Why do you drive so close?

Not sure if serious or taking the piss…

You do know they’re probably towing said car, right? .

Whoosh!

it rarely causes accidents, because you rarely have to brake hard.

Lol, stats to back that up please.

Lost count how many times someone has come to a screeching halt a fag papers thickness from my back bumper because they were driving too fast or too close.

@thegeneralist I was really hoping it was a piss take but on these threads it gets really hard to tell.

I like to slow down so they get even closer and then start waving like a maniac at them as if I’ve just seen my bestie I hadn’t seen for ooooh donkeys years.

Driving home just now I was driving at 60mph on a dual carriage way which is signed 60mph. I was in the outside lane overtaking slower vehicles. The Merc behind was trying to mount my towbar. The red windscreen tint told me the driver was a jockey of the knob.

No something i see that often to be fair, yes in mirrors the car to the rear appears closer, but rarely is within the 2 second gap, when i do see it i just ignore it as it doesn’t tend to affect my ability to drive the car safely.

There’s a lot that annoys me about drivers these days, but this one doesn’t really make the top 10 🤣

I’ve spoken to him about it and he just laughs and says I’ve not rear ended anybody yet, or words to that effect.

No-one ever has, until they do.

I don’t know anyone who’s been rear ended because someone was following too close.

Well, there’s me. Poor road conditions (dark, heavy rain), the car in front suddenly did an emergency stop. I stopped quickly behind him, because I’d left sufficient braking distance. The chap behind me wasn’t so lucky. Turned into a whiplash claim, that one did.

I think tailgaters just don’t realise how intimidating it is.

I rather suspect that some are perfectly well aware, which is why they do it.

The question we need to ask, is would they drive that close to a police car?

Oh and the moment of dread when they realise they have been driving like an idiot behind an unmarked police car.

Mister-P

the driver was a jockey of the knob.

I assume that like me you never really thought about it until somebody points it out, but that insult is homophobic.

that insult is homophobic.

You need to meet more open-minded ladies.

I don’t.  But I’m also a weirdo who actually signals properly and does the speed limit.  Also adaptive cruise control does an amazing job on the motorway.

it rarely causes accidents, because you rarely have to brake hard.

It really does cause accidents and its common.  One example I saw.  Traveling down a busy motorway in lane 3 waiting to overtake.  Car in front of me too close to the car in front of that.  ( I was on a motorbike).  Car behind me came up too close behind me.  I knew it was dangerous so dropped back into lane 2.  The car that was behind me closed up to tailgate the car that was in front.  Car that had been 2 infront of me had to brake as the traffic concertinaed up.  Resulting in cars behind having to brake harder.  the car that had been behind me hit the car that had been in front of me hard.

My tactic with tailgaters.  slow down and double at least the gap in front of me to reduce the severity of any braking needed and to increase my safety margins.  I’ll slow from 60 to 50.  if they are still tailgating down to 40 and so on

I suspect that those that drive too close don’t have many friends and crave human contact.

I’ve just about calmed down from a motorway drive in Italy on Wednesday. Doing 120kph 2m from the bumper in front and then getting closer is arrant madness. No room for emergencies at those speeds and distances.

At home I’ll maintain my distance from the vehicle in front with as little use of the brake as possible (2 advantages that the driver behind needs to concentrate and we avoid setting up a braking wave).

I love it when someone is tail gating and I have to turn a sharp slow left because the road I’ll be turning onto is narrow at the junction and there’s risk of hitting a car pulling up to the junction if you’re not careful.

Ironically if they weren’t tailgating so closely they wouldn’t need to slow down as much for my turn off. Dimwits!

The question we need to ask, is would they drive that close to a police car?

This actually made me chuckle, I’ve actually been sat in the passenger seat when a marked police car, in front of my tailgating colleague, lit up his lights whilst showing keep back or similar on his rear matrix display.
Cue more laughing.

So yeah tailgaters gonna tailgate. Maybe it’s a depth perception thing. Or more likely knowing the chap a dislike of rules and authority.

