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."

Tailgating

[Shadow Wrought]

My experience, too. Tailgating is far more dangerous than mere speeding. So to with wanton lane changing, but that could be more of a CA thing.

Re:Tailgating

[Iamthefallen]

Tailgaters aren't that bad, I can live with them behind me.

It's the fuckers that are really close in front of me I can't stand. How the hell am I supposed to be able to stop in time going 80mph when that guy is just 10 feet in front of me?!

Re:Tailgating

[Anonymous Coward]

Like they say, there are only two types of drivers:

The assholes in front of you, and the assholes behind you.

Re:Tailgating

[Sponge Bath]

The assholes in front of you, and the assholes behind you.

...and here I am, stuck in the middle with you.

Re:Tailgating

[R3d M3rcury]

Did you ever notice that people driving slower than you are idiots and that people driving faster than you are maniacs?

Re:

[pluther]

Did you ever notice that people driving slower than you are idiots and that people driving faster than you are maniacs?

I have noticed that.
But, fortunately, about 99% of the people on the highway with me tend to be driving at about the same speed.

Re:Tailgating

[UbuntuDupe]

No, I haven't.

You can drive slower than me and not be an idiot: don't hog the passing lane, don't match the speed of the drivers in the lanes who are right next to you (thus creating a wall), and be going at least 60 mph when you merge onto a freeway.

You can drive much faster than me and not be a maniac: just take the first opportunity to go around me (I probably won't be in the left lane, or will quickly vacate it when I see your speed) rather than tailgate, and don't change lanes close enough to me such that I panic.

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:Tailgating

[cant_get_a_good_nick]

Gawkers should have their driving privileges revoked.

I hear in several european countries, they bring out a big curtain to put around traffic accidents, to keep gawkers from slowing down traffic and causing a bigger mess

Then you have really stupid people. A few years ago we had some paintings on a building by one of our highways (the kennedy expresway). I saw people stop their cars on the damn expressway, literally zero miles an hour in a traffic lane, to take a pic. The areas was close to a curve as well, so not a lot of long distance cisibility.

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:

[alshithead]

I did this once. I turned on my lights while letting up on the accelerator...no braking. This made my rear running lights come on and it appeared I was braking. The car behind me nearly lost it at 65 mph. They locked up their brakes. Upon reflection I decided that I didn't want my actions to cause the death of someone else even if they were being an asshole.

Re:

[IDontAgreeWithYou]

Similar thing happened to me, a guy was tailgating me in a snowstorm because he had an all wheel drive Subaru. I guess he's one of those geniuses who thinks that 4WD nullifies the laws of physics. Finally, he illegally passed me and about 3 other cars in front of me. About a mile up the road there was the Subaru at the bottom of a huge ditch on the side of the road. I pulled over and asked him if he was OK and if he needed a cell phone. He was fine and had a phone with him. So I told him that this was what

Re:

[kd5ujz]

Bounce a "D" cell battery off the road, into his radiator. The road slow it down on the first bounce enough to put a nasty dent into something, if not the radiator.

California rules

[wsanders]

You're supposed to allow 1 foot for each 10 MPH of speed, you inconsiderate clod. And an extra 10 feet if you're watching a movie on the DVD player in the dash, and 10 more feet if it's a porn movie.

Re:

[CommunistHamster]

Yup, 10 feet seems about enough for the other motorists to avoid crashing into my "huge car"

Re:California rules

[L7_]

I always thought it was a flat '2 second' distance. However, most people can't translate seconds (a time unit) into a feet (a distance unit) using the most basic of physics so they come up with the 1ft per 10mph of speed. This flat time rule is the same as your fluctuating distance rule: the slower you are going, the closer you are (in that two seconds you cover less distance) and the faster you are going the further back you are.

I like to look at a car's rear bumper, see it cross one of the dotted lines or reflectors in the road as a reference point and count in my head 'one one-thousand', 'two one-thousand' and if I pass that same reference point in the road before I complete that second 'one-thousand', then I know that I am too close. Much easier to actually calculate than the 1ft per 10mph. ;)

Re:California rules

[serbanp]

I guess you're a little slow [sic]... Your math is very good if you're doing 50mph at 5ft from a freaking wall. Then it's good for the genetic pool to slam into it, you deserved that.

