Tailgating is not that dangerous. The difference in speed between the two vehicles is very little if a collision were to occur. Personally, I do not allow a tailgater to change my route, speed or anything else when I drive. I don’t do anything to stop them from going around, in fact, on a two lane road, I will stay a little to the right of the lane so they can see around me to pass if an opportunity should come up. Not moving to the shoulder though.
But I do not worry about the tailgater and I am damn well not going to do anything unexpected to increase the chances of an accident. I just ignore them. I have never understood this logic, “OMG there is a tailgater behind me. He might hit me, so I will slam on my brakes and when he does hit me, it will teach him a lesson.” Personally I don’t tailgate because it uses more gas, and I really like getting 38 mpg.
I have been rearended before, several times in fact. It was never by a tailgater though. Once, it was due to road rage, the driver that caused the accident rammed the car behind me while I was stopped at a red light because he had cut her off earlier in traffic. He was pushed into me, and I was pushed into a truck and so on, 6 cars totaled. The other times it was due to driver inattention and the speed difference was considerable as I was stopped or almost stopped for a traffic light. I was even hit by an 18 wheeler on the freeway because the driver fell asleep at the wheel and was going about 30 mph faster than I was at the time.
One morning on the way to work on the interstate, I was in the right lane, and a car was coming up fast behind me. He just continued to close ranks and I began to think about evasive action and started blinking my brake lights. At the last moment he woke up with a surprised look on his face and slammed on his brakes. You never know if you should hit the right shoulder, go left, speed up, or what, and just kind of sit like a duck on the pond waiting to be shot.
While I don’t like tailgaters, I agree with @keith, I’d rather be hit squarely in the rear by a person going the same direction that any other way. If I need to apply the brakes quickly because of danger ahead, sorry about your grill, you are paying the entire bill! (especially in my truck with its class 5 hitch). The exception is while on my motorcycle or being tailgated by a semi. In either case, move over and slow down so they can pass. I’m much more concerned by twits that INSIST on riding in your blind spot while they are in the left lane or merging traffic that does not understand that it is THEIR responsibility to find the opening to merge into.
I’ll grant you that…as a physics problem…you’re correct that somebody 1 cm off your bumper–while very likely to hit you–isn’t going to have time to create a dangerous speed differential.
However, as a social and public act, driving less than two carlengths behind is technically taxing, to the extent that it has to be willful to maintain such close seperation for any length of time. So, tailgating at such extremes is a malicious act undertaken with the use of a deadly weapon!
Basically, like waving a shooter around to make a point. (The fact that I might have full faith the perp won’t make good on his implied threat is almost beside the point, as far as the severity of the action is concerned.)
Which leads us to appropriate countermeasures. Now, while I cannot condone “brake checking” here, consider the pistol-brandisher: should he continue in his behavior, eventually he’ll run into someone who will make him regret his actions. While the retaliator may or may not have legal justification; ultimately, poetic justice is served.
If the guy in front suddenly has no choice but to slam on the brakes, and the tailgater doesn’t react appropriately, the difference in speed might be enormous, leading to a very ugly situation
That poetic justice that @meanjoe75fan mentioned could be the tailgater slamming into an unmarked patrol car . . .
Well, if the gap is measured in 2 or 3 feet, you really aren’t gonna hit withuch velocity difference. Remember the song, “convoy?” I’ll bet they were touching from time to time, just TOO close together to do much damage.
That said, tailing a bike is attempted homicide, IMO, and a brake-checking bike is an unsuccessful suicide attempt!
@keith
Tailgating is not that dangerous. The difference in speed between the two vehicles is very little if a collision were to occur.
That’s not tailgating, that’s bump drafting.
It is dangerous since the impact occurs when the vehicle in front rapidly slows down and the rear vehicle does not slow or slows at a lesser rate.
Tailgating IS dangerous! While the velocity difference between the tailgater and the tailgatee may not be much, what if the front car has to stop to avoid hitting a child or a cycle? Tailgating is also a hazard in that the tailgater’s attention is riveted on the car in front, thus not being able to see potential bad situations and hazards that may unfold ahead. You don’t realize anything is going wrong until you slam into the car in front of you, and if you push that car into a baby stroller you’re in a world of trouble!
