Keeping a safe distance / accident history

[Mzrmazda3]

Normally i keep about 2 car length on expressway

I noticed that some drivers from lane beside may cut in even with 2 cars length, and such situation may caused the rear drivers to jam brakes....

 

Do agree with you but we 'Kua Say, Kua Say' aka see situation/speed to whether if we can allow them to cut in or not

Edited July 18, 2007 by Mzrmazda3

[W2K_83]

All I would say is that the only time I hit a car in front was when I was keeping a distance of about 6 cars length away and driving at 70km/h. Maybe the safe distance made me feel overly safe and complacent.

 

for 70km/h u need to be 7 car lengths away

 

Yeah that's supposed to be the case, but I think I'm more alert and well aware of the road conditions and situations when I'm not in safe haven. Still that is no excuse to follow close.

[W2K_83]

i cant stand those pple who tap brake for nothing. got engine brake mah let go accelerator the vehicle will slow down one leh

 

I'll tap the brake gently when I realise that the car behind me isn't driven by an alert driver. Sometimes when I just let go of accelerator, the car behind doesn't even realise that I'm slowing down and the car gets too closed for comfort. Then all of the sudden, I'll see the car leaving a big gap between me and him cos he suddenly wakes up and depresses his brake.

[Hondacub777]

izit true tat if involve in a chain collision,the last car got to bear all the cost ?if is true,i find it unfair especially at e-way.

[Octopus]

This is shocking... Close to 75% of forumners polled here do not keep a safe distance when driving. All of you must be really lucky to not have rear ended anyone.

 

It normally takes a human 0.75sec just to perceive that the car in front is stopping and another 0.75sec to react. At 90km/h, this equates to 37.5m, or 7 car lengths travelled before the brakes are even applied! Go figure.

 

http://www.toronto.ca/taxitraining/following.htm

 

cannot anyhow use that figure, that is the assumption that when the front car hits the brake, he come to full stop.. he also need distance to stop right?

 

I figure that we all tend to look at not just the car in front but also what else is in front of the car in front. If the car in front has clear traffic, we know we can go faster. but if the front car in front got heavy traffic or some slow car, we tend to watch out in case chain collision or some one suka suka brake. like that i try to play safer. will other people think like that? maybe can do a poll..

 

Me same thinking as you.

 

Also help if driver is familiar with the road, for example, if there is a filter lane along the express way, chances are traffic just approaching the area will be slowing down, so need to be ready to brake.

[Octopus]

Talking about this, I almost rear ended a taxi along the e-way this evening when he e-braked. But not entirely his fault because all the cars in front of him also braked. But quickly the traffic resume to normal speed and there were no signs of what caused the hold up earlier. This puzzled me greatly because I have encountered more than once when the e-way traffic will come to a halt, esp. in Lane 1 when there's no accident in front. This should not be happening if all the cars are moving?? Unless some jokers suddenly cut into Lane 1 and caused the cars behind to brake and stop?

I've always assume that in such situation, a dumb driver may have annoyed a dumber driver somehow (example story can get from the 'complaint folder') and hence play jam brake games...

[Octopus]

[reply]

izit true tat if involve in a chain collision,the last car got to bear all the cost ?if is true,i find it unfair especially at e-way.

 

My understanding is that example in a 4 cars chain collision, first car will claim second car, second car will claim third car, and third car will claim fourth car. Should be treated individual case by case and not all bear by last car....

Please correct me if I'm worng.

[Onlyyouknow]

Normally I'll keep about 2 to 3 car lengths behind. If closer will try to look at the car in front of the car just in front of me, if the car in front brakes I'll brake before the one just in front of me brakes. Am I making sense?

[Chembeng]

In slow traffic along Sg E-ways, cars in the right-most 2 lanes can hardly maintain more than 3-4 cars distance.

 

Once adjacent cars observe there is sufficient space to cut in, they tend to cut in. 4-cars distance will but halved nearly all the time.

 

Might as well keep less distance to refrain other cars from attempting lane hopping. Anyway, it is not much safer to constantly face cars lane switching in front than keeping 'safe' distance from car ahead.

[Shull]

All I would say is that the only time I hit a car in front was when I was keeping a distance of about 6 cars length away and driving at 70km/h. Maybe the safe distance made me feel overly safe and complacent.

