I have never seen any advantage to tailgating, so why do we do it ?
I don't tailgate and I an usually the one doing about 60mph on the motorway in the outside lane, watching as one car overtakes anouther but as doing so a whole group of cars brake to avoid this one car and rarely does one move to the inside lane so as to stay at the speed they were doing.
Tailgating leads to accidents, on a driving lesson doing 60mph down a single carridgeway I saw a lorry coming towards me but so close (tailgating) was anouther lorry which decided to pull out infront of me, The instructor was as shocked as me because he haddn't see this lorry either, so we slowed to 40mph pulled tight into the verge the lorry being overtaken did the same and the lorry performing the overtake came through.
The main problem facing the second lorry was - he couldn't see round the lorry had no idea what was there, his second problem was because he was very close to the first lorry he would have been passing it as he pulled out thus he would not have been able to pull in again.
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Latent aggressive tendencies and they love taking risks, i.e. pretty irrational behind the wheel of a car. Most of these drivers know what the braking distances are, but don't care, as they believe they are good drivers and they will never hit the car in front. Now that you have EBD, EBA, ABS etc. these kind of drivers pretty much think they are immortal.
Somehow, ordinary people turn into crazed lunatics behind the wheel of a car.
What proportion of crashes are due to tailgating? Anyone got the stats?
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I saw a police traffic car tailgating yesterday! No way was he 2 seconds behind the car he was following.
Even on motorway stretches (M1 around J18?) which have chevrons to encourage people to stay two markers apart have litttle effect.
People simply drive in their own little worlds!
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I think it's probably meant as a message of superiority. I think it says "My car will go faster than yours, if only you would get out of my way."
--
L\'escargot.
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I generally let them go and tailgate someone else - preferably a 44 Tonner.
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I've been tailgated by a Police car (a traffic car, I thought) whilst doing 30mph in a 30 zone. What hope is there if that's the example being set by the supposed experts?
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Followed an aging Saxo yesterday with a sticker in the back window - 'If you can see rust on this car you are too ****** close' I read this while we were at some lights. Needless to say on the next stretch of 70mph dual carriageway he proceeded to follow the car in front with one car length between them!
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There's lots of suggestions of power-trips etc. on this thread, but I honestly think, for the majority of tailgaters, the reason is just that they don't realise. They get in the car, engage autopilot, and drive along with so little attention that they don't even get how dangerous what they're doing is.
The tell-tale is this: If you're being tailgated, come to an easy overtaking opportunity, and they don't, then they're one of these. Surely if they're aggressive or in a rush, they'd take the opportunity to pass.
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I don't condone tailgating in any way Nick but maybe if you weren't doing 60mph in the outside lane you could avoid it! ;-)
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Smiley noted, but seriously......
The number of people who pull into lane 3 and don't get on with the overtake do nothing to help to situation. Lanes 2 and 3 are for overtaking, not cruising or blocking others going faster than others think they should.
Time to make M-way lessons/test mandatory given the abysmal standard of driving on the country's m-way system. And think, all those cars that would be taken off the roads when they fail; what congestion? :-)
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Yup and yup, dawdling in the right hand lane of a motorway or the middle one if there's no traffic is a cardinal driving offence, neglected or played down by speed-obsessed safety campaigners and those passive-aggressive speed limit loving pain in the fundament mimsers who think it's OK to waddle along at well below a ludicrously failsafe speed limit 'just to be on the safe side', ought to be banned if you ask me...
Surely tailgating for a moment as part of a wider manoeuvre, especially if one is driving a low-powered car which may have a hard time getting back any lost momentum, may be permitted. If the manoeuvre fails though one has to drop back. And of course if any contact occurs the tailgater will be to blame.
