How much spacing while stopped at a red light? (lemmy.today)

submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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So this has been annoying me lately; drivers leaving excessive spacing when stopped for a red light. I get it, you don't want to be right on the next guys bumper, you should leave space to escape if the guy in front stalls or somebody tries to carjack you. But 2-3 car lengths? It really bugs me when they do it in a left turn lane causing a back up to the travel lane resulting in overall congestion. Or, if they're first at the light, they don't pull up far enough to reach the road sensors that trigger a light change. I haven't been able to isolate to a specific demographic, seems to be young, old, black, white, you name it. Maybe they're just stoned at the wheel. I'm tempted to roll down my window and ask 'wtf'? I'm in the Northeast US. Has anybody else witnessed this?

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[-] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Are 'road sensors that trigger a light change' a real thing? I thought lights are on a timed cycle.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 5 days ago

There sometimes are induction loops under the street for this purpose: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induction_loop

[-] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Video, radar, and infrared are also common. In some places I’ve been, only older non-upgraded intersections have induction loops.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

In Germany almost every traffic light has them nowadays. It can sometimes be annoying when you're riding a bike made of carbon. But usually my phone and laptop seem to be enough to trigger them.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

I once ran a red light with my moped, made of steel, because the light never turned green

[-] [email protected] -1 points 5 days ago

Add a magnet! Maybe idk if this works for sure or not

[-] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

In the US I've noticed a difference between west coast and the rest of the country. West coast tends to use these circle bandsaws to cut circles into the pavement, everywhere else uses a circular saw to cut rectangles into the pavement. Either way, these are the things you want to be stopped right on top of, especially if you're on a side street or left turn where you might get skipped if it doesn't sense you. If you're on a motorcycle, try to scoot up a bit so a car can be on them. They probably won't sense a motorcycle.

https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/resources/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/induction-loop-traffic-lights-sensor.jpg

this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025

59 points (83.9% liked)

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