Aussies divided over baffling detail in traffic photo

A driver in Sydney has criticised a bizarre driving practice, which has ignited much debate online.

The person snapped a shot of two cars stopped more than a meter behind the line at a red traffic light in Rockdale.

"What's the advantage of stopping a car length behind the white line... Or am I an habitual "line stepper"?," they said on Reddit.

Drivers at a 'disadvantage' with move

The post garnered 1,400 upvotes, with many people chiming in with their views.

But the most popular was one user who says he believes they're putting themselves at a "disadvantage

"The traffic lights don’t know there are any cars waiting because they haven’t stopped on top of the sensor," they wrote, receiving 1.3k upvotes.

Most traffic lights in NSW are controlled by loops embedded behind the line, meaning when a car is placed over the top, "a demand is placed for your movement in the traffic signal cycle", the NSW government says.

"The detector loops are generally placed in the middle of the lane just behind the stop line."

One person said they'd done this at the same lights and quickly learnt their lesson.

"Yes dude! I thought I was the only one who gets annoyed by this. What is the logic???" another person said.

Finger pointed at driving instructors

While many thought it was "dumb", others pointed out that they were taught to stop further away from the line by driving instructions.

"If the testing person thinks you've put a wheel on the line, it's a failure to stop at a stop light/sign and instant test fail," one person said. "Had a young friend who would do this, she was apparently told by her driving instructor to stop almost a car length from the line, for that reason above and to prevent being knocked into an active intersection if rear ended."

Another also suggested that "if someone runs the red light as yours goes green, you’ve got an extra metre or two before entering the intersection and potentially miss getting into a wreck."

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Despite the array of different ideas from online, the NSW Road User Handbook says drivers must stop "as close as possible behind the line" at a traffic light or stop sign or line. Though it is encouraged to keep a 'three second' gap between you and the car in front to decrease the risk of a crash.

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