[DenverTaco07]

It's dangerous and tailgaters don't seem to understand that. People who engage in risky driving behavior generally have the attitude that they are better drivers than everyone else and can handle any situation but they're dead wrong. here's why.

Let's say you're traveling on a highway at 60 mph and the tailgater is just one car length behind you or anywhere from 15 to 30 feet. He's so close that all he can see ahead is the back of your vehicle. He can't see the road ahead of you and he can't anticipate any problems that may come up. Something falls off the truck ahead of you and you hit your brakes to avoid it.

At 60 mph, both of you are traveling at 90 feet per second. No mater how exceptional his driving skills, it will take, on average, from one-half to three quarters of a second before the tailgater is even aware that your brake lights have come on. That means he'll travel from 45 feet to 60 feet before he realizes you've hit the brakes. It'll take up to another full second before he decides to swerve or hit the brakes and acts on that decision - another 90 feet. In the time it takes him to fully depress the brakes, he will have traveled up to 135 feet. Remember, he was no more than 30 feet behind you to begin with. He's just now hit the brakes while your vehicle has slowed significantly.

The only result, no matter how good his imagined driving skills may be, is a rear end crash

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-...ailgating-them

[cellsafemode]

Originally Posted by DenverTaco07

You state that you do tailgate on purpose as to not let anyone in front of you...you consider this a good driving habit? I suppose it is good that if you tailgate you shouldn't care if anyone tailgates you...that part makes sense i suppose.

I transport a 4 year old, so yes I actually try to be a good driver and not tailgate others, if others want to get in front of me, they get in. And yes, if someone is tailgating me...because I actually care not to have my child killed by some moron tailgating me...i have to back off even more to allow myself plenty of room to slow down and ensure the person behind me doesn't kill my child.

I understand we are going to disagree on why not letting people into 'your lane' and why tailgating is dangerous and all that...I just hope you don't find out the hard way just how dangerous it is.

If someone hits you from behind it's not going to matter what you do or dont care about except maybe you wont hit the car in front of you since you're not close enough to them. If someone does tailgate you, what are you going to do to help improve your safety? Other than pull over you dont really have an option that improves your safety, assuming they're doing so and you have no other lanes to move into. Keeping distance in front of your own car doesn't really have anything at all to do with whether or not a car is behind you. So i dont see how the existence of one close to your car should matter.

I dont do what i consider tailgating. If i'm in decent to heavy traffic, I drive in what I would call tight proximity - depending on the environment. It's not to keep people from getting in front of me out of some desire to be first, I let people in if they want to get in and signal. I keep in close proximity to keep dangerous lane changers from seeing the small spot in front of me as an option to jump into and depending on where the traffic is it may also be far more efficient to not leave a lot of space in front of you to make better use of the green light. I'm the kind of driver that chains my turns ...so more cars can clear the intersection (or at least have the option to). I dont leave car lengths between me and the car in front as they make a left.


All of this is going on in stop and go / or < 50mph type heavy traffic conditions. I leave more space at higher speeds and i dont speed up to every car in front of me just to create that space. But if i'm behind someone, i'm not leaving hundreds of feet between me and the car in front of me by slowing down. A car length or few ...or passing them.

[DenverTaco07]

I love the videos i'm finding on tailgaters...LOL - I'm not the brake checking type, but man some of these guys losing control after a brake check...WOW.

[DenverTaco07]

Originally Posted by cellsafemode

If someone hits you from behind it's not going to matter what you do or dont care about except maybe you wont hit the car in front of you since you're not close enough to them. If someone does tailgate you, what are you going to do to help improve your safety? Other than pull over you dont really have an option that improves your safety, assuming they're doing so and you have no other lanes to move into. Keeping distance in front of your own car doesn't really have anything at all to do with whether or not a car is behind you. So i dont see how the existence of one close to your car should matter.

I dont do what i consider tailgating. If i'm in decent to heavy traffic, I drive in what I would call tight proximity - depending on the environment. It's not to keep people from getting in front of me out of some desire to be first, I let people in if they want to get in and signal. I keep in close proximity to keep dangerous lane changers from seeing the small spot in front of me as an option to jump into and depending on where the traffic is it may also be far more efficient to not leave a lot of space in front of you to make better use of the green light. I'm the kind of driver that chains my turns ...so more cars can clear the intersection (or at least have the option to). I dont leave car lengths between me and the car in front as they make a left.


All of this is going on in stop and go / or < 50mph type heavy traffic conditions. I leave more space at higher speeds and i dont speed up to every car in front of me just to create that space. But if i'm behind someone, i'm not leaving hundreds of feet between me and the car in front of me by slowing down. A car length or few ...or passing them.

I'm sure you'll be shocked that i disagree...I could give a very detailed explanation of why leaving more room in front of me due to tailgater behind me is a very logical way to mitigate the aggressive driver behind me...but I don't think anything I say will matter.

good luck brother.

[cellsafemode]

I've never been brake checked (i dont drive aggressively where the driving is relaxed, maybe that has something to do with that). But brake checking is the stupidest thing anyone who says they care about tailgating can do.

It's simply road rage. One driver upset how another driver is driving and decides to do something about it while driving. I've seen violent fights out on the street caused not by the person who is apparently being reckless but by the vigilante who thinks he's gotta do something to stop them.