So, your experience in Australia, applies to a city that has a population of 870,000 residents, and a total daytime population of over 2,000,000 all in a 46 square mile area, also with nearly every single intersection controlled in some fashion - no joke, pretty much every intersection has a stop sign or signal lights.

So based on this you give us your throw-away "3 second gap" comment, helpfully telling us that this is the law and something something emergency stop etc drive safe?

With an average speed of less than 10mph, and a very dense city, your normal traffic "rules" don't apply here. Don't even pretend you can understand how things are here without experiencing them.