Because you clearly learned from your mistake, and it doesn't seem it was very serious. . FYL. Glad you took responsibility! :D

Good learning experience. Here you're supposed to leave enough space that you can see tarmac behind their rear tyres, and you can maneuver around them without reversing if they broke down. That gap would've meant a tiny creep wouldn't have hit them too. :) Most cars are manual here (UK) so it stops them rolling back into you as well though, especially on hills.

It's possible to not stop so closely to the car in front of you that you'd hit them if you moved two inches, even in heavy traffic. A good rule is to always make sure you can see the bottom of the back wheels of the car in front of you.

The other reasoning behind being able to see their tires or the Tarmac, what if an ambulance needs through? Bumper to bumper you're not moving. Of you can see their tires you can maneuver off the road. Or a more drastic example, what if a big rigs breaks go out and he can't stop at 75 mph, a few cars aren't going to slow him down to much, and you would have been stuck there. Always have an escape route!

This happened in a way to my mother once. She was at a light and there were cars around her. She started watching a hawk flying around and then out of the corner of her eye she saw cars moving so she went and hit the car in front of her. It was the turn lane that was moving lol. I never let her live it down and still get a good laugh as I write this. May she RIP. But glad everything is ok OP!

Although I agree leaving enough space so you can see the tarmac of the car ahead of your's rear wheels is smart, doing so here in CA just makes driving in bumper to bumper traffic that much more frustrating. This is because if you leave even that amount of space ahead of you, you will be constantly allowing people from the next lane to shove their way in front of you because you're the only one allowing there to be that much space. Generally, no one drives safely with that much room around here! So it's either constant road rage of people cutting you off and defensive driving or staying on the person's ass ahead of you and having to pay extra close attention to break lights. Both aren't fun.

Exactly! That's one of the reasons I usually follow people in traffic is because I'm tired of getting cut-off if I leave enough space, it really makes things frustrating on the road >_<

I pick my nose a lot when I'm driving. Sometimes people look over at me while I'm digging for gold and it can get pretty awkward

You posted this on my birthday! Haha!

how did you cause $600 worth of damage if you were bumper-to-bumper? sounds like you hit the gas before hitting the car in front of you...

Some paint on cars is what is expensive. My gf had a scratch the size of a quarter and it costed 400 to fix.

We're supposed to leave distance in the US, too. OP, YDI for being too close.

Now I feel bad for tapping YDI after reading OP's follow-up.

FML won't let me thumb up your comment, but thumbs up

*Brake lights.

I work in the auto industry and any paint with a pearl sheen in it is very costly to fix as you can't match it due to the pearl sheen an it's obvious if it's been repaired if you try to correct a scratch so normally you gotta respray the whole panel normally $600 due to labour (paint stripping, sanding, priming and painting) plus cost of materials and staff plus a business needs to make a profit which we never do on fixing pearl paint so even small stuff can cost a bomb!

"7 FMLs submitted, p FMLs published." What is this sorcery ???

If OP, in New York, is anything g like it is here in Detroit; there's no such thing as leaving space to see the tarmac. Someone will just pull into that space from another lane. It's not supposed to be that way obviously but it is just the same. I don't quite get the manual not rolling back comment. In a manual you can easily roll back on a hill if you are new to manual or just a poor driver. I've seen it many times and I had a girlfriend who tried to learn but starting off a hill was something she never figured out. Maybe when everyone actually knows how to drive stick i'ts different?

Lol

Hahaha I've done that! Although I was trying to see if the guy In the car next to me was my buddy, and when they turned I went and asspacked an old lady, luckily no tickets or points for me

I did this a few weeks ago...a police escort was going through a toll booth and I was watching the big trucks carrying a huge steel beam through. Foot slipped off the brake and i tapped the car in front of me. Luckily it wasn't enough to cause any damage, lol.

I'm sorry to hear about that, but great story

I just rear ended someone a couple weeks ago! A few cars in front of the car I hit, a guy was turning. So they ALL slowed down, and I didn't look up from my mirrors until it was too late:( totally my fault and I basically have a heads-up display in my head turned on all the time when I drive now haha. sucks OP! Glad they didn't go through insurance though!

This FML and further explanation has just reminded me how much I hate driving when I visit the US. So many road users are aggressive, unsafe, always changing lane, terrible. I remember when I used to think London driving was pretty bad, I had no idea.....! Apologies in advance to all the defensive 'Murica types who will thumb me down.

104-- anyone who thumbs you down is probably that driver. We do suck at driving here. I live in Oklahoma City (not that busy, rush hour is not too terrible) and people drive like they have been waiting for hours. I think, in general, we Americans seem to be more aggressive anyway.

You should also never be so close to a vehicle so that if your foot slips off the brake you hit them. Always ensure you can see their tires through your windshield. If bottom of their tires lines up with the bottom of your windshield, you've left enough space and even if your foot slipped off, you'd have time to recover.