In the real life, though, the car in front of you moves at the same speed as you. Since they can't decelerate in zero time, the math to compute the allowed reaction time is a little more complex.

Re:

[networkBoy]

So you were the asshole giving everyone cuts? :-)

"I've seen people at 0.04 seconds. That is less than half a second," he said.

That was a gem. No shit 4 hundredths of a second is less than half a second. I really hope that was a typo and was meant to be 0.4, even then no shit on the math part.
-nB

Re:

[kimvette]

No kidding. I'm a Masshole and I find driving around here frustrating because on the highway any time around rush hour, driving courteously and leaving sufficient following space is just license for three other cars to cut in front of you. :( I would love to move out of this state to somewhere in the midwest where people are at least slightly more courteous.

Re:

[smellsofbikes]

Oh, so *you're* why I always store 300 kilos of concrete blocks in the trunk of my car.

Drafting

[Archangel Michael]

I'm not tailgating, I'm Drafting. The extra 5% gas savings, is awesome, AND I have the benefit of saving the planet from greenhouse gases.

Re:

[Jello B.]

And if you turn left and right really fast, you get blue sparks.

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:

[Irish_Samurai]

Also, I've seen plenty of 'weavers' turn into pacers (and stay steady with the car to the right) when they get to the front of the pack, as it seems that their biggest concern isn't keeping a good speed, but being 'first'.

I do this (American btw), and I usually stick to the right 2 lanes to do it. My goal isn't to be first - it's to have the most options available in front of me. I don't like sitting in someones blind spot, I also don't like properly pacing my lane and getting trapped in by your "weavers".

I

Re:Not so funny as true.

[rednip]

If being out front means having more response options available to you - then I'm out front.

Except for breaking, as all the cars are stacked up behind you, perhaps many of then tailgating each other, sure in a pile up you'd have the 'best' chance of surviving, unless a semi plows through the lot of you. Besides, we really do see you blocking up traffic, and I'll bet that you've seen more than a few people pull out in front aggressively, it's not 'random' you've pissed them off for the last 5 miles. Classic deadly Road Rage is most often a response to poor/inconsiderate driving such as yours, the left hand lane is the 'passing lane' which means one should never 'keep pace' with a car to their right. Stacking up traffic behind you is a pile-up waiting to happen, sure you 'might' not be involved, but other drivers feel this danger, and will then act aggressively against you when they can. Some fearful people cocoon to threats, others swing out in rage. Ironically, it's likely you see it as 'they did not see your car, further reinforcing your 'rule', however it's a wonder you have gotten shot yet.

Personally, I get a little 'spooked' when some does try to pace me, in particular the 'open' highway, if something like a deer runs into the road, it likely that we'll both try to avoid it by a combination of steering and breaking, and what are the chances that we'll do that at the same pace? I try my best to stay at a steady 10 mph over, moving over to the right to let faster drivers pass, and when I know that I won't be trapped in the right hand lane. Unlike others I really don't mind someone else passing me, but if I pass them again, I try not to let them ahead of me again.

Re:Not so funny as true.

[nolife]

Here's an idea, let the weavers assholes be themselves. Why would you purposely close the gap or actively prevent someone from getting in front of you? If you are driving too slow for them, let them be in front of you and eventually they will do it to someone else and be gone and you can go about your own business and not have to worry about them at all.
I've often wondered why people play that gap closing game myself. If someone whats to weave in and out of traffic, let them go, as others have stated, in heavy traffic, it is not an effective means of making better progress anyway. You may feel they are being unsafe and maybe this is your chance to exercise your 4000LB weight around too as an equalizer? Closing a gap and disrupting the flow of a weavers is NOT safe either. If you want to play it safe, maintain your existing speed and gap and let the weaver go about his business. The weaver is not being as safe as he could be but closing the gap is not the safest thing you could do either.