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I don't condone tailgating in any way Nick but maybe if you weren't doing 60mph in the outside lane you could avoid it! ;-)
I will clear up your small confusion issue - I had three driving instructors ( just from moving three times in a period of 4mths ) Two of them both class the outide lane of a motorway as nearest to the Hard sholder or furthest from traffic traveling in the oposite direction. With one of these instructors I drove on the A2 between Strood and Gravesend ( the busiest part and while they were building the forth lane ON the wrong side !!
only one of the instructors (from sweden)classed the outside lane as nearest traffic traveling and furthest from the hard sholder But Just to clarify I do 60mph in the left lane (nearest hardsholder only ) always treat the two other lanes as overtaking lanes only - but would like to see a law introduced which would give a Minimum speed on the overtaking lanes of 70mph - This would stop large lorries from performing stupid overtakes which snarl up the traffic.
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They're probably the same people who tut and get close up behind as I safely amble into the extrance of Sainsbury's and then stop in the doorway and look around, now, where do I want to go first, vegetables? Hmmm, this basket isn't as nice as the newer ones, I'll sawp it, hmmmm. Have another stop and look around. Ooo who are all these people behind tutting around the automatic doors, they'll end up getting trapped.
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This is a problem that may well reduce as more and more cars get adaptive cruise. Already on Merc S-class, also on many Nissan Primeras, option on Jags, and probably others. Be on Mondeos real soon now I would think. Five years? Be on most new cars.
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There's lots of suggestions of power-trips etc. on this thread, but I honestly think, for the majority of tailgaters, the reason is just that they don't realise. They get in the car, engage autopilot, and drive along with so little attention that they don't even get how dangerous what they're doing is. The tell-tale is this: If you're being tailgated, come to an easy overtaking opportunity, and they don't, then they're one of these. Surely if they're aggressive or in a rush, they'd take the opportunity to pass.
Add to this the taller vehicles are getting: in our C3, which is taller, you look OVER the car in front and i find myself driving closer to the car in front until i realise. Don't ahve that problem in the Almera as it's lower down.
Next time you're driving a taller vehicle, check your distance, you may be surprised. Unless i'm incorrectly extrapolating my own experience.
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I saw a sign on a mini (BL-type) saying "If I wanted you up my **** I'd kiss you first.'
It was being driven by an elderly lady.
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I think most of us at some point tailgate when traffic builds up.On our busy congested roads when you try to leave a nice sensible gap to the car in front,inevitably you get someone pulling in to it.I try to avoid getting too close to the car in front,but what happens when your in a hurry on the motorway/dual carriageway and some idiot is dawdling along in the outside lane and they don't/won't pull over.If you keep a sensible gap behind them you can bet that they will ignore you.They are impeding your progress.Other than undertake them,flash them(both of which i dislike extremely),then getting up close is the only option which will move them out of the way.If someone is right up my chuff then I move out of the way.
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>>then getting up close is the only option which will move them out of the way
I hope you kill yourself before you kill somebody else. There is no excuse for that sort of behaviour on your part. 'To arrive, one must first arrive.' You'll be even later if you are in an accident.
If the other person is driving badly you have no need to compound the situation by driving dangerously. Think on it.
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I have thought on it.sorry,but I like most road users dont like to be held up by someone else not paying attention..I suppose you are one of those drivers who sits there saying "I am doing this speed,and I wont let you go past me".
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>>I have thought on it.sorry,but I like most road users dont
>>like to be held up by someone else not paying attention..
None of us likes to be held up by somebody not paying attention. But you have a strange logic that says 'Look! There's a car whose driver is not paying attention! I know! I'm going to sit as close behind him as possible and if he's really paying that little attention then we might have an accident because he's not seen me. A high speed crash on the motorway, that'll show him!'
Fortunately natural selection will on average get you before it gets me!
I most certainly, BTW, do not hold up other drivers; the sooner drivers like you who are hell-bent on their own deaths are well away from me the happier I am.
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Very true, even if a little sanctimonious.
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Last week I was at J4 on the M40, Oxford-bound .Here the main carriage way reduces to 2 lanes, allowing the first lane to leave to the infamous Handy Cross roundabout. The 2 lanes continue under the junction, where the trafiic joining at 4 enters in a slip raod which becomes lane 1.
