Two second rule?

[Robertb]

I like to leave a decent gap between me and the vehicle in front, and work on the 'two second' gap basis. I have adaptive cruise on my CLS, which I set to a similar gap (about the middle setting of its available options).

I've found that some other drivers think this is too much... I get tailgated or undertaken by people (often in Audis but I may be imagining it!)

Is it too much? Should I close up?

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

Nope, and don't worry about twerps behind you.

[simon_harris]

Only a fool forgets the 2 second rule...

Generally speaking it should give enough room between you and the vehicle in front that if someone wants to overtake you there is enough space for them to move into, you then just drop back to maintain the 2 second gap.

[Pica-Pica]

No. On twisty country roads I like to leave three or even four seconds from the car in front. Let them do all the braking, you just have to lift off now and again.
If they are close behind you, make the total a four second gap between them and the car in front of you.

[Pica-Pica]

Re-reading OP again, I think the ‘follow-my-leader’ aspect of adaptive cruise can be irritating to others, there seems to be no adjustment by the user of adaptive cruise to varying conditions.

[simon_harris]

I do believe that ROSPA suggests a 3 second gap in the dry, 4 or 5 in the wet.

[chriz1]

I've also noticed this, leave a sensible gap and people tailgate you and swerv behind before undertaking and then realising, ah there's a que of cars in front. But they still think you should pull over and let them take your position in a que ( traffic in outside lane ) what's going on?
I think the standard of driving has dropped a lot lately.

[helix402]

Robertb said:

I like to leave a decent gap between me and the vehicle in front, and work on the 'two second' gap basis. I have adaptive cruise on my CLS, which I set to a similar gap (about the middle setting of its available options).

I've found that some other drivers think this is too much... I get tailgated or undertaken by people (often in Audis but I may be imagining it!)

Is it too much? Should I close up?

No.

[Junglebert]

chriz1 said:

I've also noticed this, leave a sensible gap and people tailgate you and swerv behind before undertaking and then realising, ah there's a que of cars in front. But they still think you should pull over and let them take your position in a que ( traffic in outside lane ) what's going on?
I think the standard of driving has dropped a lot lately.

Swerve/Queue

[Pit Pony]

On the speed awareness course they spoke about people tailgating you.

They suggested that if the person behind you was only giving themselves a half second gap, then you should give yourself a 3.5 second gap to the car in front.

That way when the person in front brakes, you can apply the brakes less hard, giving the car behind, more time to react.

[Super Sonic]

chriz1 said:

I've also noticed this, leave a sensible gap and people tailgate you and swerv behind before undertaking and then realising, ah there's a que of cars in front. But they still think you should pull over and let them take your position in a que ( traffic in outside lane ) what's going on?
I think the standard of driving has dropped a lot lately.

If you find people are undertaking you, maybe you should move into the lane on your left.

[Robertb]

Super Sonic said:

chriz1 said:

I've also noticed this, leave a sensible gap and people tailgate you and swerv behind before undertaking and then realising, ah there's a que of cars in front. But they still think you should pull over and let them take your position in a que ( traffic in outside lane ) what's going on?
I think the standard of driving has dropped a lot lately.

If you find people are undertaking you, maybe you should move into the lane on your left.

#

The problem is, if you've pulled out to overtake because you are closing on a car in the middle lane (as you've reached a 2 sec gap), then there is enough gap for someone pushy to weave between you and the car you are overtaking.

I think I've accepted I will live with it... maintain my margin of safety and let the twits be twits!

I've found it makes no difference if I'm using ACC or not, though I can see how the system's behaviour could annoy people at times and over-ride it in those situations. On the whole, the programming of the Mercedes system is very good indeed, but you do have to be aware of its limitations.

[MBVitoria]

I'm a strict adherent to the 2 second (or more) rule and am staggered by how many motorists go about basically nose to tail with no thought of what would happen if the car ahead unexpectedly breaks.

It can be really frustrating however on a motorway when I feel like I'm having to constantly slow down to reopen my gap as space invaders jump in front.

I'd love to see a manufacturer have the balls to fit a device that warns the driver to back off if they get closer than 2 seconds above a certain speed, say 15mph. I reckon accident rates would massively reduce if everyone just followed this one simple rule.

[Super Sonic]

Robertb said:

The problem is, if you've pulled out to overtake because you are closing on a car in the middle lane (as you've reached a 2 sec gap), then there is enough gap for someone pushy to weave between you and the car you are overtaking.

Not sure what your saying here.
It sounds like you're overtaking a car, and another car 'weaves'(?) between you and the car you're overtaking? The other car would be driving between the lanes ie. straddling the lane markings.
I'm sure this isn't what you meant.

[Robertb]

Super Sonic said:

Robertb said:

The problem is, if you've pulled out to overtake because you are closing on a car in the middle lane (as you've reached a 2 sec gap), then there is enough gap for someone pushy to weave between you and the car you are overtaking.

Not sure what your saying here.
It sounds like you're overtaking a car, and another car 'weaves'(?) between you and the car you're overtaking? The other car would be driving between the lanes ie. straddling the lane markings.
I'm sure this isn't what you meant.

Imagine you are driving along in the centre lane at 75 and close in on a car doing 70. Distance gets to around 2 secs so you pull out to overtake...then you are then in the outside lane, with another car in front of you doing 75, maintaining a 2 sec gap.

Pushy driver behind undertakes you by driving close to the car in the middle lane, pulling out in front of you filling your 2 sec gap.

[geeks]

I was taught the 2 second rule over and over when learning to drive (only a fool breaks the two second rule), double that and more in the wet etc. I actually think its something that could do with a proper national campaign the number of accidents I see because someone is following too close or dashcam footage where someone is in a close call all because they don't leave a gap to the car in front is staggering, this is easy stuff as well, you can see it coming a mile away!

[wyson]

This happens to me all the time, I look in my mirrors, just take my foot off the gas to create space. If there is someone piling up my chuff, I pull into the middle lane to let them over take. If that isn’t doeable because the middle lane is full, I still create the 2 second gap, take what ever headlamp flashing occurs behind me, mindful I need to brake extra gently and then pull in to let them pass at the earliest opportunity, mindful they might try and undertake if especially impatient.

[wyson]

The biggest thing is to not try and control other people’s behaviour because you can’t. What you can do is accommodate it in the safest way possible.

[Pit Pony]

MBVitoria said:

I'd love to see a manufacturer have the balls to fit a device that warns the driver to back off if they get closer than 2 seconds above a certain speed, say 15mph. I reckon accident rates would massively reduce if everyone just followed this one simple rule.

Erm. The technology is available, and on production vehicles already.
Where i work, we are incorporating it into the automatic emergency braking for trucks, so that the driver has to back off or indicate, within a limited time, otherwise the truck will brake.
I was driving a sprinter van the other week, and a red triangle came up twice in 200 miles. Apparently it was warning me I was too close.

[Robertb]

Pit Pony said:

MBVitoria said:

I'd love to see a manufacturer have the balls to fit a device that warns the driver to back off if they get closer than 2 seconds above a certain speed, say 15mph. I reckon accident rates would massively reduce if everyone just followed this one simple rule.

Erm. The technology is available, and on production vehicles already.
Where i work, we are incorporating it into the automatic emergency braking for trucks, so that the driver has to back off or indicate, within a limited time, otherwise the truck will brake.
I was driving a sprinter van the other week, and a red triangle came up twice in 200 miles. Apparently it was warning me I was too close.

My 2014 CLS has a red warning light that appears if you are too close to the vehicle in front, in extremis it will also beep and brake.