The Dangers of Tailgating

Tailgating is driving very closely behind another vehicle. There is a rule that tells drivers that there is a safe distance. The vehicles at your back and in front of you should be 2-seconds away. During rainy or snow days or if you are pulling a trailer for safety, four seconds is a good distance. This gives ample time for the driver to stop if the vehicle in front will abruptly stop. Unfortunately, a lot of drivers do not observe the suggested secure distance.

Every day, we see drivers on the road tailgate one another and nothing happens. So that conditions people’s mind that tailgating is just fine. But one day, it will just happen, and wham! You cannot argue with physics and ends up endangering your car and safety.

Now, if there are a lot of cars in front of you who are tailgating, you could pull over instead of being part of a sudden collision. Here are some things that may help you in situations that may be harmful to you and your vehicle.

VISION

You need to depend on your expectation on what is about to transpire. Because of that, it is important that you have a full view of the road ahead. If you drive too close to the car in front of you, the lesser you see the road before you.

HOSTILITY AND ROAD FURY

If you tailgate another vehicle, it may be thought of as hostility or harassment and may result to a road fury in the part of the driver you are tailgating. Usually, if someone does that to you, ask yourself, “am I too slow?” If not, perhaps they are rushing and they want to go ahead.

SAVING ON FUEL

The extreme savings in your fuel is quite insignificant. When you drive at 90 kph, a test showed that you save 20% in fuel used while driving in a vehicle which is 15m, at the back of a truck in front. What the law states is that the minimum distance should be at 36m. If the driver does a 15m, he will not be able to step on the brakes on time and that is very risky and hazardous.

Moreover, the savings on your fuel are only applicable when you are driving in a certain circumstance. Most of the driving instances would yield savings hopeless.

WHY DO PEOPLE TAILGATE ANOTHER VEHICLE?

• Getting annoyed at the speed of the vehicle in front. This tells the driver of the other vehicle to accelerate.
• Getting ready to overtake so that there is little distance left when doing it.
• Lack of knowledge of the possible outcome.
• Slipstreaming waiting for the perfect time to pass and trying to save on fuel.
• Blocking trying to prevent other vehicles from penetrating the traffic on a road that has many lanes.

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