Suzuki Samurai was Re: [geeks] SPARC proprietary (waaaay

[CareySchug at aol.com]

The other problem is when you cannot maintain sucha cushion.  Like when all traffic is going 75 MPH with 2-3 car length gaps, and if you try to enlarge the gap ahead of you, as soon as you hit a gap of 4 carlenghts, people start comming up to .5 carlength bein you, veering into the next lane, then back in front of you, with only one carlength between you and them (so they get the standard 2 carlengths ahead of them).  Of course, if one of those guys jams on his brakes just after cutting in front of you, there is no way to avoid hitting them.  By Illinois law, it is automatically your fault.  

When Driving on expressways, I keep the maximum gap ahead of me that will avoid having people cut in front.  This includes watching how each and every other driver near me is driving, and I am not pretty good at guessing exactly how big a gap each person in the next lane will view as a justification for cutting in front of me, so that gap typically varies dynamically from 2 to 4 carlengths.

In a message dated 10/15/2003 5:38:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, kurt@***.*** writes:

> There's all sorts of other situations where maintaining a 
> good space cushion simply isn't going to help you.