July 24th, 2008

OK, I send out a request: Please answer this question if you know how:

Why have people adopted a new habit of stopping their cars a couple of metres short of the line at stop lights and stop signs?

It's not, as far as I can see, for safety reasons; besides, I see people do it behind other stopped cars as well. What is that extra space for?

I'm not saying that we should all pile ourselves up tight with no gap at all between our vehicles, but leaving 1/2 or 3/4 of a car's length between your car and the car in front makes no sense ... or does it? I don't know. All I know is that although you need to stop before an intersection, you must be close enough so that you have an unobstructed view of any possible cross-traffic and pedestrians. It would seem to me that stopping two metres before the line reduces your ability to see pedestrians and other cars. Also, it increases the volume occupied by traffic: It makes driving slower and more difficult because some people are taking up more space than they need to.

Is it just a bizarre habit that people are adopting because they see other people doing it, so they do it themselves? Is there some safety reason? Is there some other, more selfish reason? Or perhaps some other, more selfless reason?

Maybe someone out there in my enormous blog readership can help me out and solve my quandry.

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