Hi Doc, I can’t find your traffic “Bubble” distance rules thread.
I like that a lot. I’ve been trying to follow it but have forgot the distance:speeds rules.

I came back to Big Spring from Dallas on Thursday afternoon and it was a trip
down 30 west from Dallas to past Weatherford because someone kept filling the gap in front of me so they could tailgate the vehicle in front of me.

Anyways, could you please repost your distances at various speeds. I have a new to me truck that is pristine and I really want to keep it that way for a while.

Thanks!!

I learned it in a defensive driving class.
Fifteen or so years ago, I got busted in one of those sneaky was 75mph for miles on end then 60mph just after a bridge for a mile then back to 75mph. Got stopped doing 77mph in that one mile stretch.

4 second bubble around the entire vehicle at all times.
5 seconds in inclement weather (rain/snow).
6 seconds if icy.

Watch the car in front. See him/her pass a road sign or bridge.
Count one Mississippi two Mississippi three Mississippi four Mississippi
Then you pass the same sign/bridge.

The bubble refers to avoiding driving near other people’s blind spots and tailgaters.

I especially avoid vehicles that look like they’ve been in fender benders and impacts.

….so the time in seconds stays the same no matter the speed.

I must admit once I get below 50mph, three second bubble is comfortable.

The theory behind this is by the time you react to putting your foot on the brake if traveling at 65mph; your vehicle has already travelled 150ft or so…then there’s the distance required for your vehicle to stop once the brakes are applied.

Here is a different variation of the rule.

This bloke says stay a minimum of two seconds behind the vehicle in front.

I’d prefer at lest three.

What if a car behind you is tailgating you and you are already going the speed limit. Is it ok to increase speed until you are four seconds ahead?

What if you’re just traveler vs. what the government would consider to be a driver?

Edit: I’m only axing because I don’t know if Jon is a driver or a traveler.

These are all good questions.

If there are multiple lanes, I will change lanes and then 99% of tailgaters can’t resist but to speed up so then they can tailgate the vehicle that was 3 seconds ahead of me.

We are all the both the traveler and the passenger on the road of life at all times.
While driving 65mph on the Earth; the Earth spins around its axis at 1000mph and revolves around the sun at 67000mph with our solar system moving at 448,000 miles per hour away from the Big Bang epicenter.

Thank you! I feel confident that Jon will be appreciative too.

Right on brothers.

Thank you very much. I'm going to go with the 4 second gap due to my age and reaction time. Something told me to start doing this and I intend to try and make it a habit regardless if I'm going to be late or not.

Interesting thing I saw in bumper to bumper on west I 30 while still in Arlington. Everyone was going less than the speed limit but still moving. I happened to be in the fast lane but we weren't moving any faster than the other 3. I was leaving my distance behind the car in front and some dipstick pulled left on the shoulder and darted around to fill my gap. Then he did the same thing to the car that was just in front of me. In 10-15 miles, that dipstick only gaiined about a 200 yd lead on me and everyone else he passed.

And then the 2 street racers doing about 25 mph more than everyone else managed to weave through all that without causing a wreck and went out of sight. Those guys could drive and had some bad [censored] cars. One of them had a chute on the back.

Those guys are good to great at driving until they aren’t. Too many random things happen on highways.
Deer running across the road out of nowhere, etc.
head on a swivel at all times.

Good stuff!

Well Sawhorse, I do feel appreciative just to be here and still kicking. By being a "traveler" I thought maybe you were talking about those dipstick idiots that refuse to give a cop their drivers license for some traffic infraction. Seems like a subset of those say they are not driving but traveling or somesuch nonsense.

The cop will spend about 15 to 20 minutes or more asking about 28 times to see their license or ID before they smash out the window and drag the idiot out and put the handcuffs on. Those cops are way more patient than I would be. Oh, and I forgot the part where they tell the cop to get his supervisor out there.

I do enjoy moving away from every other point in the universe at 448,000 MPH though. That's booking it.
I'm sure going to be interested in finding out all the details of how that actually happend and how it all works. I thnk some species in the universe have already figured it out and make use of that for traveling. I also feel like a whole lot of things we can't currently comprehend will be revealed. In fact, I'm sure of it.

I bet you get flipped off a minimum of 6 times a day.