On that note... I live on a corner with a hidden intersection on a semi rural 2 lane state road. I see people pull out in front of cars all the time. One time a car pulled out in front of someone and that someone slammed on his brakes and laid on the horn until he came to a complete stop. After he came to a stop, he started yelling at the other person that pulled out in front of him as that person was driving by him in the other direction, the need for a complete stop was completely unnecessary. Hey, shit happens, get over it. Well now that he was at a complete stop and half way around a hidden corner and attempting to make his point known to a car that was no longer within hearing distance, he got rear ended by a third car coming up behind him on that hidden bend. Okay, technically he was not at fault because he got rear ended but his blatant actions had put himself in a very unsafe situation regardless of what the law states. I see a lot of people trying to be "safe" and educate other drivers on the road but in reality, they are being unsafe themselves. Just like the guy that hits his brakes when someone is tailing him. If you don't want to be tailed, move the hell over. I know a car is a big powerful glob of various metals and plastics but using that psychological power to force your driving ethics on others is NOT safe. Considering that the person is not going to change their habits because of your gap closing you have absolutely NOTHING to gain. Gee, I've been driving like a weaver for 20 years and today someone closed the gap on me. I learned a lesson and I am never going to be a weave again!

Re:

[rednip]

Why would you purposely close the gap or actively prevent someone from getting in front of you

I don't stop people from passing me altogether, but when traffic is stacked up, the space between me and the car that I am following is the minimum space I like, a nice 'safe' two car-lengths (nearly three if I'm doing over 60). You weavers seem to think that is a invitation to make my 2 car lengths of space into a half a car(or less). Tell me how that is safer? I see it as a choice between 1 car-length behind a car which I 'know' or 1/2 behind some new driver. Unless there is a pacer in front of me i

Re:Tailgating

[nizo]

I always wanted a little TV in my car's back window, so I could show video of cars smashing into each other, bloody bodies flying into the air, etc which could be played when people follow me too closely. Either that or a pneumatic arm with a ballpeen hammer on the end to put holes into the hood of cars following too closely.

Re:Tailgating

[fm6]

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

Problem is, everybody thinks they're a perfect driver, and get very weird when anybody tries to tell them otherwise. Hence all the road rage incidents connected to tailgating.

My strategy is to slow down, but subtly, so they don't register that I'm pissed at them. I don't even brake, I just don't push the accelerator as hard as a normally do. Invariably the tailgater gets impatient and passes, without registering any change in my driving.

It is, of course, frustrating to see bad driving and not be able to communicate your concerns to the other driver. But frustration is better than being targeted by a psycho.

Re:

[Osiris Ani]

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

Like this one? [gadgetuniverse.com]

Re:Tailgating

[wealthychef]

A better strategy is to just vary your speed by +/- 2 MPH in a continuous cycle. Then even if they don't pass, they have to give you more room. Try it. :-)

Re:

[toddestan]

On the other hand, don't tailgate if you aren't in the passing lane (I get these morons quite a bit - I'm not in the passing lane, the passing lane can even be open, and they prefer to ride my bumper. I don't get it). If you have to be in the right hand lane because your exit is coming up, deal with it. Don't tailgate someone in the passing lane if there is another car in front of them moving at the same pace. There is nothing the car in front of you can do to move faster, and tailgating them is simply

My nutty idea

[tkrotchko]

When I run into a tailgater, I (... and don't criticize me if this seems wacked out or dangerous) I pull to another lane. Then they go on by.

And if I'm on a road that is 2 lanes, and I get a guy 2 inches from my bumper I (... get this...) I pull off the road for two seconds as soon as I can and let some other person deal with them as they rush on past..

Seriously, I want to concentrate on driving, not whether some nutball in back of me is going to slip up and ram into me because he's got anger management issues.

To my way of thinking, guys who slow down in front of tailgaters have the same mentality as the tailgaters, they only express it differently.

Re:My nutty idea

[Jherek Carnelian]

Seriously, I want to concentrate on driving, not whether some nutball in back of me is going to slip up and ram into me because he's got anger management issues.

Bingo.

Safe driving is not just about avoiding accidents, more importantly it is about avoiding dangerous situations.

Re:

[Crunchie Frog]

Mod -1: Asshole. You are the problem.

Who's the asshole?

[LunaticTippy]

Do you think all the other people behind you who weren't tailgating deserved to be punished too?

