Does a good car make you over-confident?

Rickster said:
Please enlighten me.
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We did...

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Rickster said:
Why is it a facepalm, I think I have a valid point.
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Because you ask that while having a license and sharing JHB roads with me. Your speed can change, that why the car lengths apart is not relevant at all, because its distance based and that changes all the time and is difficult to measure in your mind, the distance required to stop or react changes. The faster you go, the more distance you travel for every second it takes to react or brake. What stays constant is time, a hour stays a hour whether going 60km/h or 120km/h. Seconds are a time measurement, so that can be used.

The 3 second rule is actually the minimum. If you are towing a unbraked loaded trailer, it probably even better to have a 5 second gap.
 
supersunbird said:
Because you ask that while having a license and sharing JHB roads with me. Your speed can change, that why the car lengths apart is not relevant at all, because its distance based and that changes all the time and is difficult to measure in your mind, the distance required to stop or react changes. The faster you go, the more distance you travel for every second it takes to react or brake. What stays constant is time, a hour stays a hour whether going 60km/h or 120km/h. Seconds are a time measurement, so that can be used.

The 3 second rule is actually the minimum. If you are towing a unbraked loaded trailer, it probably even better to have a 5 second gap.
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I hope you dont think Im a bad driver, because Im not, in fact I'm a very good driver. Im just saying if a passenger told me to give a 4 second gap between my car and the one in front of me, I would give him a WTF face, because how can you tell you are 4 seconds behind him. I would have to go right behind his car, de-accelerate and start counting till 4.

No, BS, just use metres so you dont confuse people.
 
Rickster said:
I hope you dont think Im a bad driver, because Im not, in fact I'm a very good driver. Im just saying if a passenger told me to give a 4 second gap between my car and the one in front of me, I would give him a WTF face, because how can you tell you are 4 seconds behind him. I would have to go right behind his car, de-accelerate and start counting till 4.

No, BS, just use metres so you dont confuse people.
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Wow...
 
Rickster said:
I hope you dont think Im a bad driver, because Im not, in fact I'm a very good driver. Im just saying if a passenger told me to give a 4 second gap between my car and the one in front of me, I would give him a WTF face, because how can you tell you are 4 seconds behind him. I would have to go right behind his car, de-accelerate and start counting till 4.

No, BS, just use metres so you dont confuse people.
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You count from the moment the vehicle in front of you passes a tree/lamppost/signage/cow until you pass the same thing. Easy.
 
Rickster said:
I hope you dont think Im a bad driver, because Im not, in fact I'm a very good driver. Im just saying if a passenger told me to give a 4 second gap between my car and the one in front of me, I would give him a WTF face, because how can you tell you are 4 seconds behind him. I would have to go right behind his car, de-accelerate and start counting till 4.

No, BS, just use metres so you dont confuse people.
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Double wow...
 
Quantum Theory said:
The faster you go, the further your stopping distance is. If you give the following distance in time, the gap increases as the speed increases, which is what you want. Thus 3 seconds at 60km/h is a 50m gap, while 3 seconds at 100km/h is a 83m gap and 3 seconds at 120km/h is a 100m gap. If you wanted to do the measurement in meters, you would need a chart for following distance at all speeds, which could be rather distracting while driving.
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Good lord - the fact that this needs explain is kinda scary. Wasn't this covered in learners license material and/or grade 10 physics?

That being said..all those following distance things don't work in GP traffic anyway. If you leave a "safe" distance then 2 taxis and a citi golf will squash into the gap...invariably whilst braking hard...leaving you with exactly zero safety distance and a sudden need to brake too. So I generally keep highway safety distance a little on the tight side...that way I only need to worry about surprises from the front cars, not from mystery taxis swooping in with ninja moves from other directions.
 
supersunbird said:
Because you ask that while having a license and sharing JHB roads with me. Your speed can change, that why the car lengths apart is not relevant at all, because its distance based and that changes all the time and is difficult to measure in your mind, the distance required to stop or react changes. The faster you go, the more distance you travel for every second it takes to react or brake. What stays constant is time, a hour stays a hour whether going 60km/h or 120km/h. Seconds are a time measurement, so that can be used.

The 3 second rule is actually the minimum. If you are towing a unbraked loaded trailer, it probably even better to have a 5 second gap.
Click to expand...