Last one I had was a motorbike. Country road, blind bends and double white lines. Doing a safe but not slow speed, slow enough not to chuck the dog about in her crate. Obviously not quick enough for the guy on the bike. 

Got into the next village, which is a 20 limit, still windey roads, still a lot of double white lines. slowed to 20, he’s shaking his head nearly leaning on my rear light cluster. 

Eventually he overtakes, gesticulating, and speeding off down though the village. It’s still a 20 limit. 

Some people are just dicks. 

Spotted him coming back the other way about 10 minutes later. 

Tailgating in a car is dangerous. Tailgating on a motorbike is lunacy. You are very definitely going to come off worse if the vehicle in front slams it’s anchors on. When I’m on the bike I always leave an even bigger ‘safety bubble’ than I do in the car. It’s saved me from grief a couple of times.

I got rear ended years ago  indicating and slowing down to turn a 90 degree left in a 30mph zone.

Impact was probably less than 15mph but hard to guess… I was in the old V70 at the time… tiny scratch on my rear bumper, smashed the bumper on her ford ka to the point it was pretty much hanging off. Oops!

What could possibly go wrong??

So yeah tailgaters gonna tailgate. Maybe it’s a depth perception thing. Or more likely knowing the chap a dislike of rules and authority.

Yeah, maybe you’re right – tailgaters gonna tailgate. But tailgating a police car is just madness!

@tjagain Nice riding on the motorway 👍 You could see the risk and took action – biker awareness is a great thing. I hate riding my motorbike on motorways – dangers for every angle. It really is very tiring.

moment of dread when they realise they have been driving like an idiot behind an unmarked police car

I had passed my test about a month back and was driving behind a learner doing 25 in a thirty. I was clearly vastly more experienced so overtook. Forgetting there was an island just coming up. So I overtook on the wrong side of an island. I had also forgotten to look behind me where I would have seen the marked police car 1 car behind.

The nice police officer pulled me over and congratulated me on the manoeuvre. Before pointing out the many, many errors. He decided education was better than punishment and I kept my newly acquired license. This was 30 years ago and I like to think it made me a slightly better driver. (At least for a month or two.)

Moral of the story is always check for police cars before driving like a dick. Look out for cameras in front windscreen and extra strobes on the bumpers etc.

Watched a guy in a Ford Ranger towing a trailer tailgating someone in lane 3 on the M1 at 80mph yesterday evening. Got brake-checked. I loathe dangerous driving in all its forms but my guess is that he was sitting up to his neck in his own excrement afterward.

HGVs sitting six inches off my bumper in 50mph sections when I’ve already got the cruise control set at 56 is also a pet hate.

Or the increasing number of people watching movies / TV while driving, whether on their phones balanced in the instrument binnacle, in phone holders, or the readily available aftermarket radios running Android with all the restrictions turned off.

Had this a few times on the M6 yesterday. I’m doing 65ish (behind other drivers doing the same speed) in the inside lane and idiots driving on my bumper when the next lane is free for them to overtake.
I was always taught to read the road ahead and that’s way ahead not just a couple of metres.

People are being taught to ‘pass their driving test’ and not being taught to drive.
I often see on our local facebook page requests for ‘the driving instructor who can help my son/daughter pass their test quickly’.

An advanced driving instructor told me to move over if I’m being tailgated if it’s safe to do so.

Fundamentally it’s because mostly people have become so insulated from the dangers of driving that they no longer recognise that for many of them, it’s potentially most hazardous activity they do in their everyday lives.  They’re sitting in their air-conditioned. ‘nice place to be’, luxury cabins, listening to their fave tunes and in all honesty, the sudden screeching, impactful violence of metal on metal and steering wheel on body and shards of flying glass mixed with tumbling, caved-in cars isn’t really even a glimmer of a possibility in the corners of their brain. Rationally they might acknowledge the danger, on a visceral level, nope. 

Riding motorcycles is a good antidote to this and, ime, the heightened risk perception never really leaves you even when you’re driving.  