Driving doesn't have to be about making the other fucker pay. That attitude is why I hate driving so much. It even affects me sometimes. I've had that angry feeling boil up and done stupid things several times, but I'm not proud of it. The thing I'm least proud of is the tailgater who got me so angry/scared that I popped down a gear causing him to rear-end me. Yeah, he totalled an expensive car and was 100% "at fault" but I felt kinda bad about it. I do wonder if he still tailgates so badly.

Re:

[russ1337]

You could always adjust your rear windshield washer to squirt backwards..... if you do not have a rear windshield washer, adjust one of your front ones to squirt right over the car. Nobody likes being pissed on.

Re:

[fm6]

Did you miss the part about road rage?

Re:

[operagost]

I just flick boogers.

Re:

[pilgrim23]

Somehow safety and the issuance of tickets are related? Tickets are primarily a revenue generation system. Any traffic improvement is a mere secondary consideration. If this laser device costs X then ticket generation will increase till the moneys generated are at least X times 10. Then and only then will the program be deemed a success.

Re:Tailgating

[Bastian]

Tailgating at night is particularly bothersome. I drove a subcompact car, and an SUV or truck on my tail with its headlights in my eyes is blinding. That's a really dangerous situation on the country roads, where I need to have enough vision to be able to watch for deer, fallen branches, etc.

My usual approach is to just slow down to the point where I'm not overdriving my vision, but since this tends to anger the clueless fuckers behind me, they will often respond by getting even closer or turning on their brights, which just forces me to slow down even more. I don't know why they don't pass; apparently it takes an appreciable amount of intelligence to figure out that the guy who is currently driving at 30 but was going 55 when you first got on his tail is probably not going to speed up and it's easier to just get ahead of him if you really absolutely have to be driving 65 at night during deer season.

Re:

[6Yankee]

I hear a lot of my friends complaining about nocturnal tailgaters - particularly, as you say, the SUV-type things. And yet, a lot of them give me a blank stare when I suggest that they use the anti-dazzle feature of their rear-view mirror.

"You see that thing for hanging the furry dice off of? Flick it."

"Wow..."

Unless they're lucky enough to learn after work in a high-latitude winter, most people will never drive in the dark with an instructor. Which is pretty scary, when you think about it.

Re:Tailgating

[6Yankee]

Ah - I usually get the bastards so close that I can't see their lights in the side mirrors!

Re:

[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 s

Re:

[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:

[mordors9]

avoid them... avoid them... on a dark country road.... ya ain't from around hyar, ar ya boy?

Re:Tailgating

[EvilMagnus]

How? By running the red light and T-boning crossing traffic? Or by ploughing through the pedestrians on the cross-walk?

Moo

[Chacham]

It seems like they could spend money on so many different things. . . . They need to catch speeders more than tailgaters."

Umm, no. Tailgaters are worse. There can be a smart speeder. There is no such thing as smart tailgater. Becauses, it is not speeding that causes accidents, it's the person speeding needs to take extra caution. It can be done, even if it usually is not. Tailgating in-and-of-itself is dangerous.

"I've seen people at 0.04 seconds. That is less than half a second," he said.

Talk about enlightening comments. :)

Some of the comments there say that someone else will just pull ahead of you. Ahem, they will then get tickets. That's the point. Then they complain that they're close for a minute and get tickets, well, this complaint and the first complaint are opposites.

I hope these tickets work. Next we can take on gawkers.

Re:Moo

[plover]

Well, if they're going to tag people for tailgating, I want them to issue tickets to the clowns going less than the speed limit in the left lane, too; and those who speed up as you attempt to pass them.

I think the best way to reduce road rage is to eliminate the butt-heads who get in my way :-)

Re:

[joshetc]

Very very insightful. The only thing that keeps me from tailgating 24/7 is the hope that one day the prick in front of me doing 35 in a 45 will get a ticket for impeding traffic.

