Detecting Tailgaters With Lasers

stoolpigeon writes "Police in Arizona are using laser range finders to detect and ticket tailgaters. An officer can now measure not only the speed of passing vehicles but also how close they are to one another. The detectors described in the article are built by Laser Technology Inc., a company that provides lasers for traffic control, engineering, and even tactical/military solutions. The article mentions how tailgating is connected to many accidents and incidents of road rage; this observation fits my experience."

Re:Not the Tailgaters Fault

[NetDanzr]

You can replace "Phoenix" with "Atlanta" and you'll get exactly the same situation. I drive 25 miles to work, and the right-most lane goes around 70mph in a 55mph zone. I'm not a slow driver, so that's not a problem for me. However, I do keep my distance. As a result, I get constantly cut off by others, and it usually takes me a few seconds to regain my distance. If during that time I'm clocked as being too close to the car in front of me, I could easily get ticketed even though I didn't tailgate. (Almost said that I didn't do anything wrong, but I'm not that sure about that. A judge told my friend to drive closer to the car in front of him after a driver tried to cut my friend off and he tapped the driver's back corner, sending him into a spin. According to that judge, it is wrong to give people the opportunity to cut you off.)

Re:Tailgating

[LWATCDR]

The real problem is that people don't know how to drive.
My wife and I got hit in our brand new car Friday.
We where stopped at a stoplight, the road was dry, their was no fog, it was on a well light six lane road and the lanes on both sides of us where clear.
A 17 year old kid as he put it was not paying attention and locked up his brakes and hit us.
He was charged with careless driving and allowed to drive HOME!

Had we been crossing the intersection and he had T-Boned us it could have been fatal. If we had been crossing the street it could have been fatal. If I had been on my motorcycle it could have been fatal.

Why did he get to drive home when it was obvious that he couldn't drive safely?

If you are at fault with an accedent you shouldn't be allowed to drive until you learn how to drive. And I don't mean at one of the comedy or other stupid driving schools.

Re:Leave it to us!

[DigitalRaptor]

I'm all for photo-cop whenever it can work reliably. Set the threshold high so that only the worst (and most dangerous) offenders are ticketed.

The point of a speed limit is safety. Revenue is a nice side-effect (and necessary, both as a deterrent and logistically).

That frees up cops to do real police work. Heck, they may even have enough free time to enforce other laws, like immigration.

Re:Tailgating

[miyako]

I don't encounter many tailgaters, but when I do I employ a similar strategy. On my way to work today, I had someone who was following me closer than I've ever had ANYONE following me (I would be surprised if there was more than an inch or two between his bumper and mine). So, I sped up until I got next to a school bus that was doing 35 (on a 65mph highway) and slowed down - kept him stuck behind me and unable to get over for probably 20 minutes- I think the busdriver noticed what was going on because she could have sped up but seemed content to drive right along side me until she apparently had to turn off the highway.
Of course, I really want to piss those people off, maybe they'll have a heart attack and die before they have a chance to pollute the gene pool too much.

Re:Tailgating

[Osiris Ani]

My idea was a flashing neon sign that says, "back off!"

Like this one? [gadgetuniverse.com]

Re:Moo

[MBCook]

I agree. I've wished for years there was some kind of system where I could press a button and report a complaint on a car. You could chose a simple complaint (tailgating, speeding, going too slow, running lights, etc) and then it would be tied to their license plate. These would be agregated and people who get high numbers of complaints (i.e., the worst drivers) could then be "investigated" and ticketed. Bonus points for putting a camera in every car and attaching a little video clip so you can show the guy weaving through 20mph rush hour traffic at 70mph being an idiot so he can be fined.

As is the only way is to call the police and report it, but unless the guy is being REALLY unsafe, it's usually not worth the time (or they wouldn't go after the guy unless a cop just happened to be nearby).

Say what you will about black-boxes in cars, the way the local college students drive I'd vote for them. Heck, forget the college students, look at the general population around here and they seem like a good idea (especially when it gets rainy or snowy and the idiots come out who thing you should driver faster to get home sooner).

Re:Tailgating

[Jerf]

I've been doing some limited experimenting with Pavlovian conditioning.

Basically, you tune your speed to the amount of space between you and the tailgater. You slow down until they back off (usually they do), then you speed up. You stay fast until they start tailgating you again, at which point you let off your gas.

One key is probably not to use your brakes, which makes this too obvious. I don't really want them consciously thinking about the fact that I am actively braking. That'll just piss them off.

I'd say this works about half the time, and probably won't trigger any road rage. But the flip side is that it does fail about 50% of the time.

I also don't know if I'm really "conditioning" that 50% or not, but as an engineering-type I say who cares if the logic is right if it works? 50% is still an improvement over 0%.

Re:Tailgating

[14erCleaner]

A good countermeasure that I've heard of (but haven't tried yet) is to hit your windshield washers. If they're close enough to catch the overspray it generally will clue them in to get back further.

Re:Tailgating

[Anonymous Coward]

I've done this a few times. And I've been stunned by who often it is that's tailgating. Word of advice--ignore them.

I live around Lancaster, PA. Last year, westbound on Harrisburg Pike through East Hempfield, heading toward Salunga, had this car with his high beams on just riding my bumper then backing off, so I'd get blinded, then not.