As I approach the "inbound" side of the exit, I see a guy in a Saab convertible coming in at great speed and I figure is likely to want to get to lane 2 quickly, so I move across into what becomes lane 3, which is nice and clear .
Sure enough he moves into Lane 2, and I am alongside him .At this point a van come sup behind me to a distance of about 2 metres, and the Saab guy pulls into 3 ahead of me .So my strategy of creating space for us all is wasted and I end up in a box travelling at 70mph, with the Saab about 10 metres ahead and the van about 2-3 behind.
Then the Saab guy floors it and I watch him for several miles tailgate anything in Lane 3, driving up behind them very fast, braking madly, then harassing them to move over .Most waited until it was safe, but I saw one who pulled across to lane 2 to get out of the way and very nearly side-swiped someone.
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- Lorries tailgate lorries because it reduces drag and saves fuel.
- Cruise control often leads to motorway tailgating.
- So does sporty label - it's a known fact - people don't buy spoilers just for fun, spoilers, blue washers and lexus styled lights give right of way. We all had that proverbial double whale spoilered Clio or a BMW 316 with stick-on "M" labels everywhere impatiently swearve from left to right like Daytona race car inches from our boot almost as it was to scream "I don't care you don't have a space to pull out, just let me zoom through or I swear I will pee in my seat in a second".
- Midlife crisis sport convertible drivers tailgate because they can't see front of the bonnet from their seat.
- White transits tailgate because they are the best drivers in fastest cars on the road plus their vehicle is a fleet car and you don't support Arsenal anyway, so - not much loss either way.
- Land Rovers tailgate because "I'm in a hurry all the way from Kensington to pick up my only child, my husband is a lawyer and he will put you in jail if I run your puny car over you East London muppet".
Seriously tho - with tailgaters it's just like with the typical queue in post office. You can have 50 people queueing politely, and then a blondie walks in, hanging off an arm of Vinnie Jones bold headed gold chain type and she waves to the queueing crowd with an envelope and yells sweetly "can I go though next, I just need to post one letter?". Sure honey - we all queue for our astronaut certificates...
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[Nissan dCi are NOT Renault engines. Grrr...]
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Nickk quote
"I don't tailgate and I an usually the one doing about 60mph on the motorway in the outside lane, watching as one car overtakes anouther but as doing so a whole group of cars brake to avoid this one car and rarely does one move to the inside lane so as to stay at the speed they were doing."
If you're the one sitting in the outside lane doing 60mph, no wonder we have tailgating !!! Eat your own words!
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Sometimes I find I'm doing it unintentionally since my car being a diesel doesn't seem to slow down as fast as a petrol when you take your foot off the loud pedal. Renault dCi.
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I personally tend to stay left and if that means I undertake I undertake. Who is in the wrong????
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Sometimes I find I'm doing it unintentionally since my car being a diesel doesn't seem to slow down as fast as a petrol when you take your foot off the loud pedal. Renault dCi.
More compression = less engine braking? :-S
Not an auto is it?
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I assume tailgaters think I should be driving faster, even if that means I should break the speed limit, just to comply with their wishes.
But they are, in fact, being 'radiator-grilled' by me since if I stick to whatever speed I consider safe and legal, I get my way and they don't!!!
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Saw a good example why not to yesterday. M1 north near jcn 29 - 4pm. Slip road has one lane closed resulting in traffic queuing on motorway (very dangerous scenario anyway). Micra following wagon at about two car lengths distance, I'm a fair distance back in lane 2 having just moved over to let BiB past in lane 3. Wagon sees queuing traffic, no room to pull over to lane 2 slams on, Micra reacts eventually and ends up swerving all over lane 1 and hard shoulder. The queuing traffic on the slip road is on the hard shoulder (made worse by BIB exeiting at tehis junction causing cars to pull over) and Micra stops about a metre from last car on hard shoulder. Anyone know where to get brown stains out of a Nissan Micra seat!?
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