 

lol..my only accident was following abt 1/2 car length at speed of 25kmh..

[RadX]

http://www.mycarforum.com/topic/2705241-how-closely-do-you-follow-the-car-in-front-on-the-expressway/?view=getnewpost&fromsearch=1

[Wind30]

I know this has been discussed previously but I just had an accident on my new car a few weeks back so I thought to raise the awareness again.

 

 

Driving during peak hour on the ECP.

 

The guy in front of me was braking so I started braking too... then all of a sudden he probably slam his brakes because I see he came to a complete stop really fast. As his brake light was already on, there is no visual cues other than his car coming close really fast of a sudden. So I hit my brakes much harder and I managed to come to a stop. the car B behind me just kissed my bumper. Slight damage...

 

The car C further behind slammed his brakes and avoided hitting car B but I think there was car D and E which all slammed together into car C..... There was injuries on C D E. 

 

Car B ask to settle privately as damage was minor.....

 

the point of this story is PLEASE claim these tail gatters as much as you legally can. let this be a deterrent... if you want to follow closely... please pay the price when accidents happen. Because there is no way you can stop in time during an emergency brake. 

[RadX]

and i think this relevance is this:

 

1.  Safety distance and at what speed

 

2.  Situational awareness

 

 

bottomline is know your safe distance and the speed limits you are operating at

[Jamesc]

Exactly

 

and i think this relevance is this:

 

1. Safety distance and at what speed - 2 second rule

 

2. Situational awareness - not just see the car in front but what the car further ahead is doing.

 

 

bottomline is know your safe distance and the speed limits you are operating at

[Tianmo]

I think we need a new folder lah.

 

Please have a new folder " My new car tio accident" . 

 

If every new car post a thread on accident, lets have a guess many many thread would we see everyday? 

 

The message is not abt what and what, is about " my new car tio accident".  Please learn to read between the lines.     

[Wind30]

and i think this relevance is this:

 

1.  Safety distance and at what speed

 

2.  Situational awareness

 

 

bottomline is know your safe distance and the speed limits you are operating at

 

the problem in Singapore, there is a LOT of people who don't. Lane 1 travelling at 80-100 km/hr, keeping like 2-3 car distance. They are not even thinking about safe distance but probably just want to keep people from cutting in front of them....

 

I would upload my rear dash cam footage but it shows the car behind me license number. One second and he hits me. I wasn't even going very fast as I was already braking before the hard brake. 

 

I just don't understand. We all get stuck in traffic jams all the time caused by such accidents. It not just injuries but all the time wasted for everyone. 

 

Do they think they are superhuman to be able to react in like 0.1 seconds? 

[Jamesc]

I know this has been discussed previously but I just had an accident on my new car a few weeks back so I thought to raise the awareness again.

 

Driving during peak hour on the ECP.

The guy in front of me was braking so I started braking too... then all of a sudden he probably slam his brakes because I see he came to a complete stop really fast. As his brake light was already on, there is no visual cues other than his car coming close really fast of a sudden. So I hit my brakes much harder and I managed to come to a stop. the car B behind me just kissed my bumper. Slight damage...

The car C further behind slammed his brakes and avoided hitting car B but I think there was car D and E which all slammed together into car C..... There was injuries on C D E.

Car B ask to settle privately as damage was minor.....

the point of this story is PLEASE claim these tail gatters as much as you legally can. let this be a deterrent... if you want to follow closely... please pay the price when accidents happen. Because there is no way you can stop in time during an emergency brake.

The gap in front is important but the gap behind is also important.

 

If the gap behind is small need to imcrease the gap in front to compensate.

 

Save the stupid hassle of settling the repair and claim and time wasted.

 

If the tailgater is like 1 inch behind I would move left to let him pass.

 

Sure I lose 1 car but I save the potential headache.

 

Most people wont move left but whip lash, back ache, claim here, claim there

 

Lose car for a few weeks. To them they rather have this than lose

 

1 whole car length. More likely they never thought about this this way

 

So they never had the option to even save themselves so much hassle.

 

[RadX]

seems like hogger indirectly?

 

 

ho boy here we go again