Tailgating is not that dangerous ? It cuts down reaction time and , a tailgater can initiate the sequence of events that make the accident possible. If you have to stop or slow down quickly, everything is compromised and in these accidents, that’s just what happens.
So it can be a contributing factor, even in head on collisions and is a big part of road rage instances, like all aggressive driving techniques.
Rear end collisions are the most frequently reported accidents in the US If we say that tail gating or following too close is not that dangerous, IMO it ignores these important facts.
I drive an 84-passenger school bus part-time, and I can tell you…Rear-ending someone is a great way to screw up your CDL driving employment. If I rear-ended someone in my car while off duty I’d probably get fired! @dagosa’s comments above are absolutely correct.
I also have a CDL to protect. If I lose it, I’m most likely out of a job. If I’m extremely lucky, the employer might reclassify me as a “garage attendant”
I don’t like tailgaters either, but flashing your brake lights can antagonize them, and that isn’t going to improve the situation.
I’ve found the best way to deal with tailgaters is to gently slow down, encouraging them to pass you, and if they don’t pass, speed up to create some space. After seeing you gently slow down and speed up a few times, they’ll either get frustrated and pass you or they’ll get the hint that if they back off, you’ll actually drive faster.
Of course my advice assumes you’re smart enough not to be loitering in the passing lane if you’re that worried about tailgaters.
But there’s so many of them out there that…
even if you produce a proper following distance from the vehicle in front of you…
one of ‘‘THEM’’ is most surely going to pull into that ‘‘space’’ having no clue whatsoever that it is NOT a useable space at all.
As for anyone tailgating me…
I simply ignore them because they can go around if they want…but they don’t want.
So what I DO infact do in that case, when time allows, is flash the brake lights once or twice before my actual slow down at destination.
It works , they back off or slow slightliy allowing me proper slow down for whatever it is I’m doing next.
– especially a small car who can not see beyond my big Expedition. That driver can’t even tell that traffic in general is slowing and I want them to know.
A fleash of my brake lights helps tremendously.
“even if you produce a proper following distance from the vehicle in front of you…
one of ‘THEM’ is most surely going to pull into that ‘space’ having no clue whatsoever that it is NOT a useable (sic) space at all.”
I used to worry about that, but I’ve found that if I’m not in the passing lane, and some idiot, as he swerves from lane to lane, pulls in front of me, he will be getting out my way soon. Just wait for it.
…and if I’m in the passing lane, and someone pulls into the space between my car and the car in front of me, why should I care? He’ll probably either keep pace with the car in front of him or he’ll also be getting out of my way soon. Either way, letting him pull in front of me isn’t going to make me late unless he gets in front of me and slows down, and that’s pretty rare.
@Whitey:
“Passing lane” only really applies to interstates, with standard entry exit procedures (i.e. not a lot of left exits) and in a non-urban environent with low traffi, densities. Beyond a certain density, you wind up with multiple lanes, all full of vehicles, progressing towards the same destination.
Most of the times I’ve been tailed, it’s on a “highway-ish” state road, leading to a city center, with left entries and exits galore (PA-28 S, for those keeping score.)
Also, “maintain PSL and drive right” is generally insufficient advice. Drive PSL+5, and pass some semis doing PSL, and I guarantee, sooner or later, some nut will park on you bumper, apparently incensed that you’re not breaking the law by a sufficient degree.
Even when you’re not on a limited access highway, lane protocol should be followed until you get within a few blocks of your turn.
My commute is about half state highway (with left turns, right turns, and traffic lights) and half limited access interstate. I follow lane protocol on both types of roads.
In that scenario, you’d have a red light with cars 10 deep in the right lane, and nobody in the left. Doesn’t sound like any road I’ve ever been on…
Just checked, my home state requires right except to pass (and a few other things) only on limited-access highways. No set distance is specified, other than “as practicable.” Given that limited-acess highways generally give EXIT ONLY warnings about a mile before an exit, it stands to reason you could justify around a mile prior to exit as “practicable.”
I find your assumption that “lane protocol” and “passing lane” are synonymous faulty.
The simple reason lane protocol works on normal roads is that, if you’re passing people, you’re going to play “Traffic Tetris” at every light. You might also find yourself in the left lane because you plan to turn left at one of the next few intersections. In any case, changing lanes to play “Traffic Tetris” at a light doesn’t keep you from practicing lane protocol after traffic is moving.