Why do bike riders tend to ride so close to the vehicle ahead?

[carbonhed]

My bike has ABS...

So does mine. Would it outbrake a car? I seriously doubt it and I certainly wouldn't want to find out the hard way.

[sunhuntin]

this is something i try to monitor and correct when out and about.
the main problem is being able to see either over or through the vehicle and looking so far ahead that im not registering the car anymore. i end up creeping up quite close before clicking and adjusting. i try and readjust my vision regularly, normally when i check the mirrors, i check the following distance as well.
i usually use the rule that if i can read the number plate clearly, then im getting too close. [for a 100k road its if i can tell the plate from the car] course, that changes in heavy traffic, but in free moving, its something i try to stick to.

if im following a vehicle i cant see past, such as a tall van or something with tinted windows, then i hang back quite nicely.

[release_the_bees]

I've found that I am the complete opposite and tend to follow the four second rule when riding the bike. The main reason being so that I can see more of the upcoming road surface, and give myself plenty of time to smoothly move out of the way of any obstacles on the road.

I've also found that this helps minimize the danger of cars pulling out of side roads directly in front of me. If they do so, they tend to move as soon as the car in front has passed the intersection, meaning I still have 3-4 seconds to react appropriately, should the pull out in front of me.

[ducatilover]

I tend to follow at a decent distance and where I am not in the driver-in-fronts blind spots.
Never been to keen to test my bikes vs the arse end of a car in a braking contest, plus being a Honda owner, hitting a car in front may ruin my complexion I have worked so hard for. My boyfriends would leave me, as would my wife. I would begin sniffing glue, attack an Arab and get shot through the spine, end up in a wheelchair with no kids and shit myself for the next 15 years before I chain smoke myself to death in my dark Honda closet.

Something like that