Re:

[Shadow99_1]

This would be true if it was still 1970... But I can tell you now I generally follow the '+10 MPH in good wheather', 'Speed limit in rain/fog/other minor wheather', and '-10 MPH in snow'. It almost always works out to optimize my speed for conditions. Most speed limits haven't been changed since at least 1970 (and often 1940's or 50's), yet cars have improved drastically since then... Why are we still driving as if it was 1950 or 1970? Because the government wants to be able to enforce existing laws to reci

Re:

[belmolis]

It is probably true that for certain classes of vehicle on certain types of road speed limits that were set twenty or thirty years ago are now lower than they need to be. What concerns me about relying on this to set the safe limit at, say, 10 mph above the posted limit is: (a) on an unfamiliar road, you don't know when the limit was set; it may be recent; (b) you often don't know the basis for the limit. That is, if the controlling factor was the physical condition and curvature of the road, it may be tru

Re:

[dircha]

"I hate to tell you this, but 35 in a 45 zone is not impeding traffic. 45 is the absolute limit under optimal conditions."

And I hate to tell you this, but apart from emergencies and hazardous weather, if you can not safely drive faster than 35 in a 45, you should not be on the road. It's as simple as that. With the technology in modern vehicles, if you, presumably a fully functioning adult human being can not drive 45 in a 45, not only are you a nuissance, you are a risk to the lives of other drivers on th

Re:Moo

[dbIII]

Instead of just expressing my favourite profanity here at the person above's cluelessness and lack of experience I'll point out that if you don't know the road or don't know the vehicle well yet and don't know why it is a 45 you'll go slower, or if the road is wet, or if you are driving something with a high centre of gravity with crap brakes, tyres designed for other conditions (some 4WD tyres are crap on wet sealed roads) or other defects that were not there from design.

Here's a story not unique and the poster above should have heard or seen several by now if they have grown up. I took a corner too fast on a mountain road under bad conditions while being tailgated - I should have known better and driven far less than the speed limit but I thought if I braked more the guy only two metres behind would slam into me. The fool behind me in that european sports car that could go quickly in those conditions didn't even stop to help or see if I was alive.

Sometimes you have to take it slow - despite the smart arse comments ridiculing people above.

Re:

[panaceaa]

Apart from GNAA ASCII art and first posts, if you can not comprehend what other commenters have written, you should not be writing your own comments. It's as simple as that. With the font size technology and translation software in modern browsers, if you, presumably a fully functioning adult human being, can not understand what a post says, not only are you a nuisance, you are at risk of looking like a buffoon.

If you must write replies, in the interests of sanity I recommend you wear glasses following the

Re:

[identity0]

Well, I hate to add to the self-righteous tone of this thread, but here goes...

You are assuming that someone going 35 is physically incapable of going 45, instead of choosing to do so. There are any number of reasons why you would do this, from slowing down for a turn, unfamiliarity with the area, bicyclist or pedestrian along the road, blind curve, or just not being comfortable with the road - plenty of roads are badly maintained and kept.

Only a fool would drive the maximum of the limit all the time, and a

Re:Moo

[theLOUDroom]

45 is the absolute limit under optimal conditions.

Bullshit. 45 is just a number they picked. Most speed limits in the US are not chosen to be the maximum safe speed. (And it should be obvious the anyone who's not a total moron that the maximum safe speed for a Corvette and a double-trailer semi are going to be VERY different numbers.)

There are lots of reasons to drive less than the speed limit.

Yes, and most of them mean either:
A) You're not paying attention and are therefore dangerous.
B) Your ability to drive is impaired and are therefore dangerous.

Sure there are some exceptions, pulling a trailer up a big hill for example, but the vast majority of the time it's some jackass talking on their cellphone. Do everyone a favor, if you just *feel* like driving slow, pull over every once in a while and let that huge line of cars by you. (It's really the only safe way to get rid of tailgaters anyways.)

Re:

[QuesarVII]

I agree completely!

People don't tailgate just for fun (at least not most of them)! I feel that if the car in front of me can get the hell out of my way, then the driver is obligated to. Tailgating someone when they have no where else to go is pointless and rude too though.

I don't know how many nights I've driven home on our local 2 lane highway, seeing 2 cars driving side by side at the speed limit or just below, with dozens of cars lined up behind them wanting to pass. The front person in the left l

Re:

[Chris Burke]

Tailgating an 18-wheeler is one of the safer forms of tailgating. The truck can't stop faster than your car.

