My driving instructor taught me that I should still be able to see the other car’s back wheels when I stop. I actually don’t know how close that looks from the other driver’s perspective.
Terrible, terrible advice. That leaves a full car-length of empty pavement with the driver sight-lines of modern SUV and crossover designs. Pickup trucks are worse; I’ve seen pickup truck drivers stop a full 30 feet back. It wastes huge amounts of space on the street, and causes traffic congestion. On the other side of the coin, van and bus drivers can still get right up on your ass when following this advice.
I hate breathing in pollution so I keep a car’s length between me and the next car at traffic lights. Cars themselves are a huge storming waste of space and I hate being in or around cars with all my heart and soul so if I make traffic worse then I will consider it a passive form of protesting against car dependency
What it looks like:
Not actually as the “see the tires” rule is fairly good advise. Keep in mind sometimes it is smarter to give a little more space depending on the situation. Think of it as more of a minimum. Also lose most of your speed farther back and then role forward. This allows for recovery time in case of failure or loss of traction.