I got pissed, figure I'm not driving the next few miles to Mount Joy this way, so I pulled off the road to let 'em pass. First time I've ever done this. Know who passed? I'm gawking at the police car that guns past.

Had a similar thing occur on Oregon Pike/Rt 272 heading north going through Manheim Township. No back and forth by the vehicle behind, but right on my tail and acting like he's going to pass, moving to the center line. I get sick of the behavior, so I pull over to allow them to pass. It's a police vehicle.

There are other instances (I do a lot of night driving; late work). My suspicion is that's police officers doing their night rounds will often tailgate you in order to get you to speed up. If you are on the speed limit or under it by 5 mph, the more they do so. So be careful with the fast/slow approach, esp. in states that allow VASCAR, even if you are still under the speed limit (they'll use your speed up as an excuse to get a faster mph reading).

Also, besides the 2 experiences above, Manheim Pike/Rt72, heading north to Maheim, had a large pickup trucking blinding me. I pull over, it bullets by. I resume. Up the road, pickup lights can be seen disappearing, still pulling away. Up the road, after a bend (where the pickup's rear lights were last seen), turns out to be a speed check, pickup apparently wasn't picked up. I'm doing the speed limit the whole way, I see a vehicle rapidly approach from the side that is clearly in a rush to get behind me (late night, sort of obvious), it does and then tailgates me for 2 miles. Vehicle turns off and I confirm in my rear view--it was a police vehicle. Subcompacts/compacts/small cars are targets not only for the abusive SUVers (there are many good SUV drivers, just that they are overshadowed by the asses) but also by police (small car, probably young, targetted as less likely to lawyer up (lack of funds by you means more funds for them)).

Re:Tailgating

[StarvingSE]

Its not so much that people drive too slow, its that people like to ride their brakes, or brake for stupid fender benders on the side of the road. Try this little applet [horstmann.com] out for size to see the effects of it.

Gawkers should have their driving privileges revoked.

Re:Not so funny as true.

[dch24]

I've actually seen some good tailgater tactics that are legal (in CA...although there were no cops around). YMMV, heh.

1. Trucker with load spotlights and an empty flatbed trailer. Tailgaters get 5,000,000 candela right in the eyes. Also works for people coming from behind with their brights on.
2. Weave a little like a drunk driver (other posters on this thread already mentioned this one)
3. Pop the trunk. However, your trunk should be empty, since littering is illegal.
4. Sometimes they really get to me. Then I have a few fist-sized rocks. Roll them out the sunroof and they'll fall off the back. This is definitely illegal.

Re:Tailgating

[Ziwcam]

Huh? If you want to go faster, just pass me. I'm probably already going 5-10 over the limit, but I'm only going to be in the left lane if I am passing someone, after which I will get back over to the right lane. If it's a two lane road, I can't do much to let you by, and you're just going to have to wait until traffic is clear in the other direction so you can pass. In the meantime, BACK OFF!

You, my friend, are the exception, rather than the rule. After spending nearly 6 years in Germany, its so frustrating to come back here and try to drive. Its bad on the surface streets, but even worse on the highways, compared to Germany.

In Germany, people (tend to) get over as soon as they see you behind them, especially (but not only) on the highways. And on the highways, they don't wait for you to get right behind them, THEN try to find a spot to move over. If you're zooming along at 130 mph and they're only going 100, if they haven't moved over already as they're legally required, they'll get out of the way fairly quickly as soon as they see you.

[SIGH] I miss that place.

Fog lights == Removal of tailgaters

[Peter Cooper]

One trick is to quickly brake ever so slightly and throw your rear fog lights on at the same time making it look like you've slammed your brakes on hard. That tends to sort the men from the boys.

Re:Fog lights == Removal of tailgaters

[JavaManJim]

Thats probably a common thing.

1. I did that (once only - I'm not totally evil) several years ago on a wet road. That is tapped the brakes to light them up. The rapidly approaching small truck braked hard and the road camber (curved road surface) moved him into the ditch. What a nice surprise.

2. Then my geology teacher came to class one day and said he tapped his brakes which sent some stupid #$% into the ditch. He was so grimly pleased I realized right there I never wanted to date his beautiful daughter (even if I could have).

Thanks
Jim the B!

 

Who are all these people in your journal?!?!?!

[TechnoLust]

Quickly Circle! Stop writing anything interesting!

Re:Tailgating

[Anonymous Coward]

From your story, he was not driving with any indication of drunkenness. You should be incarcerated for filing a false police report.

Re:Tailgating

[orangeyoda]

"Bizarrely the only country I've been to that obeys the overtake-then-pull-back-in rule is France. On autoroutes it's almost suspiciously well-mannered." There's a reason behind this, on french roads the road signs are extreamly close to the junctions, along with very dangerous entry / exit ramps you have to pull back in to be able to get off the road safely, however the right hand lane is not very safe due to the junctions. Most UK / US / Germany junctions are like this

<----/----\---< Exit ramp first , entry ramp after
>----\----/--->

Most french junctions are .
<----\---/----< Entry ramp first, exit ramp after
>----/---\---->

So most of the time at junctions there is crossing traffic, entry trying to come onto the autoroute and traffic trying to come off the autoroute at the same time.