To get this partially back on off-topic (:D), I also sometimes take into account what car im following. Certain vehicles have better stopping power than others, e.g. trucks brake slower than a Porsche.
 
Rickster said:
I hope you dont think Im a bad driver, because Im not, in fact I'm a very good driver. Im just saying if a passenger told me to give a 4 second gap between my car and the one in front of me, I would give him a WTF face, because how can you tell you are 4 seconds behind him. I would have to go right behind his car, de-accelerate and start counting till 4.

No, BS, just use metres so you dont confuse people.
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Triple wow.

As was already said, what you are following also changes how far you should follow.

I don't get too close to trucks or other large vehicle purely because I can't see past them and therefore can't respond as quickly.
 
HavocXphere said:
Good lord - the fact that this needs explain is kinda scary. Wasn't this covered in learners license material and/or grade 10 physics?

That being said..all those following distance things don't work in GP traffic anyway. If you leave a "safe" distance then 2 taxis and a citi golf will squash into the gap...invariably whilst braking hard...leaving you with exactly zero safety distance and a sudden need to brake too. So I generally keep highway safety distance a little on the tight side...that way I only need to worry about surprises from the front cars, not from mystery taxis swooping in with ninja moves from other directions.
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I understand metres as a form of distance, not freaking seconds.
 
To answer OP. No. What was his driving like before getting a new car?

sn3rd said:
To get this partially back on off-topic (:D), I also sometimes take into account what car im following. Certain vehicles have better stopping power than others, e.g. trucks brake slower than a Porsche.
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Yeah, there are many little things like this that make someone a better driver.

I just think a lot of people are not interested enough in driving. The act of driving should be the primary focus when driving. Not music, phones, talking, showing off etc.
 
sn3rd said:
To get this partially back on off-topic (:D), I also sometimes take into account what car im following. Certain vehicles have better stopping power than others, e.g. trucks brake slower than a Porsche.
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Same. Esp the BMW/Merc/Audi crew...chances are its running brake-assist (or equivalent). If that guy taps the brakes hard even temporarily then then onboard computer will nail the brakes.

Make of car is good for initial impression only though. Driver behavior is more important long term. The ideal for me - esp on long journeys - is finding drivers on the road with a similar temperament (same speed, similar overtaking behaviour etc). Makes life so much easier when its 3+ cars driving as an unofficial convoy almost....after a decent couple k's you know nobody is going to do anything erratic so you can chill a bit.
 
HavocXphere said:
Same. Esp the BMW/Merc/Audi crew...chances are its running brake-assist (or equivalent). If that guy taps the brakes hard even temporarily then then onboard computer will nail the brakes.

Make of car is good for initial impression only though. Driver behavior is more important long term. The ideal for me - esp on long journeys - is finding drivers on the road with a similar temperament (same speed, similar overtaking behaviour etc). Makes life so much easier when its 3+ cars driving as an unofficial convoy almost....after a decent couple k's you know nobody is going to do anything erratic so you can chill a bit.
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This. Consistent speed ftw.
 
Yes it does.

I drove a merc c240 sometime ago I overtook on the emergency lane at 140km/h, basically drove like an ass.

Got rear ended 3 times but never a front smash all those electronics(esp+abs) do help you stop faster but the people behind you don't always stop as fast.

I can't afford that type of car for now but I still drive at 140km/h just not close enough to see the colour of your eyes in the rear view mirror.
 
Rickster said:
Im talking about when cruising on the high way.
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There are road signs and on the GFIP road a lot of lights and even dotted paint lines or even clumps of grass next to the road... many things to measure it against.

OK, so you see and use metres when driving? How many metres do you leave open at 120km/h and at 140km/h?
 
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Rickster said:
I understand metres as a form of distance, not freaking seconds.
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Do you understand that it takes longer to stop when you are going fast than when you are going slow?

Lol at I'm a good driver - being a good driver doesn't protect you when a taxi pulls into your lane at 80km/h and you are doing 160km/h 20m behind him!
 
Back to the topic at hand. To a degree yes, but it depends on the car you used previously and the one you changed to.

For example, we recently got one of the new A3 sedans and while it is a great car, it seems to calm me down more than make me reckless since I know I can get up to speed easier and don't have to thrash it like the previous cars.
 
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