Actually, a lot of 18-wheelers can. Especially if they are not fully loaded. I don't remember what they call the brakes, but they are a different beast than on your car or air brakes like you see on a bus.

Even if the stop should catch you off guard and you impact, it won't likely throw the truck off the road (due to mass), or your car (due to being pinned under the trailer).

Yeah, people get killed

Re:

[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

You're talking about modding drivers

[LunaticTippy]

I'd suggest in addition to this metamoderation. If you mod too many drivers unfairly you don't get as many mod points. Drivers with excellent "carma" could drive at +2.

Re:Moo

[UbuntuDupe]

What bothers me more than tailgaters is tailgaters who avoid EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO PASS YOU, even when there is another lane going the same direction. If they're tailgating when there's no chance to pass, okay, they're annoying me, but I at least understand their position. If they're tailgating me while passing up every opportunity to pass, WTF?

Re:

[UbuntuDupe]

I also hate people who add baseless assumptions to my post in order to make me look stupid.

Re:

[the phantom]

Honestly, I think it depends upon the situation. On I-80 between Reno and Salt Lake City, there is not a huge amount of traffic, high visibility, and very shallow turns. Twenty years ago, the speed limit along that strech of road was 60 miles per hour. Would it have been unsafe to go faster than that 20 years ago? What about now, when the speed limit is 75? Certainly, there is a danger to speeding, but driving over the limit is not necessarily that danger. The danger is in driving faster than the cond

Laser Technology Inc

[webrunner]

The detectors described in the article are built by Laser Technology Inc.,

Wow, what a name. Wonder how they came up with it? I guess they're just creative.

Re:Laser Technology Inc

[wfberg]

The detectors described in the article are built by Laser Technology Inc.,

Wow, what a name. Wonder how they came up with it? I guess they're just creative.

Yeah, but that name was already taken.

If they really want to improve road safety

[antifoidulus]

They can just ban the SUV. No fancy lasers needed.

I love tailgaters!

[6Yankee]

Especially BMWs.

(I have a tow-ball.)

Re:I love tailgaters!

[6Yankee]

Re:I love tailgaters! (Score:2) by bmwm3nut (556681)

Nothing personal, BTW :)

Leave it to us!

[moore.dustin]

We have all sorts of crap in Arizona for traffic now. Cameras are on the streets, intersections, and even the highways here in AZ. They even do the mobile van units to photograph speeders. While some may it works and lowers speeds, it is total BS. Everyone around here knows it is about the money and the new stations even report on the nice boost of income the cities have seen from photo tickets. As a result many(at least 30%) have some sort of flash reflective cover on their plate to prevent the camera from

What I hate...

[IflyRC]

I try to be a safe driver. So, I drive with the intention of leaving a couple of car lengths between me and the car in front. What happens? Someone sees that as an invitation to merge on over!! Next thing I know my "safe space" is down to inches. Best thing to do then...I upset the guy behind me and slow down opening up more of a gap trying to manage between not letting someone over and making sure I have some room to stop.

Tailgating is fine

[Anonymous Coward]

As someone else pointed out, it's a form of drafting so it saves fuel.

Plus, sometimes, if you're trying to help somebody out, you come at their bumper from an angle and then just a light tap and you slide into the lane. You spin the other guy out, and it he's any good, he can probably avoid hitting anything deadly.

It's a normal part of driving. If you can't handle it, you have no business on the road.

Re:

[Chris Burke]

As someone else pointed out, it's a form of drafting so it saves fuel.

It only saves fuel for the person behind. It costs the person in front more fuel. If you're a team, you can save fuel overall, but drafting to save yourself fuel at the cost of some stranger's is being an asshole, and a dangerous asshole to boot.

Plus, sometimes, if you're trying to help somebody out, you come at their bumper from an angle and then just a light tap and you slide into the lane. You spin the other guy out, and it he's any

Why?

[Toby The Economist]

We seemed to have stopped wondering and asking why people behave badly in the first place.

How many times do I have to tell you, officer?

[r_jensen11]

It's not tailgating, it's drafting! Have you seen the fuel prices these past few years?

