Tailgating is the most annoying habit among UK drivers, but analysis by Highways England (HE) has proven that it’s so much more than an annoyance – more than 100 people are killed or seriously injured every year on Britain’s motorways or major A roads; in fact, one-in-eight casualties are the direct result of tailgating.
Research has been carried out using dash cams, heart rate monitors and facial recognition systems that shows a typical response is anger, contempt, surprise and a sharp increase in heart rate, with drivers feeling ‘victimised’ or targeted.
Head of road safety at Highways England, Richard Leonard, states: “Tailgating distracts the motorist’s attention from the road, making them more likely to make a mistake”.
Space invader
Armed with this research, Highways England is launching a ‘Don’t Be A Space Invader’ campaign, supported with the backing of former Formula 1 champion, Nigel Mansell, who is also the President of the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) RoadSmart, a road safety charity. Mansell himself describes the habit of tailgating as ‘deplorable’.
Worryingly, Highways England(HE) believes that in most cases of tailgating, the driver is simply unaware that they’re doing it (a passive tailgater), which when compared to another statistic they’ve released, gives you a clearer understanding of the size of the problem.
Earlier this year, HE surveyed just over 1,100 motorists, with 25% of them admitting to tailgating another driver in the last three months – and that’s the people that are aware they were doing it – the majority (according to HEs own findings) don’t – extrapolating that figure would tell us that the number of drivers guilty of tailgating must be over half.
The campaign
The Don’t Be a Space Invader campaign has been designed to try and quash tailgating completely, through raising awareness, giving advice and trying to get inconsiderate drivers to understand the implications and effects of tailgating. It will be shown throughout the country and companies such as National Express will be using the campaign on their long-distance coaches.
Raising awareness for the passive tailgater is all well and good, they are perhaps the most dangerous kind of tailgater, but it’s not going to stop the habitual bully from trying to push you along at an increased pace, and while powers do exist to tackle that problem, they rely on dwindling numbers of mobile traffic police – less than 10,000 tickets have been issued since the introduction of new legislation in August 2013, allowing the police to give on the spot fines.
‘Stay Safe, Stay Back’ is the strapline, and it’s hoped that it’s enough to prompt people in to thinking about their driving, rather than just semi-autonomously going about their daily commute.
Effects of tailgating
One insurance company has revealed that more than 25% of the claims between January and August of this year have involved a car being hit from the rear, and along with personal injury, there is the added increase to the insurance premium, loss of NCB and potential for legal proceedings.
Tailgating has also been linked to an increase in traffic jams thanks to the ripple effect of the brake lights, and should you be caught by the police, you’ll be liable for a £100 fine and potentially three penalty points.
But there are things that you can do, either as someone that’s inadvertently tailgating or as someone that is being tailgated:
- Always try to keep to the two-second rule as a minimum – leaving a gap of at least two seconds between you and the car in front (double that when it’s wet)
- Be aware of your surroundings – familiarity breeds contempt, so pay extra attention on your regular journeys
- Never assume the driver in front is aware of you
- Check your speed – are you driving too slowly or too fast?
- Do not speed up to ‘lose’ a tailgater – there is a chance that they’ll just follow you
- If it’s safe to do so, pull over and let the tailgater pass – don’t be tempted to police the roads yourself
- Never brake test a tailgater
- Check the official Highways England Space Invader site for further information
Tailgating has affected nearly 90% of motorists in one form or another, it seems to be happening on an epidemic proportion, and with modern life being lived at a pace, it’s unlikely to end soon. It seems that driving standards, in general, are on the decline, but with more campaigns like this, that could be turned around, and surely, we need to make driving a more pleasurable experience again.
What do you think of tailgaters? Should they face further legal action? Do you think this campaign will work? What else could Highways England do to make a difference? Let us know.
On motorways in particular if people stuck to the right lane I.e moved over to the left if no vehicles are ahead they need to pass that would help. I am amazed about the poor awareness and lack of following the Highway Code in this respect. No wonder tailgating happens in this situation when people are oblivious or selfish and don’t move over for others.
I know what you meant, but it would have been much clearer not to have said ‘stuck to the right lane’, but to say ‘moved to the correct lane’. Unfortunately the very numbskulls who hog either the centre lane, or even the overtaking lane, think in terms of slow, centre and right. They simply don’t think in terms of ‘keep to the left except when overtaking’. They also seem equally happy to weave and undertake
If the USA can survive overtaking on the inside (they have), then shouldn’t we adopt it too?
Wholeheartedly agree. Driving in the States is a pleasure,and much safer, because you don’t have to keep changing lanes.
my understanding is that with lower speed of 50-55-60 in us compared to our limit of 70, US traffic is going much the same speed – cars, truck or whatever. On UK dual c’ways and m’ways we’ve got slow trucks and slowmobiles doing 50-55 and then other ‘important’ drivers doing 90+. With such range of traffic speed, lane discipline is very necessary, otherwise we’d have some drivers doing 50 or whatever in the outside lane. It’d also be helpful if drivers with trailers / caravans would remember that whilst they’re grumbled at for going slow on regular roads, that on dual c’w or m’w they’re limited to 60 and can’t go into outside lane.
So why do they have much higher fatalities? It might be more pleasurable, but certainly not safer.
Overtaking on the inside is allowed when a queueing traffic situation develops
We are programmed to follow what we were taught by the highway code. The statistics on traffic accidents in America would suggest not adopting any style of driving from them look at the smashes they have on their freeway s
Regardless of how someone is driving in front of you there is no excuse for tailgating and its just as dangerous as speeding
Agreed Simon however that doesn’t excuse tailgating. I am often in a situation (M25 in particular) where I can safely undertake for miles, however those who Lane hog also don’t understand that as soon as they Lane hog they create a queuing traffic situation which entitles the LH lanes to move more quickly. They then get annoyed. On the other hand I have been in the situation where a gap has developed on my LH side. Vehicle undertakes (fair enough it is queueing traffic) but then forces themselves into the safe distance gap I have left between me and the car in front. These are real idiots and are also the ones constantly showing their brake lights as they are too close.
Basically, when we learn to drive we are told that we drive on the left hand side of the road and we accept that without question. What goes wrong inside driver’s heads when they get onto multi carriageway roads?
Put cameras between bridges and catch the tailgaters. Write to them saying if they do it again they will be fined. Also cameras should be placed approx 500 yards before exits to stop those people in the outside lane dangerously crossing all lanes to exit and fine them. If you leave the correct space between cars then someone will always cut in, often causing you to brake, which could cause an accident. They then merrily go on their way without a thought for the problems they have just caused.
To take that idea one step further, perhaps we now need to adopt these Chinese concepts for ‘social credits’!
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12988/china-social-credit-system
As I remarked elsewhere, we just cannot leave it to relying on human nature because we are the most unreliable and unpredictable machines on the planet.
I drive mainly in County Durham on narrow, twisty roads for the most part. The speed limit of 30 or 40 does not appear to apply, to the regular tailgaters who drive ridiculously close and in a dangerous manner. The roads are too narrow to let them past though I’m often relieved when they pass, normally at excessive speed. I drive to the speed limit especially on dangerous roads, you just don’t know when a pedestrian, horse and rider or a parked car will appear round the next bend. I try to ignore them but they do make me tense up although I will not speed up just to suit them. The reality is that if you drive at a steady speed you get to your destination quicker than the speed up slow down merchants. Police should clamp down hard on tailgaters on motorways and on the many narrow country roads that we have all over this country and I would encourage everyone to take the tailgaters number and report it on the 111 system, the police should visit those who crop up regularly and warn them.
I struggle with the concept of a dangerous road. If a sinkhole appeared or a landslide took the road surface away, then yes, there is some danger. Are not most collisions caused by a driver doing something they ought not to have done? Until we have capable drivers, collisions are inevitable!
When I’m taking it easy, I accelerate to pass other traffic if something else catches up whilst I am passing. I can drive briskly or very leisurely so I experience and also witness both sides of the matter in roughly equal measure.
What I see is tailgating is a response to inconsiderate or inept driving. That is the condition which is the core problem. Why is there no attempt being made to tackle that?
I agree. Why is there no debate on what motivates drivers to tailgate?
Mostly it is caused, I believe, by selfish driving by the vehicle in front. All the tailgater wants is for the driver in front to consider other road users. Lane hogging has already been mentioned, but dawdling is also selfish. It’s presumably still a reason you could be failed on your driving test, so why not clamp down on it too. The roads in this country are already too crowded for us to hang onto “It’s a limit, not a target”. A “speed limit” should be both a limit and a target, where road conditions permit.
Then there’s this tendency to queue at traffic lights and road junctions with bumpers almost touching but then waiting ages before moving off and selfishly leaving many, many car lengths between vehicles. If drivers queued with a larger gap and all moved off at the same time while not extending that gap, you would actually get more vehicles through a green light despite the intuition that physically longer queues would mean fewer get through. Do the maths!
I assume that they’re slow in pulling away because they’re probably looking at their phone. Adds to the frustration.
I agree with your first point.
Seems to be a few on here trying to justify tailgating as being the other road users fault for being in the wrong lane/too slow or various other reasons that make it not their fault – it IS your fault if you tailgate, it’s dangerous and illegal. Some years back I was on the M4 near Slough, on a motorcycle, outside lane, keeping up with traffic, inside lane bumper to bumper, no chance of pulling over. Some idiot in a car decided to sit a foot off my rear wheel at 70mph, apparently because he needed to be one space further up the line, as in heavy rush hour traffic there was nowhere to go. My motorcycle then was a 750-4 geared for 125 mph, personally I’d had 118 mph out of it and I’ve never been a slow driver.
Find an excuse why I was in the wrong there, why don’t you!
Tailgaters should also appreciate that the car doing 50mph might have a space saver tyre fitted and that’s the legal max with that sort of wheel. Still no excuse to tailgate.
A speed limit should not be a target. You should drive at the speed limit where road conditions permit and it is safe to do so so that you’re not holding up traffic, I agree with that. If there’s a slow moving vehicle for whatever reason and it’s safe to do so, you should overtake, not tailgate.
Stupid driving In the first place causes tailgating.
I’ve suffered tailgating when I’ve been getting a decent move on, on the other hand, there’s a complete lack of haste from omni-speeders. Luckily they don’t hold you up in a thirty limit but a forty or above, it’s still thirty six. They do tend to have inconspicuous acceleration away from any hold up though and they will slow for no apparent reason. I use cruise control a lot and it’s obvious that not may others do. This stops you inadvertently following the omni-speeder beyond the limit and the tailgater behind can go hang. I hate people pulling in front of me on the motorway, when I’m at the speed limit and then slowing down below the speed limit. What’s the idea there then?
Are they ever going to do something about lane hoggers? As I always try and keep left, there seems to be a breed of lane hoggers that must delight in sitting in a position that makes it unsafe to pull out in front of them when catch upto slower traffic. You have to either speed up(above the limit) or slow down to let them pass. However, they will not ever go into the third lane.
Speed limits aren’t a target. They’re a limit. Sometimes 36mph in a 40 limit is appropriate. If you’re needing to get somewhere in such a hurry set out earlier!!
Robert, you’ve completely missed the point. They do 36 everywhere. The ONLY time it’s appropriate in is a 40 limit.
So you think I’m a bad driver for not breaking the speed limit when others do? Incidentally, my trip to my local town has 30, 40 and national speed limit stretches. The lower speed limit stretches are straight open roads with good visibility, on the other hand, the unrestricted stretches have three 90 degree bends and a tee junction that exits onto another bend with very bad visibility. Needless to say, I do not try to drive at the speed limit on those sections. I would not try to drive down the High street at the allowed limit either, not in the day time anyway. A limit that was set 100 years ago when the streets had markets, hundreds of people, proper cyclists going to or from work or business and cars with sharp edges, cable and drum brakes and no safety equipment at all.
Yes it is a problem but it sometimes has a real cause; the driver in front driving at an inappropriate speed ( way to slow for the conditions or speed limit) or a motorway middle lane hogger… The police should also be dealing with some of the causes!
S Hindle, so you are one of the “legends in your own lifetime driver” who undoubtedly consider yourself to be an expert driver. One wonders how many times other road users have thought the same of you??? but I suppose not as you seem to be so perfect.
Driving standards are on the decline as mentioned in the article. I have noticed that the more tech and driver aids which are in cars the less aware the driver and the lower the driving standards.
For as long as cars are produced with unnecessary toys to entertain those who clearly would rather be doing something else, all that is happening is that people who don’t want to drive are being enabled to to do so with that dangerous mindset.
If cars once again became engaging and pleasurable conveyances rather than tat laden bling fashion statements, it may encourage people to start to think again when using the roads.
The problem goes right to the social and cultural level and a superficial focus on the effects is a complete waste of time.
I’m beginning to wonder if these inane articles are a test to see if there are still people around who can think critically who are still a potential thread to the herders.
You’re right – driving standards are definitely declining, I’m amazed by the number of people (some of them driving trucks) who think it’s OK to jump a red light. Touch screen tech in cars may be convenient to use but you need to take your eye of the road to ensure your finger touches the right button – this is just as unsafe as the morons who play with their mobiles while driving.
Best response to an inconsiderate and idiotic tailgater is to slow down on a 30mph rd to 20 – 15 mph. They soon get the message. On a motorway nothing you can do apart from change lanes.
Funny how this has been downvoted. It’s the safest most logical solution, throttle back until the gap left by the tailgater is a safe one. And definitely move over on the Mway : nothing else to do there (especially in lane 1 where you just pray for deliverance)
Staggeringly ignorant and selfish suggestion. You are advocating the deliberate obstruction of other vehicles on the highway. If the Police see you doing this you’ll be arrested for dangerous driving.
If you believe you are being tailgated, move aside and let them pass: Immediately removes you from any danger. If you can’t work this out for yourself then you need re-training, and if you can’t do it then you shouldn’t have a licence.
Get a rear dash-cam fitted. As soon as the tailgaters know they are being filmed they back off. Since I had one fitted I don’t have a problem with them.
I was wondering if a camera in the back would help. Perhaps also a sticker saying ” Smile your on CAMERA and if you can read this your too close.”
But if you do, at least spell you’re correctly
A friend of mine has two cars. One with rear camera and sticker visible – nobody tailgates this car. The other car, just purchased and no camera or sticker yet. This car is regularly tailgated. This suggests that people will tailgate UNTIL they realise there may be consequences. The notion of crashing seems less relevant to them, compared to getting video on youtube or to the police!
This is frustrating and dangerous, but I suspect the route cause is being missed here – lane hogs who appear totally oblivious to anybody around them and clearly don’t look in their mirrors!! I regularly see vans doing 60 in the outside lane when there is nothing in the middle lane.
I totally agree with Andrew Ellis lane hoggers are the WORST drivers on motorways not tailgaters, they stay in one lane do not move into the middle or left lane even when the motorway is clear ahead, this cuts the three lane motorway into two, I believe these drivers need sorting and the info re tailgaters is plainly wrong the lane hoggers are the real cause of tailgating and frustration, I have never seen police pull over any of these selfish drivers, I repeat these are the real culprits please sort them.
A new form of lane hogging seems to have started, the car in front comes off a roundabout and straight into the outer lane of a dual carriageway, where they proceed at 50 mph next to the clear inside lane and will not be persuaded to move over. Why? Because they want to turn right half a mile ahead! Beggars belief.
If it is only half a mile to the next junction and the road is busy then that may be reasonabe as they may otherwise have difficulty in getting into the right lane in time. However, if they are in the right hand lane for that purpose then they should be indicating right which would allow other traffic to legally pass them on the left.
I was taught lane discipline on roundabouts, you exit in the lane you entered, ie if you enter in the 2nd lane you exit in 2nd lane. If the driver is at/near speed limit, 1/2 mile right turn would depend on the traffic and their chances of getting back over in the distance.
so dangerously tailgating is justified? Personally I do as I was trained to do, use the middle or outside lane to overtake then get back over. Lane hoggers are frustrating yes, but committing a dangerous and illegal tailgate is not the answer. afaik lane hogging is not illegal and is annoying not necessarily dangerous (correct me if I’m wrong) Tailgating is illegal AND dangerous
Lane hogging can be regarded as driving without due care and attention but the police are in such short supply that you can’t expect them to pick up on it.
You’re wrong. Lane hogging is illegal (prima facie it amounts to “driving without due care and attention”) and dangerous.
Tailgating is wrong too. But it is almost always borne out of the frustration caused by lane hoggers. Ergo if you can educate and enlighten lane hoggers to the extent that their driving skills improve, then you will ease congestion AND eradicate tailgating.
Anyone who says “But what about when you can’t move aside!” needs to ask themselves “What would I be doing if the vehicle trying to get past me had flashing blue lights on the roof?”
There’s always room to move aside.
Happy to help.
I agree but I do think Lane hogging is dangerous, particularly if blocking the outside lane where all the big-ego / go-faster-stripes people are. Also from a selfish perspective I have to burn more rubber and fuel changing lanes to go round them.
I have seen police pull over Lane hoggers and seen other drivers influence Lane hoggers to move over (although some immediately move back to middle / outside). Tailgating is much more dangerous and is totally unacceptable. I haven’t seen any tailgater pulled over ever. Both need addressing but: tailgaters should be permanently banned; Lane hoggers should be fined £250and 6 points.
basic problem with lane discipline on m’ways is that less than 10% of drivers on these roads have had no actual training and, despite learners being legally allowed to go on m”ways, since June of this year, with qualified ADI and dual controls – it’s still voluntary so I suspect most learners and caring parents will not opt for this vital training as it costs a few quid, and its not a test requirement.
Perhaps there is a need for an extra theme of “Don’t hog the overtaking lane”, which is one of the subsidiary causes of tailgating.
Lane hogging is THE main cause of tailgating, not a ‘subsiduary’ cause. There appears to be a growing ‘fear phobia’ that once drivers pull in to any inner lane that they’ll never be able to get out of it….and…that the 1st lane is for trucks/lorries/vans only. Odd then that the majority jump into it at the first sign of a traffic jam as they know those heavy goods drivers always kerp that lane moving through sensible driving.
It really is about time thiscgrowing problem of motorway lane hoggers was tackled. Dare l say that the French with just 2 lanes on their major highways have and use the perfect solution to this. Check it out.
it’s not the main cause. Try sticking to almost any speed limit, and especially in roadworks on dual c’w or m’way and there’ll be a tailgater there in a flash. Recent example I had was, on approach to roundabout on dual c’w (70 limit) the limit goes to 40mph. I’d done nothing sudden or whatever, but soon had a trucker so close to my back end – about 2m. That’s not exceptional situation at all.
If overtaking on the left were allowed, as it is in America, there would be no problem.
with the amount of cameras now on the roads/motorways,i think it wouldn’t be a problem to notify the tailgaters with points action or fines ,like they do with speed cams…….
Exactly – Start using the cameras on the motorways to fine the tailgaters. And as a further deterrent flash up a message on the overhead signs giving the number of fines that week.
Some of worst offenders are lorry drivers, they try to intimidate you by driving really close, they even do it behind other lorries,they are supposed to be professional drivers.
Absolutely. Van drivers worse. 80mph and more on dual carriageways.
P****s me off the most among tailgaters. Few reasons people would be driving the speeds lorries drive at is because of speed restrictions, like roadworks. Most those a-holes don’t abide by them, and instead tailgate. Hope they allow people to send in dashcam footage.
Your comment shows your ignorance. Lorries drive close together because it saves them fuel by using the vacuum from the one in front. And they can do it because they trust the other driver. Yes, Professionals.
Also, try putting yourself in their shoes. They have deliveries to make and any dawdlers is a frustration to them because they’re on a Tacho time limit. If you don’t like it, either drive closer to the speed limit or pull off and let them get on with their journey.
Anybody who is tailgated by a lorry is obviously driving too slow.
Twaddle. Lorries are also driven by cretins who speed & think because they’re in a bigger vehicle they have a right to intimidate the vehicle in front of them, who is possibly observing a speed limit &/or driving for the conditions on that road.
No matter what the circumstances, there is no excuse for bad or inconsiderate driving.
All the tailgating lorry driver sees is the bulk of the lorry in front and not the road ahead and any hazards that may arise. If the lorry in front has to brake in an emergency, the tailgater has left no braking distance for his or her self and this could lead to a serious crash. ‘Trusting’ the stranger in front is a foolhardy assumption.
Apart from the obvious dangers, tailgating is illegal and high on the list of the causes of death and serious injury on our roads.
When traveling along the M6 with average speed cameras doing 50 as is the speed limit 100% of the lorries were speeding even an RAC lorry. These lorries were so close that you could not have walked between the two vehicles. There would have been no way to for the lorry to have stopped and would have just have gone right over the top of the car. If the speed limit is more then 50 HE should show the correct speed, else these lorries drivers should be booked for speeding.
Well said slipstreaming saves diesel and cuts down on pollution, but it is inherently dangerous regardless of the driver in front being a professional you can’t see what’s in front there is no way you can react fast enough to avoid ramming the truckman front, I’m retired now and was a professional driver for over 50 years and I have seen some horrific accidents caused by not just tailgating but loss of consentration another killer
driving too close is dangerous. Doing this because you trust the driver in front is utter nonsense. Being too close to the back end of another vehicle significantly limits view ahead, so you can’t see what’s happening ahead, you can’t plan or prepare, you can’t anticipate and if the truck in front does brake / hard, you will just have a knee jerk reaction and in many many cases that’s simply to swerve out of the way of the truck ahead, potentially crashing into vehicles in adjacent lane and/or jack knifing. Crashing into the truck ahead is the other option of course. But there aren’t any safe options. I can’t believe we have someone who thinks that tailgating is acceptable because you trust the driver in front. Deliveries, fuel, taco limits are all secondary to safe driving and anyone putting those things above safety shouldn’t be driving. I’ve regularly been driving in a 40 or 50 limit with one of these ‘professional’ truckers on my tail. Please explain the benefits of doing this??? Bad, dangerous, intimidating, aggressive come to mind, of course.
The lorries that are tailgating each other is dangerous but what their are doing is slipstreaming,
Lorry drivers are the worst they try to intimidate you they even tailgate other lorries, they are supposed to be professional drivers.
The only reason you have a lorry so close is that you’re going way too slow. A lorry is limited to a speed 10mph under the limit of a given road. So get on with it and you’ll soon leave them behind.
Agree but you forget the idiot factor!
Driving is not a Profession, it is a job.
There is a need for policing of this and other driving bad habits.
Nothing more worrying than a tailgater rabbiting on the phone or clearly texting trying to push me along faster
I can safely say that I have not seen any police traffic patrols in a long time.
Having had my garden fence and trees destroyed recently by a drive off vehicle I did not receive any visit from police.
Something needs to change.
Difficult to force change. Get a rear view camera & submit footage to the police.
Absolute pest. Usually wanting to exceed speed limit.
Despite having the best motorways, the UK has about the lowest motorway speed limit in Europe. It was set half a century ago when most cars had drum brakes, cross ply tyres etc. and could barely manage 70mph. Little wonder drivers want to exceed such an arbitrarily low limit in good weather.
I absolutely agree in principle but I have noticed in recent years what I think is a growing number of poorly maintained cars which often have brake discs in poor condition (pads don’t work efficiently on rust and disc condition is largely no longer part of the MOT due to over zealous testers in the past). Factor in brake servicing is no longer a service item (wheels are not normally removed) and the fact people don’t want to spend money on brake and clutch fluid changes so the factory fill is retained until a brake pipe/hose/caliper or clutch cylinder fails (expensively).
Then there is the spectre of cheap Asian teflon tyres which often perform abysmally and from my point of view, safety is taking a backwards step due in part to ignorant drivers whose automatic reaction to a developing hazard is to brake which is no doubt influenced to uninformed idiots who formed the pressure group Brake which has the effect of deskilling drivers.
I would add, drivers are no longer trained to the same level. On motorcycle and RWD cars I was taught to be aware of other roads users – and that they may not be aware of me, be mindful of all the things that could go wrong before performing a manouvre, and how to drive safely under all conditions while being aware of my vehicles capabilities and lack of. Nowadays anything other than bright sunny conditions drivers seem unable to cope – and don’t get me started on mobile phones etc. The driver is responsible for driving, keeping the vehicle under control and not putting other road users at risk – yet lately it’s suicide alley on most roads, distracted drivers, incompetent drivers and those who have no idea of the width or ability of said vehicle. Better training is needed, preferably with skid pan training, and ffs let’s get the Police back up to numbers where they can actually do their job
In any profession there will be those that have lower standards but please appreciate the amount and level of training necessary to be a driving instructor. In the 60s there were about a million vehicles on the road, with about 30+ million now. Death rates in 60s were about 8000 with current fatalities at about 2000. Obviously many factors here as well as driving instruction. Learners really are taught all the things you’d want in terms of preparation, observation, anticipation, consideration for other road users and so on. However, there is still a high number of new drivers who choose to ‘forget’ everything they were taught and do their own thing, get on the phone, and drive at a much lower standard than they did for their instructor or Examiner Part of this is that parents (cheapest lesson rate please and very few lessons prior to test please) and learners simply want to get the test out of the way asap. Lessons at night, on extended journeys, on rural roads, into a different city and on motorways are rarely taken up. And the high crash, death and serious injury rate with new drivers is the result. I recommend you speak with a driving instructor and ask if you can sit in on a driving lesson to see at first hand what’s being done.
HAHAHAH WAS IT A JOKE ‘…. having the best motorways, the UK … ‘
UK has the worse motorways in the world. Narrow and bumpy like queen ass. 😉
You must go to Sweden to see the best roads and the best drivers of the world who really respect every single traffic rule.
Well said, 130 kph is the general “motorway” limit in Europe that’s 80 mph to you and me. Why do we only want to adopt EU rules that cost a fortune when we could do this for free?
Dave, it seems the “Green Lobby” are against any increase in speed limits due to emissions be greater at higher speeds.
Mark, you fail to appreciate that a vehicle is only as safe as the person who is driving it. One can have the most upto date safe car on the road but put an idiot behind the wheel and it becomes a lethal weapon
Now this is a thorny question of tailgating, I’ve been tailgated by trucks on the M25 and the M23 and as you know the M25 is variable speed and the M23 is 50mph due to upgrading. Trucks tailgate you because the speed limit is lowered they think they can move into any lane because they are not doing their maximum speed these are mainly EU trucks but British truck also do it, you’re trying to keep to the speed limit of 40 or 50 variable speed limit and they are up your bum very intimidating and if your keeping to the limit they are going faster thereby making you break the speed limit I’ve been pushed as high as 55mph till you can pull to the left and let them pass, I’ve even witnessed busses go past me and they have to be 5mph faster. I wish the would bring the continental rule for trucks about passing on hills they have to keep to the right, well left here.
Maybe the speedo on the truck is more accurate than yours and you don’t realise that yours reads quite a few mph over and you’re going 45mph when you think you’re doing 50. Just a thought.
There is no excuse for a UK truck driver tail-gating a car. One tried it on me going through an A1 50mph limit (I was doing 50 on my sat nav, so not crawling) – until I switched on my lights and watched him back off. Didn’t last long, with all the fist waving from him! Lost him soon after when we got back to 70mph.
The problem with leaving a reasonable space with the car in front which I try and do is that it gets filled by somebody in a hurry who is lane hoping to get there before anybody else and you go further back in the line
There are two sides to the lorries up behind cars on the motorway 1) it’s often the case vehicles are in the middle lane for no reason and should be in lane 1 – as they can’t use the third lane where else can they go – so people should use their mirrors and abide by the rules of the road and not be so selfish. 2) lorry drivers and coach drivers are meant to be professionals and not drive so close to any vehicle in front (including other lorries). They put others and their own lives at risk. You see this day in day out and sometimes the horrendous consequences. If lorry drivers do this they shouldn’t not be lorry drivers and should lose their licence.
When lorries are tailgating each other it’s to save fuel, the lead lorry is disturbing the air and using more fuel while the ones following in the backdraft save fuel. They obviously have to trust the lead driver to drive sensibly and slow in good time to avoid hazards. HGV’s are banned from the 3rd lane of a 3 lane motorway so if you’re tootling along at 56 in the middle lane pull in and let them pass! Also, if a 40 ton lorry is approaching an incline at 70mph they may still be doing 50 or 55 at the top. If they hit the same incline at 50 because of a dawdling lane hog then that same lorry might only be doing 20 when it gets to the top! Consider this when you are holding up an HGV.
The hgv should only drive at their maximum speed of 60mph not 70 just because a hill is there also they shouldn’t over take another lorry on an incline especially when there is only 3 lanes and the they bottle all the traffic up including trucks. Selfish, I understand you have a job to do but if you truckers abide by the rules and keep to the left the motorways would run smoother, also their are selfish motorist as well
Firstly all lorries are limited to 56mph by law at manufacture despite the limit being 60mph on Motorways and secondly many operators further limit their trucks to 52mph or less (eg Tesco, Sainsbury’s etc) to save fuel . With Distribution Centre deadlines being so rigid drivers have little option but to try to overtake these slower lorries unfortunately the difference between 52mph and 56mph takes a fair distance to achieve . Most car drivers in their insulated boxes are ignorant of this judging by some of the comments already.
Simple then – get out of the way for lorries…
Or perhaps use rail freight? Just a thought.
So why bother overtaking for 4 mph thats going to take you 2 mile to do it. You are not going to achieve anything.
Perhaps a lot more goods should be sent by train paricularly trucking a container from Southampton to Glasgow or Birmingham. In Germany and I suppose a lot of the continent more is moved by train and barge on the larger rivers, plus truck drivers don’t drive on a Sunday.
Perhaps truck drivers can work at night when roads are quieter then they don’t need to tailgate or park up in city streets and laybys.
I have to say that I agree with you largely. I was quite shocked when I started using the M6 regularly by the number of HGVs overtaking other HGVs at quite slow speed over long distances to the extent that I thought the drivers might be chatting. With only lane 3 available to me and anybody else I felt trapped.
Why should lorries be braking the law tailgaiting to save fuel /money ? A lorry has any number of gears to maintain 56mph should they approach a hill, so what if they drop speed. If a car driver chooses to drive at 60 mph in the left lane thats perfectly safe. You do not know why he is having to drive at that speed. If you are driving at 70 mph there should not be anybody overtaking you as they are breaking the law.
A speed limit is the maximum not an average, should visibility decrease and the road surface is awash then dropping to 40 mph is safe, not 70 mph.
If you leave a large gap and somebody drops into it you are still going to reach your destination. You are better late in this life than earlier in the next.
Just because a satnav says it will take x hours I would suggest you use 55 mph to work out how long it would take and leave earlier as even sat on 70 mph you are lucky to average 65 mph.
So you’re saying it’s ok for lorries to tailgate. An incident can happen at any time & they wouldn’t be able to stop, with possible dire consequences.
They tailgate whilst in the inside lane…
It is all well and good ‘not tailgating’ but the minute I leave a gap more than two car lengths to the next car, the lane hopper is in. this is the usual state of affairs on all roads where there is traffic. I actually studied / recorded the effect this had on a twenty mile journey and it was easy to count the thirty vehicles that had come between me and the initial car in front. compound that up for a two hundred mile journey and there would be three hundred cars in the ‘open area’. that is a long delay on a journey. The worst culprits for filling the ‘free space’ between cars are motorbikes. they ‘hunt in packs’ and as one jumps into the gap between cars, the rest of the pack does. The only reason they jump into the gap is that they can see a problem ahead and need to pull in. The consequences could be horrendous, thus I use an in car camera, it may save my bacon one day and provide damning evidence of cars and bikes ‘cutting me up.
I’d agree about the proper braking distance getting abused, but moving traffic is not the same as a queue at the checkout, people getting in front of you do not push you further back.
As a long term motorcycle rider I would also point out any decent rider will ensure safe gaps (different acceleration and braking to a car) as the first thing you’re taught is to assume every car driver on the road is looking for a chance to kill you. Coupled with the fact no motorcycle comes with a steel all round faring and roof or airbags, if anything goes wrong or any mistakes are made, the rider knows full well they’re going to hospital.
It’s quite simple really,if a car in the lane to the right of you tries invade your braking space to take an exit late(force their way in because they own the road)start to close the gap so they can’t ,they will soon realise they’re not getting off at that exit, they’re going to be late and should have got their lazy butts out of bed 10-20 minutes earlier
Hopefully you do this regularly? One day the police will catch you and rightfully you’ll be prosecuted for dangerous driving.
People like you shouldn’t have a licence. Your style of driving kills people.
I get a strange feeling in my head, via my eyes I would imagine, when I am getting too close to the vehicle in front. It’s almost as though my eyes are doing the braking for me! Does anyone else experience this?
Nice one Colin. A strange feeling that isn’t it.
Yep! All the time. Also, my brain tells me that my accelerator foot is connected to my wallet –
push harder, dig deeper.
If you think that it’s bad in the UK then drive in Spain; they, (Spanish mainly) always tailgate.
I have had two years of it!
Unfortunately the one sure way to catch these people were traffic police whose numbers have been much reduced. Could be a link.
The principle reason for tailgating in the UK is appalling lane discipline. Time and again traffic trails back on the motorway behind outside lane hogs or “middle lane owners club’ members. Rarely if ever even spoken to, undertake them and you risk an immediate fixed penalty, whereas they continue their poor behaviour either oblivious or indifferent to the congestion they cause.
I do not slow down if I’m doing the legal limit in the middle lane & the outside lane starts to slow down, What I don’t do is to cut in further up the road, then that becomes undertaking.
The situation you describe there is specifically identified in the highway code as NOT being undertaking.
Enforce lane discipline and a lot of tailgating goes away. I was shocked at how many drivers were doing 65mph in the outside lane on the A1 last week with no traffic in front or in the lanes inside them. The only way to wake them up is to tailgate. Also it seems that lane 3 of 4 has become the new middle lane. The inside two lanes are quite often almost traffic free.
Saw a caption/photo on the rear of a lorry, it read. If l had wanted you up my ass, l would have kissed you first!!!!
Tailgaters are the scurge of our society…habitual bullies trying to display their domination over everyone because they are behind ….they are not in full control of the situation…very sad people that we are seeing increasingly in everyday life….selfish overbearing and used to owning everything and everybody…driving around like north korean leaders….their way or no way.
Has anyone worked out how often these people are driving Audi, BMW or Range Rovers?
I have been driving in the inside lane of a motorway doing 70 mph and have still been tailgated because the driver behind me wanted to take the slip road which was a mile up the road. If I am going at the maximum speed for that road I am not speeding up for anyone.
You do not have to speed up. But if I see the traffic is going faster then myself I do not mind to move to another lane even though I am driving with 70 mph. I am not there to slow down anyone also I do not want to see pushy people behind me.
First sensible reply I’ve seen in the thread!
If you find yourself being tailgated MOVE OUT OF THE WAY. It’s a simple rule which has a 100% success rate. Since I adopted this approach I honestly cannot recall the last time I was tailgated.
For reference, I regularly drive on the M25, the M3 and the M4, plus a host of A roads, B roads and urban roads.
I am sorry to say but that is a brainless and non-sensical statement. It may not be possible to move out of the way due to vehicles on either side. Whether someone moves out of the way or decides to stay where they are because they are overtaking slower moving traffic does not excuse the pillock behind driving ignorantly and illegally. Your statement indicates that you are the sort who thinks it acceptable to use your car as a battering ram.
How does my approach (moving out of the way when I see a vehicle coming up behind me at a higher speed than my own) suggest that I use my car as a battering ram?
Your total inability to use logic implies that you get tailgated a lot, yet fail to understand why. Try my method for a month and see if it works for you… No need to thank me afterwards.
It’s not a question of whether you mind or not. If the lane to your left is empty then you should be in it. Rule of the road. Keep left wherever possible.
I don’t mind moving over either but if I am already in the inside lane where am I supposed to go?
As the courts now accept dash cam evidence, will they also accept rear facing camera evidence for tailgating offences?
Interesting that tailgating is responsible for 1 in 8 injuries (Not accidents but injuries!), whereas speeding is only implicated in about 1 in 12 accidents and the cause in only about 1 in 20. So why do the police concentrate on speed cameras? Might I suggest that it is purely financial, ie. milk the motorist!
One of the comments mentions a fear of being trapped in an inner lane. This is very real, I have even had people speed up to prevent me overtaking a slower vehicle, when there was plenty of space, if they had just maintained their existing speed.
In the USA, drivers are more considerate (and there are a lot more traffic cops!); If you indicate to overtake there, the vehicles invariably slow to let you in, knowing that the inconvenience is only temporary until you pass the obstruction.
Perhaps the solution is the fitting of cameras, which measure distance of the following vehicle and your speed. When the following vehicle enters the 2 second space, it flashes a warning, continuation of the behavior results in a photo including number plate and GPS location being taken and automatically uploaded to the police computer. Something similar could be developed for the “slalom” drivers who overtake on the inside!
I am now installing a rear facing camera and WILL send material to the police.
Would be well for the agency to examine why people tailgate in addition to who does it.
Are they I a hurry, short of time? Would better journey planning (allow more time?) Cut incidences?
Are those being tailgate driving slowly? 10mpb below the speed limit is driving slowly and likely to result in a queue of traffic behind the vehicle! Should slow drivers be required to pull into layby to allow traffic to pass?
But then there are also those who drive slowly, the speed up to prevent people passing, only to slow down again. May e they should just be banned?
Although I don’t justify tailgating (far from it), this is often a bad reaction to bad behaviour, i.e. people hogging lanes unnecessarily. Let’s also campaign to end middle-lane/outer-lane hogging and tailgating will also reduce as a consequence.
Why not greater use of the 2 chevron rule to help/remind drivers to gauge their distance.
good idea, though the distance between the two chevrons is a set distance so having that as a separation gap is only valid up to a certain speed – and I don’t know what that is. Separation gap at 40 is much less than at 70, for example. Does anyone know?
Very good comments being posted especially around lane jogging and a new law was brought in to address this or course with a fanfare at the time but it simply isn’t policed. The telling like from the article is “they rely on dwindling numbers of mobile traffic police – less than 10,000 tickets have been issued since the introduction of new legislation in August 2013, allowing the police to give on the spot fines.”
Tailgating used th be considered “Dangerous driving”, which carrys a severe penalty. By imposing an on the spot fine, it can be perceived as little more than a parking offence.
Having read the comments here so far, I think it’s time for mandatory retesting…….how often to be advised….5 yrly? A driving license is a privilege not a right.
Expensive cars seem to be the worst offenders – sense of entitlement maybe?
I get laugh out of my wife when I say “get out of my way – I’m driving an Audi/BMW/Range Rover” in imitation of the driver acting out just that.
Expensive cars the worst offenders – sense of entitlement maybe?
It’s a very dangerous habit. If a serious accident happens because someone has done this they should face major penalties. Those who kill should face a causing death by dangerous driving charge. Only be treating it like drink driving will we reduce incidents caused by it.
Someone should develop a radar controlled, rearward facing, flashing brake light, to irritate the driver behind even more than they are irritating the driver in front. We’ve already got rain sensors, so the acceptable distance can be increased when it’s wet.
Or perhaps new cars should require a similar advice that informs the tailgater when they are too close. Disabling it would invalidate your licence.
Yes, there are technical difficulties, but if we’re to have self-driving cars, they will all be overcome.
I’ve found on the motorways around Manchester, Birmingham and London that when I try to keep a reasonable distance from the vehicle in front one or more drivers overtake and cut right into the space. They seem to think that driving nose to tail at seventy miles an hour gets them there faster.
It does – into the next world!
There is always some clown tailgating……Reps, van drivers and idiots you nvr see them wrap there car or van around a bollard for us all to laugh at
Tailgaters should be punished bullying people to move over because there in a rush
I’ve been tailgated in cars and on motorcycles since I became a (motorised) road user in 1970, often when it was not safe to go faster and nowhere to pull over. The advice above is good – I’m disabled and need my licence so mostly keep to the speed limits, with so many cameras these days and much more traffic, even with the lack of visible police, speeding isn’t often a safe option.
The widening of the M6 motorway at vast expense and much frustration to motorist is a complete waste of times, in the newly introduced 4lane sections, motorist now prefer to use 2-3-4 it appears lane one is totally non existant, and usually the least congested . With all the promotional broadcasts over the years ie Telephones, lane hogging, and tailgating, it’s about time offenders were really taken to task, and educated in the errors of there ways, not just a fine or three points, but as much disruption to their journey as possible, even impounding the vehicle.
Having been a professional driver for over forty plus years, todays self only drivers are the worse ever.
Forgot to mention living in the HS2 corridor, at who knows the final cost? Saving twenty minutes on a journey to London, consider this, Jn19 to Jn17 on the M6 can currently take up to fifty minutes, for 16 miles
One may confidently assert that everyone has been victim to ‘tailgaters’ at some point in their driving experiences. Indeed, many of us will have even been guilty having ‘tailgated’ others at some time. Tailgating can never be justified, but to say that many drivers ‘tailgate’ passively is something of an over simplification because from the time of their very first driving lesson, all drivers are made well aware of safe breaking distances. However, as with so many aspects of driving, good teaching and sound lessons learned to pass one’s test are either quickly forgotten, or they are deliberately flaunted or ignored.
That which needs to be clearly defined, however, is just what constitutes ‘tailgating’. On, say, a motorway or major road ‘tailgating’ is perhaps more obvious, but deliberately road bullying apart, one person’s idea of what is driving too close to the one being followed so clearly does not correspond to that of another person. The situation is, of course, exacerbated by the interminable queues which we all now have to endure. What is ‘tailgating in a 5 mph queue? Furthermore, if one leaves what amounts to a safe breaking distance there will commonly be some dull witted mutt who will think it to be slick and smart to exploit that which they perceive as an open invitation to them to fill the gap one has left even though their only achieved gain is that of one vehicle length.The whole topic is too subjective and perhaps the only partial answer will be for safe distances to be defined clearly in the roads traffic regulations. As for on the spot fines, etc, as with all legislation it can never be any more effective than that of the enforcement system, which currently is minimal. Heavens above, have we not more than adequate demonstration of ineffective ‘policing’ than that of mobile ‘phone use upon which even the increasing of fines and penalties has failed to have significant impact?
Although we may still be ‘light years’ away, perhaps the only significant changes will come about when we are a consigned to sitting in those now much lauded fully automated autonomous vehicles over which we shall have little or no personal control. However, the paradox and irony of that is that there are many correspondents to these columns who so openly now pride themselves on on their consummate driving skills compared with other on the roads, who will by then have had their abilities to show off those rare skills completely wrested from them!
Whatever may come about, there is one certainty. We can never be fully dependent upon relying upon human nature to ensure our roads safety because, for many, what should be a quite normal and routine use of our roads is still looked upon as being at best a ‘sport’ or at worst an actual competition. Who is to blame for that? Mostly the motoring press and media which places far too much emphasis on ‘speed’ and ‘handling’, together with the perceived prestige to be gained from possessing a certain type of vehicle (commonly the most powerful ones). However and perhaps even more substantially, blame must be leveled at a mythology perpetuated by a motoring industry which feels compelled to persistently promote vehicles which are often quite beyond any reasonable human needs, as well as more often than just occasionally, simply border on being totally ridiculous.
This world (Country) is full of people who tell us what we already know, so come off the fence and do something about it, we have the laws but no one left to enforce them.
Surly the Police have an obligation to sort this out (alongside the many other things they dont do anymore) so give them the people to do it.
I have followed the simple rule: if the driver in front stops suddenly, can I?