faster speed than the
non-braking* vehicle that is going to rear-end you. And you'd still have to brake again to avoid ramming into the cross traffic, so in general the best you can expect to do is to somewhat mitigate the collision.
Of course sometimes you can get lucky: perhaps the following driver looks up just in time to start braking so that extra space allows you to avoid the collision. But that's not always the case. And it's ignoring the fact that (at least around here) if you leave much more than a car length between you and the crosswalk/car ahead, someone from an adjacent lane will pull into the space.
*Cause the driver is e.g. yakking on a cell phone and doesn't even notice the light/line of stopped vehicles.