One word on tailgating -

[El Torico]

Caltrops [wikipedia.org]

Liars

[j00r0m4nc3r]

"The majority of the reactions I get from drivers are that they don't realize they are tailgating."

Pyeah, right...

Heavy Traffic

[SQLz]

In heavy traffic, if you constantly change lanes, tailgate anyone in front of you, shake your fist in fury, you will get most places a lot faster.

But leaving more than 10ft gets you cut off

[dircha]

In traffic, leaving more than a single car length between you and the guy in front of you gets you cut off. It's an invitation for some asshat in the next lane over to cut in. You know the type.

I tell ya... roof-mounted laser gun turrents. "We've got a Jetta at 3 o'clock! Get in there and keep him occupied until I can engage the damned lightdrive!"

That and enemy symphathizers - traitors. You rode that bumper like an animal in heat and kept the Jetta out of your lane. But what's this? The Jetta pulls ahead and that weak-willed pansy Corolla two cars ahead lets him in, after all your work! "Dammit man, we're trying to hold a line here. Get on that fucking bumper and ride it for all you're worth you fucking pussy!"

Where did these people learn to drive? Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood?

Re:

[dmatos]

And I keep trying to explain to you, lasers will do no good. Some asshat in front of you cuts you off, so you lance his car with a beam. Good for you. Now there's a pile of molten slag in your path that you have to avoid, which you can only do by cutting off someone else.

What you really need is an RPG. With luck, the explosion will launch the fragments of the offending vehicle completely out of your path.

Computer science meets traffic

[eric.t.f.bat]

The road is a bubble sort. Assholes get to bubble forward, sensible drivers pull back. This is good because, coincidentally, forward is where all the accidents are.

Nahhh.

[Bluesman]

Just start ticketing people who brake for no reason on the highway.

In fact, there's hardly ever a reason to brake on the highway.

If you have to brake on the highway, either you did something wrong, or the person ahead of you did.

Not a problem - if you are close enough

[Tired and Emotional]

You'll just register as one long vehicle.

Slow drivers--Know Your Surroundings!

[Stiletto]

I'm going to be the contrarian here. Most tailgaters I see (including myself, of course) have legitimate gripes. If you have nobody in front of you and a queue of cars behind you, chances are you are going too slow!

I always try to be aware of my surroundings, including looking in the rear-view mirror. If I'm in the left lane and there is someone approaching from the rear, it's easier and safer to reserve moral judgement about their character and do the smart thing--pull to the right at the earliest possible opportunity and let him overtake me. Why can't everyone manage to do that? See, when I happen to be the one in an unusual hurry, 9 times out of 10, the guy in front of me in the left lane is totally oblivious of my presence. To wake him up, I either have to drive dangerously close, pass on the right, or hit him with a few high-beam blasts. It's a no-win situation for both of us.

Same with a single-lane road. If you simply must drive slow and enjoy the view, have the courtesy to pull to the shoulder when people approach who actually have a destination they are looking forward to reaching.

Sure, there's the occasional idiot who gets in the left lane and tails everybody within inches, making them all pull over one by one, but these tailgaters are in the minority.

Please hang up the phone, be aware of your surroundings (especially the people behind you), and keep up with the flow of traffic. In short, drivers should be participants, not obstacles.

Re:Slow drivers--Know Your Surroundings!

[endlessoul]

It's jerks like you that people hate when driving on the road.

Flash your high beams right in someone's rear-view? That's dangerous. Drive "dangerously close"? How is that justifiable in any situation? Oh, but it's only to "wake him up".

Try telling that to the cop that arrives on the scene of the rear-end accident that you just may have caused.

Driving like a prick is never ok.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

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

[TechnoLust]

Quickly Circle! Stop writing anything interesting!

Re:Not the Tailgaters Fault

[mythosaz]

Bad traffic in Phoenix has significantly less to do with illegial imigrants who can't read English (sheesh...) and much more to do with the facts that:

(a) Phoenix is too broad for it's own good. People live 30-40-50 miles from where they work.
(b) Phoenix freeway and surface street infrastructre has lagged behind our phenominal growth (see above).
(c) Phoenix is a melting pot. Nobody's actually FROM Phoenix. We're made of EX-somethings. Sure, there's a few natives, but it's NOT the norm.
(d) We have a significant snowbird population (also, see above).