Even more generally, most people barely think about driving, it’s just like putting the kettle on or flicking through Netflix. They’re barely engaged with what they’re doing. I hate it, even on the telly when people in cars keep looking sideways at their passenger when driving instead of paying attention to what’s happening on the road. The fact that directors think that’s okay tells you everything.

Nailed it @BadlyWiredDog it’s absolutely terrifying when you think of it like that!

I rather suspect that some are perfectly well aware, which is why they do it.

Yup, that’s pretty standard, i see it sitting with the adaptive cruise on, people, nose to tail in the overtaking lane next to me, driver at the front is just driving, by the time the 4th or 5th tailgating bellend comes past, you can almost see the rage at the car in front being in their goddamn way.

I’ve usually got enough gap in front of me to get the entire queue of tailgaters into my lane.
(usually set the time gap to ~2.5 seconds)

Well, this thread lead me to see the “Bridgend Road Rage” incident from June on YouTube, which was an unwanted reminder of how bonkers some peope can be

@db Hopefully the revised takeaway is don’t drive like a dick, ever (and especially in town with a 30 limit).
For those that are about to jump on this; a safe overtake in moving traffic requires a minimum speed differential of 10mph. At 25mph for the learner there’s a requirement for a pedestrian killing speed by the over-taker.

Riding motorcycles is a good antidote to this and, ime, the heightened risk perception never really leaves you even when you’re driving.

Learning to ride a motorbike absolutely made me a better driver. I wish more people did it.

Why isn’t the Lifesaver taught on the car test? Imagine how many left-hooked cyclists there wouldn’t be. Kinda speaks volumes about where the safety considerations are focused, on a bike you’re vulnerable whereas in a car everyone else is.

this thread lead me to see the “Bridgend Road Rage” incident from June on YouTube

I hadn’t heard about this.

From Facebook:

#UPDATE from South Wales Police (June 28):
We are aware of a video circulating on social media of dangerous driving involving two cars.
A 20-year-old man from #Bettws has been arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving, criminal damage and affray.
He has been taken to Queens Road police station in Bridgend where he is being questioned.
—-
#UPDATE from South Wales Police (June 29):
Brandon Bushell, aged 20 from #Bettws has been charged and remanded to court.
A second man, a 34-year-old from #Porthcawl, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted Grievous Bodily Harm and taking a vehicle without consent.

I’ll slow from 60 to 50. if they are still tailgating down to 40 and so on

The trouble with that tactic is you have to draw the line somewhere otherwise you are in danger of ultimately coming to a stop, perhaps in lane 3. The other problem is that may also cause an accident without coming to a stop as you doing 30 when everyone half a mile back is still doing 70 will cause a knock on progressive braking scenario whereby each car brakes a little bit harder than the one in front… Or not, which is where an accident occurs. Arguably the person in the accident was also too close but there’s no need to be the cause of it IMO.

Advanced drivers will advise that you just pull over and let them past however annoying that might be!

I now put my fog light on, or hazards if they’re way too close.

I got my driving licence in Italy, they teach the 1 second rule. There cannot be more than one second from when the car in front’s front bumper passes a road sign to when your rear bumper passes it

10 years in the UK have changed my driving somewhat, but I will say driving in places like Southern Europe, Asia etc improves driving alot. You are just so much more aware of everything over there as you can’t trust anyone to do anything predictable, it makes returning to the UK to watch the person with right of way at a roundabout sit there for ages quite infuriating

I do love the way that a busy Indian city crossroads works with no real rules but everyone just kinda slowly merges through each other. Twisty mountain passes in India however are a whole other level, you can overtake on a blind bend as long as you sound your horn. Not sure what that does other than let the guy coming the other way know he’s about to die

Assuming no one is right behind them I just tap my brake light lightly (don’t actually slow down)and then watch them brick themselves when they see my brake lights come on

either they realise they are too close and drop back, or they realise I’ve done it deliberately to give them a scare and they fly into a fit of anger

Either result is a good one for me..

this thread lead me to see the “Bridgend Road Rage” incident from June on YouTube

Filmed in portrait 🙄