Driving: Distance

• Don't tailgate. No duh. But what is tailgating? That's leaving so little room that you can't come to a complete stop fast enough if the car in front of yours does. Don't count on being able to swerve. But how much distance do you need? Some people try use a formula to figure out how many car lengths to allow. The drawback to that is that it relies on good distance estimation, which some people find difficult even when standing still, and good math skills, which are in short supply. A much better method is to count the seconds between his rear bumper and your front bumper, passing some stationary point. For an attentive driver in optimal conditions, two seconds should do fine. Increase it (a lot) if the road is wet, your vision is bad or obscured, you are fatigued or distracted, your brakes aren't in good condition, etc. Don't worry that some @$$hole is going to jump into that space; he'd only delay you by a few seconds, and it's Just Not Worth dying over that.

• Look ahead. Lots of accidents can be avoided by noticing something in time. Don't just look at what's in the few feet in front of your car, look ahead. Way ahead. As far as you can see. Try to look through the windshields of the cars ahead of you -- not to spy on the occupants (amusing as that may be), but to see what's ahead of them. Of course, don't ignore what's near, but.... See also the section on "Opaque" Vehicles.

• "Close ranks" in crowded turn lanes! When there's not enough room in a turn lane, for all the cars that want to turn, the line of cars waiting to turn, can extend back into the "through" lanes, blocking them. Many times, when I pass such a situation, I see there are huge gaps between some of the cars. Okay, sure, you're supposed to leave some amount of space, such as obeying the "see the bottom of his tires" rule. However, don't go way beyond that, such as leaving multiple car-lengths! Making the waiting cars extend into the through-lanes, is more dangerous, even to those further up the line, than leaving less than a full carlength ahead of you.