Combine the overloaded bad infrastructure with a nation's worth of driving customs and a constantly supply of new (and seasonal) people, and you're looking at the bulk of what's wrong with Phoenix traffic.

Speeds of 85+ are the norm on I-10 (and 17 and 101/202/60/51) when congestion permits it.

Re:

[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. (Al

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

The speed limit is the same for BOTH lanes of the road. And "the appropriate 10 mph+ over the speed limit" is a bunch of crap. The only APPROPRIATE speed is to follow the limit as given.

Let up on the accelerator there lead-foot.

Re:

[Chris Burke]

Actually according to the law of several states (MI, TX, and MD to my knowledge), the only APPROPRIATE speed is to go with the flow of traffic -- even if traffic is going over the speed limit! It is drastic deviations from the speed at which traffic is moving that cause the most problems. You should be going the speed limit, but if the limit is 65 and everyone else is going 90 you will only be making things worse by staying at 65. Actually, when I was in MD I travelled a stretch of highway where this was

Re:Not the Tailgaters Fault

[FrostyWheaton]

You are NOT obeying the law if your state has a 'Keep right except to pass' type law on the books. Illinois, for instance, is one of those states.

So, either keep out of Illinois or take off that stupid paper hat, get off your high hobby-horse and get your sorry slavish-speed-limit-obeying butt into the right lane.

Re:

[adamjaskie]

The "slow lane" is for people who aren't actively passing people. The "fast lane" should more appropriately be called the "passing lane", and is for people who are passing. They should move over, pass, and get back into the "slow lane" until they catch up to the next person that is driving slower than them.

Re:

[mortonda]

In fact the car in front needs to slow down to accomodate the unsafe driving situation.

In fact, this is *exactly* what I tend to do. Tailgating me only makes you go slower.

Re:Only half of the point...

[Anonymous Cowpat]

sample question from the driving theory test in the UK (paraphrased):
"You are travelling at the spped limit. A car comes up behind you and flashes their lights at you requesting to overtake. Do you:
a) Speed up
b) Slow down
c) Maintain your speed
d) Sound your horn"

The correct answer is c. Frankly, when you go about trying to blind the person infront of you by flashing full beams into their rear-view mirror (particularly at night) for doing nothing more than following Driving Standards Agency advice, you deserve everything you get. Up to and including a stinger missile.

Re:Only half of the point...

[mrchaotica]

The correct answer is also (e): if you're in the fast lane, move the fuck over and get out of the way!

At least around here, I'd say the single biggest traffic problem is caused by people forgetting this.

Re:

[adamjaskie]

My reaction would be: am I in the far outside lane, which is where I should be if I am not passing? If so, I should do nothing; keep driving in the same lane and at the same speed. He can switch lanes and pass. If not, I should move over and let him pass. I should keep to the outside, as I am the slower traffic.

Re:

[arevos]

I wonder what the UK rules are when you're that person trying to overtake someone doing the speed limit.

If they're doing the speed limit, why would you need to overtake them?

Here's an interesting ratio

[benhocking]

Take the number of people driving below the speed limit to the number of people who are tailgating. My estimate is that this ratio is about 1:5000.

Re:

[green1]

>> Is the ticketting reducing the number of accidents?

if you are referring to the tailgate-detector tickets, nobody knows yet as there hasn't been enough time to find out.

if you are talking about speeding tickets and red light camera tickets. the answer is absolutely. many studies have shown that with higher enforcment of speed limits and red lights people DO change their driving habits, slow down, and obey signals. Further it has been proven that whith the slower speed of traffic not only are there f

Re:

[khallow]

Excellent troll. My take is that when it comes to assigning blame for a rear end collision, the tailgater will get it. And that's really the legal definition of what is safe or not. Ultimately, if you're following someone too closely, you're putting both of you in a dangerous situation and the law recognizes that.

Furthermore, you have absolutely NO idea what is motivating the driver behind you...there could be a medical emergency involved, and your prissy ass might be impeding their progress to a hospita