[odyssey045]

I have found that in case of major traffic jams, if you have a gap of more than 2-3 feet, its not only the 2 wheelers who try to cut their way through, but rather irritatingly, the cars from other lanes too try to find their luck in my lane.. resulting in a even bigger mess..

Another major gripe of mine is that when taking turns, especially left turns, two wheelers try to squeeze past you even in a narrow road..

[rohitm]

Originally Posted by odyssey045

I have found that in case of major traffic jams, if you have a gap of more than 2-3 feet, its not only the 2 wheelers who try to cut their way through, but rather irritatingly, the cars from other lanes too try to find their luck in my lane.. resulting in a even bigger mess..

Another major gripe of mine is that when taking turns, especially left turns, two wheelers try to squeeze past you even in a narrow road..

+1 to that.

In my case the bumber to bumper distance at front is typically 6 to 8 feet in city slow traffic, but at the rear i guess depending on what vehicle is following me any where between a few microns to zilch

[kaushal21fb]

For me really depends on the speed the traffic is moving at, visibility, and the wheather (rain etc.) conditions.

At 40 to 50 Kph i try and maintain at least a car length's distance. At 100 Kph around 5-6 car lengths under normal conditions. I try and increase the distance based on the visibility and braking conditions.

What irritates me the most is, when you are maintaining a safe distance and some pants on fire motorists tries to squeeze into the gap.

[xander]

In traffic jams, I try to keep less than two feet gap while stationary. If I give more gap, it is almost certain a two wheeler will try to squeeze through to the next lane, scrape my bumper with his crash guard, casually look back to see what happened and then move on like nothing happened.

It has happened to me twice!

[IQBAL VEERJI]

I keep about 5 to 6 feet distance.But by grace of GOD I have been gifted with a added feature in my body system.
Now whenever I become slightly careless or my mind is distracted by something coming to my mind when I am driving behind a car and the person in front of me applies brakes suddenly when I am in my own world, IMMEDIATELY my SENSORY nerves wake me up by a little jerk in the body and in a less then a fraction of a second I become ALERT.This has happened end number of times, other wise I must have rear ended plenty of times. THANK YOU LORD.

[rahul4640]

Originally Posted by fine69

If bumper to bumper traffic means < 5-10kmph then I keep enough distance so that I see the road in front of me at all times and not just the car in front or its bumper.

During my last trip to Puri, I found that the stretch of the highway between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar was having very dense traffic. Although all cars had to restrict their speed to 20-25 KMPH, the flow of traffic was smooth, with minimum interruptions, that too each for a few seconds only. And maintaining a distance of five or six feet with the car in front actually helped. But here in Calcutta, a motor cycle or an auto rickshaw will surely squeeze into the gap, if I leave such a gap with the car in my front.
Regards,
Rahul Biswas
Calcutta.

[carfreak77]

I keep less than 2 feet gap in peak bumper to bumper traffic. The reason is as many have mentioned above about 2 wheelers scraping the bumper with their crash guards & to prevent rickshaws from squeezing in. However, when there is no real traffic I keep a greater distance of about 5 feet.

[vinjosep]

interesting comments we have got here

My motto:

"when you are in rome drive like....."!!

So in

1) Germany: Within city limits, its "see the tire & tarmac of the vehicle in front of you" rule. Which translates to about 4-5 metres, the rule of the land dictates this. On the autobahn (highways), its a bit more complicated. There are markers on the road which defines the distance between vehicles. Fall short of this, and you might get a nice picture by mail and duely fined. Practically this distance works out to more than a couple of car lengths. (considering that on some stretches there are no speed limits + fog .... seems to be logical)

2) Canada: A bit less of "stick-to-the-rules" mentality in this country, if you ask me. So here also its the T&T rule + a slight margin. On highways, the margin kept is higher (depending on the speed of course).

3) India: Funny place, like someone said "its organized chaos". Within Bangalore in B2B traffic its just that... bumper to bumper. I have lost count of the times i have been rear-ended. Doesnt matter whether i'm on 2 wheels or 4. Like many have mentioned before me, if you leave a gap, and it doesnt matter how small, someone will squeeze something in. All corners of my car bear testimony to this ( i have learned to live with it now). On the highways, its a different story. I try to maintain a safe distance (the key word here is try ).

[vikrantj]

My rule of thumb is I should be able to see the whole number plate of car in the front. Worked out OK most of the times.

[haldar_siliguri]

I Use the 3 second rule. 3 seconds gap between me and the car in front, unless I'm overtaking.

[Speed Pujari]

I maintain bumper to bumper in a bumper to bumper traffic.. I think in bangalore you cannot get anything more than half a metre(sometimes lesser).
My office is 10.3 kms from home and it takes minimum 45 min and max 1.15 hours one way. (Kundalahalli to Embassy golf links, Bangalore).

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by androdev

People who say 4-5 feet have not experienced any 'real' bumper-to-bumper traffic in Bangalore With that kind of gap, you will be forever be stuck in one place. Not to forget those bumber-to-bumper merging/crossings situations - requires phenomenal precision and a loud horn - it is a war out there!

All this while i was wondering that looks like i am the only one who leaves not more than a feet distance in Bangalore bumper to bumper traffic. Most of this traffic you crawl at speeds 1-5 (Most of the time we don't even touch 10 or 20) and leaving any more space means someone on a junction will sneak his nose even when the lights are red for him.

Although when the traffic starts flowing i atleast leave enough and more gap to adequately stop on time when the guy in front breaks hard. Not sure but should be above 5 meters with speeds around 40. More if i go faster than that.