While you are driving you should at all times maintain safe separation distances between yourself, hazards and any other road users. Below are a few rules that will help you to know what distance you should be looking for in each circumstance.
Tyres and tarmac.
When it is necessary to pull up behind a stationary vehicle in traffic, for example at traffic lights, you should make sure that when you stop you can see where the tyres of the vehicle in front touch the road and a little tarmac behind them.
There are at least two good reasons for this.
1. If you stop behind another vehicle on a hill and the driver of the vehicle ahead does not take a suitable biting point then they could easily role back into you.
2. If the car ahead of you does not move off for any reason and the vehicle behind is really close, as they usually are, it is comforting to know that you can move off without having to wait for others to reverse foryou.
You need to remember that the tyres and tarmac gap is an absolute minimum and therefore not something to be aimed at. You should aim to pull up before the point of tyres and tarmac.
Door width.
When passing a stationary vehicle you need to maintain a safe distance from that vehicle. An accident that may occur is that the driver/passenger opens a door right there in front of you without looking and gets it ripped off, Ouch. Make sure that as you pass stationary vehicles that this will not happen.
Middle of the available gap.
If you are on a road that has stationary vehicles on both sides then you may be thinking that leaving a door opening width from the vehicle on the left is a good idea. It is as long as this gap does not leave you any closer to the vehicles on the right than those on the left. If this would be the case then go through the middle of the available gap. Remember to slow down. With that many vehicles parked there are innumerable places that unseen pedestrians may come from.
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