why do african-americans stop 1-2 car lengths behind other cars at stop lights?

Question

i live in a predominantly african-american neighborhood and work in a predominantly caucasion area of Los Angeles. while waiting at most every stop light, some are usually sitting back far enough to get one or two cars in between them and the car ahead of them. i have yet to see a caucasion person do this except for an extremely old woman who probably shouldn't be driving anyway. i don't understand the concept. and so far, no one of either race can tell me why this happens. it doesn't seem to bother anyone too much if someone's sitting on their tail. is it a fear of being car jacked and not having the ability to get away or is it that they value their cars in an extreme way and don't want to get in an accident or scratched? age and gender doesn't seem to be a factor either. please help me figure this out.

Answer 1

I'm black, and my daddy told me when I first learned to drive, to stop far enough behind a car to leave room to pull out without backing up, if I needed to in the instance that the car in front of me breaks down or if I needed to pull around the vehicle for any other reason.

It can just be an issue of safety and not necessarily because of the value of the car.

Answer 2

Im not trying to say anything, but when I have driven through certain parts of town the traffic behavior is quite a bit different. I have seen folks drive slow or wait about three seconds after the light turns green to even think about going forward. After they are in motion, their speed is just slow. Come on, looking cool 24/7? give me break. Another thing I have noticed is that there are just going to be a few roads in your town that will just be terrible in general. That is mostly due to either the surrounding neighborhoods or the two different parts of town that the road connects. Personally I would prefer to take a subway, that solves most if not all driving problems.

Answer 3

when I go away room that's on purpose. you're meant to go away some room, and that i'm no longer effective what you concentration on a automobile length to understand in the adventure that they are leaving the right volume or too a lot. I go away the room in case I actually could get out of there. In situations like say someone tries to carjack you, appropriate time to do it at the same time as someone is sitting at a mild with their bumper to the different guy's bumper, or the vehicle in the front stalls or some thing else. It gained't make you bypass over a mild, except the guy isn't paying interest. the guy who's sitting again somewhat is going to commence going once they could, they gained't merely sit down round perpetually. Oh and what number WAIT after the vehicle in the front of them strikes to augment that similar CUSHION? So what if the cushion is already there. Does that quite slow issues down?

Answer 4

It has nothing to do with race. I have seen all different races sit at a light with tons of space between them. For some reason some people just dont like to move up at the light, these people annoy me. Also maybe they are trying to avoid someone causing a fake accident, such as purposely backing up at a light to fake like they were hit from behind or preventing someone from boxing them in. There are people out there who will stop short so you hit their car by accident then they box you in to rob you or just file a fake accident report which you pay for.

Answer 5

actually 1-2 car lengths is too much. it allows another vehicle to occupy the space you wanted preserve in the first place.
First rule of defensive driving whether on a freeway at 90mph or a potentially dangerous neighborhood : always leave yourself an escape route..

Answer 6

Please understand that I say this not because I am an African-American but because I also a road rage. I think it is road rage because you actually concentrate enough on traffic to determine driving patterns and drivers. Which makes me think that there is more than thought that goes into your driving. I think the problem this, you recognize AA's more because of your festering disregard for them, not because AA's must have 2 car lengths ahead of them. For that answer you must check your neighborhood not the internet. But I think it is your focus on us, thus making us more prone to your rage on the road or focused attention. But please if you want the constant dangling of cars on your butt, come to DC. We love dangling, all of us. Black and white alike. When your rage grows you will forget about color and treat all cars as equals.

Answer 7

that's just your area.... most people dont do that, african american or not. why does race matter to you? you could have asked the question and left race out of it... who gives a damn what race someone is.

perhaps people that do that are just being safe in case some idiot decides to rear-end them. plenty of space between your car and the car ahead of you allows a lot less risk for hitting the person in front of you if you are rear-ended.

Answer 8

I have seen this a lot with Asian's also, I don't know honestly why but the car jacking thing and the rear-end thing makes sense, or just because,

Answer 9

I do not know the answer but have noticed the same. I will ask several of my work mates and see what answers I get.

Answer 10

well i'm white and I was told by my uncle to do that in case some one tries to jack you, you have space to at least try to get away