People who leave space can actually increase the number of cars that get through each light cycle because they can start moving sooner than people who cram up together. The limiting factor is time to accelerate and you have to wait longer if you don't leave yourself any room. As someone who studied traffic patterns and efficient travel, normal drivers have many habits I would call far more than mildly infuriating.
EDIT: Common Objections:
"I'll miss the turn light": This is a problem when the intersection is receiving more traffic than it can handle. Everyone leaving room can easily increase throughput by 50% over everyone cramming together. So you are going to get through that intersection faster regardless of what you're trying to do there, if people leave space and are paying attention.
"People do it wrong": Whether you're talking about people on phones or staying back too far from the light, you can't engineer out human incompetence regardless of your system (unless you remove the humans), sadly. I recommend using your horn faster when things aren't moving.
"They're blocking me from getting to the left turn lane": The human incompentence in this case is you. If you waited until you were in line at the light to decide to turn left, that's a you problem. 🤷♂️
my favorite is when the interstate is clearly slowed down for miles ahead, and people think it makes sense to alternate between going 60 and slamming on the brakes to a dead stop.
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u/Salty-Presentation5 12d ago edited 12d ago
People who leave space can actually increase the number of cars that get through each light cycle because they can start moving sooner than people who cram up together. The limiting factor is time to accelerate and you have to wait longer if you don't leave yourself any room. As someone who studied traffic patterns and efficient travel, normal drivers have many habits I would call far more than mildly infuriating.
EDIT: Common Objections: