“He’ll get on the interstate, immdieately get into the left lane, set the cruise control at 70 MPH and then spend the next two hour complaining about how everyone is tailgating him.”
One of my customers, a retired man, about 70 I guess, was bragging about how his 2002 Camry was able to get 44mpg on his trip from Seattle to Spokane. How did he do it? Kept the windows up, A/C off, and cruise control set to 54mph.
I wonder how many angry tailgaters he created on that 300 mile trip.
This morning I had a tailgater. I was positioned in the middle of three lanes, driving 75 MPH in a 65 MPH zone on an interstate highway. He tried to pass me on the right, but when he was blocked by heavy traffic merging from an entrance ramp, he camped two or three feet away from my rear bumper. I was hoping he would realize the error of his ways on his own, but he didn’t, so I slowed down to 70 MPH. I didn’t use my brakes, I just took my foot off the throttle. When that didn’t work, I took my foot off the throttle and slowed down to 65 MPH. He got the hint and backed off. As soon as I got a chance, I moved over to the right hand lane, and he passed me, but he was no longer driving aggressively. What I had done seemed to have a calming effect. Either that, or the woman in the passenger seat spoke up and motivated him to drive like a sane person.
I’ll vote for the ‘‘sanity in the passenger seat’’ that slowed him down.
Wifey probably told hubby that if he didn’t slow down, he wouldn’t get . . . tonight"
An old friend said that was the only way to get the husbands to go to church in their small town.
Told my learning driver just the other day…
’'if you tailgate , you’re just going as fast as they are…if you back off 30 feet guess what ? YOU’RE GOING JUST AS FAST AS THEY ARE ! ‘’
First, I have to say that I disagree with those that feel having an accident by a tailgater isn’t a big problem. I think there’s a good likelihood of knocking someone out of control, and causing other vehicles to be involved in the accident.
Yes, a head-on collision at 70 mph is worse than a rear-end collision at 70 mph … assuming that both vehicles continue traveling in a straight line, with no obstacles in front, and no other vehicles behind also become involved.
All the same, I’d rather not have my vehicle damaged by an idiot, and spend 45 minutes at the side of the road while the police respond and make their report. (And just try getting both vehicles to the side of the road in Southern California during rush hour!).
As for the vehicle behind being “almost stopped” by the time the collision occurs … that depends on so many factors: type of vehicle, weight of vehicle, condition of tires, condition of brakes, perception-reaction time of drivers, road condition, etc.
I feel that most tailgaters (in fact, most drivers) have a very poor understanding of human perception-reaction time. People search the internet and see that the average human reaction time is 215 milliseconds (0.215 seconds). Unfortunately, that’s very misleading. It refers to minor muscle movement to an expected stimulus with a pre-planned expected response.
For a driver, the correct measurement is perception-reaction time. In most states and accident reconstructions, the experts use 1.5 seconds as the accepted average number.
True, if I brake gently because of slowing traffic ahead, there’s not much of an issue. But how far is that tailgater going to go in 1.5 seconds after I slam on my brakes to avoid an unexpected danger? I’m sure that puts his front bumper past my front bumper before he even gets his foot on the brake. And me with my tires at their traction limit, and the rear of the car up in the air.
I’d prefer than others drive for what could happen, not what probably won’t happen.
@Cabbgeking
I agree. My contention is that some of the worst accidents can stem from tailgating on 55 mph 2 lane highways with closing speeds of at least 110 mph. It’s a scary situation seeing cars go whizzing by just feet away with someone riding your bumper at the same time. There are few cars and fewer drivers that can manage to avoid a collision under those circumstances should the need arise for a sudden maneuver. So, the idea that a tailgater can’t cause violent collisions, just isn’t true. Add rain soaked highways and other slippery conditions, and suddenly, 75 to 100 feet at highway speeds could be defined as tailgating !
Well around here the person that hits the rearend of someones vehicle gets the ticket wether they are at fault or not,you just cant expect to leave a safe following distance following other traffic,someone will fill it in almost instantly’.
I always have to remind my wife that there is stuff going on behind Her as well as in front of Her(She has a tendency to run 10-15 mph under the speed limit and slam on her brakes when something happens a 1/4 mile down the road-moral is"dont tailgate a slowpoke or a" regulator"-Kevin
someone will fill it in almost instantly
You make it sound like the world will end as we know it if a car gets between you and the car in front of you.
Just because people around you are driving like idiots doesn’t mean you have to. If someone gets in front of you, what’s the worst that can happen that wasn’t already a danger? Please tell me this isn’t about macho BS.
For CabbageKing and any others that disagree with me, I want to first say that I do not condone tailgating. To begin with, its a terrible waste of gas. The driver in front is always making slight changes in speed for various reasons, I’m not talking about hitting the brakes here, the slight changes in speed are much harder to detect because there are no warning lights. It takes the tailgater much longer than 1.5 seconds to realize that he is closing in on the driver in front and when he does, he has to take more drastic action, maybe even a light tap on the brakes.
Now he is going slower than the driver in front in order to open the gap slightly and the next thing he notices is the gap has gotten bigger than expected so its down on the gas pedal again to catch up. The tailgater is varying his speed more that the car he is following, therefore using more gas, and maybe more brake pedal.
What I said, and meant and still mean is that the rear end collisions cause by a tailgater are less violent than other types of accidents. Rear end collisions caused by non tailgaters who are just not paying attention to their driving (drunk, drugs, texting, talking on the phone, road rage, etc) are far more violent because they collide at a greater speed.
Tailgaters may be responsible for more rear end collisions, but on the whole, the collisions will be at a lower differential speed and therefore less violent.
My point behind my statements was that if someone is tailgating you, do not let it get to you. continue to drive as if they weren’t there at all. Obviously, if you have to stop suddenly for an unexpected danger, then you have to do it. You would have to even if someone was not tailgating you. Just don’t do something unexpected for no reason at all.
Again, the logic of “that person could cause an accident, so I will make sure they cause an accident to teach them a lesson”. It certainly doesn’t make since in rush hour traffic in Southern California or anywhere else for that matter.
Everybody looses in an accident, even those not at fault, except the lawyers of course.
I agree with you
If I rearend someone, it’s my fault, and I deserve the ticket
Drivers have to be alert, anticipate, and leave enough distance to be able to stop WITHOUT hitting the guy in front of them
If the guy in front of you suddenly slams on the brakes and you hit him, it’s your fault. It means you were following too closely.
That is the way I understand it.
Years ago, I was driving an underpowered car, and the light turned yellow. I knew I wouldn’t make it across before it turned red, so I stopped. The guy behind me rearended me, because he was following too closely. He paid what he had to pay, and that was the end of it.
@kieth
"Tailgate may be responsible for more rear end collisions…"
The simple facts are the following. Rear end collisions are far and away the most prevelant of all collisions. Rear end collisions are most exclusively the fault of those behind. In essence, if you collide with some one in front, you were following too close for conditions, whether those conditions be bad weather or your own in attention. Just saying they cause less damage completely neglects that they cause more damage and some how that makes it more acceptable then some one who crosses the center line ? Let me repeat also, that tailgaters like all poor driving habits, are found in common to poor driving practices of those found in other accidents. Poor drivers just find away of getting into and causing more accidents and tailgating is symptomatic of their behavior. Conscientiously leaving a buffer, whether it be from behind or when choosing to pass, merging etc, are things that you do to mitigate your chances of being in an accident.
For example; nearby, a lady was killed last week when she tried to merge into traffic and misjudged the time she had in the oncoming tour bus to her left. She was neglecting to leave a buffer with a car that was incapable surviving a fairly low speed crash the same way a tailgater missjuges distances needed for safe driving. These people are habitually, one in the same. It’s the tailgater or following too close for conditions, who will most often exhibit other poor driving practices. Practice good driving habits all of the time, including tailgating, and everyone benefits.
So, if you don’t tailgate, you put a huge dent in eliminating all accidents, even head ons when some one pulls into your lane and you avoid them, as you become more concious of maintaining a buffer in all driving situations. When you are tailgating, you are often fixated on the driver ahead and not scanning for problems as you should be doing. That you can only do by leaving a buffer.
@Whitey,try stopping a fully loaded truck in the same distance a small up to date car will will stop and you will see why having a little more distance in front of you will help.,especially if you are in a bridge or a narrow place where you cannot manuever.
We were going through a construction zone last spring(probaly running 15-20 mph under the speed limit) and suddenly on a upgrade 2 cars stop dead on interstate in the left lane,the old company 4 door pickup wouldnt stop in time(300K miles, very marginal brakes it turns out)so with 2-3 wheels sliding I hit this Lady in the rear(she was driving a Hyundai Accent-she had stopped just in the nick of time to avoid rear ending a woman in a Suburban-who had slammed on her brakes.because she said a truck cut her off on the upgrade(which was very illegal-because trucks and slow vehicles are required to run the right lane on this upgrade) the state trooper who was a very nice guy told me this happens all the time on this grade,So I got the the ticket and the people that caused the accident got off Scott free.So the moral of the story is,following distance is important and dont drive company junk(how these vehicles pass inspection is beyond me)-Kevin
@Kevin
I drive marginal vehicles that are in their own way, poor " stoppers". A loaded dump truck or one with a flat bed in tow with equipment and a couple of practice stops are always in order. Consequently, greater buffers were required. You got the ticket, not because you were following too closely, but you were following too closely for the vehicle you were in. I know it seems unforgiving and unfair, but the driver is responsible for stopping the vehicle they drive, regardless of what it is when following.
…and as a former professional driver, I can tell you it is the driver’s responsibility to inspect a vehicle to make sure it is safe to drive. One time I had to leave a trailer at a yard because it failed my pre-trip inspection. I put my foot down and said no to my dispatcher. If my truck had issues, I would have done the same.
It’s a common myth that the vehicle that rear-ends another is ALWAYS at fault. While usually true there are at least two exceptions:
When a slow-moving or stopped vehicle pulls into a lane, violating the ROW if a much faster vehicle. (Ex: parked on interstate shoulder; pull out w/o looking into the path of a semi doing 65.)
When pushed into the car in front of you by a third vehicle that rear-ends the car in question; a chain-reaction collision.
Just for the record dagosa, I do not disagree with anything you wrote. Nor do I think that anything you wrote is contrary to what I wrote. Also, anytime you rear end someone, you always get a ticket for following too close, even if that is not the cause. Of the four times I have been rear-ended, it was never due to being followed too close.
The first time it was a chain reaction started by a woman who rammed the car behind me (road rage), second was a trucker who fell asleep at the wheel, third was guy who had an epileptic attack, and the last was a woman on drugs who was almost a 1/4 mile behind me when I had to stop for traffic. All of them got a ticket for following too close for conditions. The first one was in 1971 and road rage was not a recognized phenomenon then.
Anyway, does anyone disagree with me that you should not take an inherently dangerous situation and make it more dangerous by doing something unpredictable or something that will only make the tailgater more angry?
You make the excellent point that you often PO a tailgater who is often already PO’d for some other reason when you try to change the situation. Like I said, tailgating requires you almost fixate on the person you are behind. They seem to look for any reason to get more PO’d.
Preciate’ it Dag,we dont have any choice but to drive the junk,so I dont drive from the job anymore,let someone else take the risk I guess our Boss takes some chances with the junk He provides sometimes,one of theese 4 door pickups had 2-3 malfuntioning door latches(couldnt open from the inside) and the vehicle still passed inspection-Kevin (but I do have to say that this vehicle was probaly not fit to run on interstate anyway thats why I always try to maintain a “safe” following distance-some of these things belong in the Junkyard,you Guys should have seen some of the Junk we ran before the advent of DOT inspections)
“2-3 malfunctioning door latches (couldnt open from the inside)”
Your boss doesn’t sound like a very nice guy
While inspecting our fleet vehicles, I ALWAYS make sure that ALL of the doors open from the inside
I don’t release them to the operator until all of the doors work properly
In an accident or panic situation, you want all of the doors to be working properly
And there are often 4 or 5 guys in a crew cab, on the way to their daily job site