Tailgating: are you guilty

[Posh Tourer :P]

well yeah.... I think tailgating is within 1 car length. theres a difference between following close and tailgating. I'm surprised less people have gone for the option of 1 second rule... thats about what I end up doing most of the time.

Motu: I think its all about tall vehicles seeming closer... if a sedan was 2cm off your bumper, it wouldnt be so bad as a van 2 feet away - cos the bit you can see is closer. People often dont understand that

[Big Dog]

On the open road I don't tailgate but in AK rush hour traffic you have very little choise in the matter,if you were to try maintaining a 2 second gap you would never get where you were going.In AK they could probably fit three cars into a 2 second gap.
Well they would try aye!! Ferkin idjits

In my experience 2 seconds is a good folloing distance above 30kmph. Under that you are giving F^%#wits an invitation to cut you off with out indicating or even being in front of you when they enter your lane.

I try not to tailgate. I try to obey the two second rule. However in the interests of self preservation I cocasionally make it the 1.5 second rule. When other drivers take a run at me a probability of a crash is better than a guarantee.

If you ask me anyone who says they have never tailgated,
A is not very honest with themself.
B never checks themself.
C Lives where there is literaly no other vehicles on the road.
D or is lying to us.

I used to think I did not tailgate until I tried an experiment that was suggested in an advanced defensive driving course.
Count off your following distance every 10sec. When you are sure you are doing it right get someone else to count off whenever you want to check.
eg You say mark as the car in front passes a sign, The other person counts of one, one thousand, two, one thousand, while pacing against an watch. end of test.

Out of 13 truck drivers, 2 were not counting too fast when doing their checks. :sly:

[Big Dog]

When I did my car license tailgateing was defined in the road code as following unneccesarily close or breaking the two second rule.

If I know the vehicle in front of me has a better braking potential than me I will give a little more room as the two second rule is primarily to give us time to respond as we get to the same point on the road.

According to a handout at the ADDC, this is because it takes humans on average .8 of a second to recognise the danger posed by tail lights coming on. .6 of a second to decide what to do about it. And .4 of a second to do it.

Total 1.8 seconds for a healthy, well rested, focused and alert, 30yr old male with no contributing factors (eg lack of sleep, small amounts of alcohol, lack of attention, prescription drugs, stimulants (coffee red bull etc), favourite song on the radio, hassles at home or work stress.)
(ps. Not exactly sure on the order of the .8 &.6 times but the total is right)
Add .01 of a second to each stage for being female.
Add .02 of a second for each other contributing factor.
Add up to 3 seconds for any mind altering drugs or alcohol, AT EACH STEP!

[DEATH_INC.]

That's interesting......we've played with a reaction time test and of the five of us the two females in the group had faster reflex's.......wonder why they are adding time for them......

[PeteThePom]

On the bike, I'm close behind but as close to the median as possible and I also make sure I can see the vehicle in fronts side and rear view mirror(so they can see me too) At speed I hang back and give everyone room. In my 4x4 I hang back as I have to stop 2 tons with only 2 discs!!!

[sparrow_34]

I don't follow cages too closely on the bike, no/slim chance of avoiding running over any foreign objects or farkin deep potholes that suddenly appear in front of you, tailgating is reserved for twats that formation drive with another cage and block the motorway at 70k's or so!

[Big Dog]

That's interesting......we've played with a reaction time test and of the five of us the two females in the group had faster reflex's.......wonder why they are adding time for them......

According to the handout....

Where there is a predetermined response ie the pub tests that cost 50c and you press the button when the light flashes, women are faster than men (danger recognition stage). But when it came to deciding between several courses of action ie swerve, brake, brake and swerve or do nothing women take longer with this stage.

Which is why women are typically better at the type of typing test where you have to type the letter falling from the sky, but men are typically better at playstation (man is that going to start a storm in a tea cup).

Apperently this combined with lower levels of testosterone is why in general women speed less than men, despite having greater technical skill on average (per hour spent learning the task).

[Grumpy]

It's interesting to note that most have said they don't follow too close when on their bikes but I have found that motorcyclists are probably the worst for this. I'm sure that some are correct in that they give the vehicle plenty of room but a majority of us, myself included, hang in there a little too close at times. Unfortunately commuting in Auckland does teach bad habits and those habits tend to follow us onto the open road.

[Jackrat]

It's interesting to note that most have said they don't follow too close when on their bikes but I have found that motorcyclists are probably the worst for this. I'm sure that some are correct in that they give the vehicle plenty of room but a majority of us, myself included, hang in there a little too close at times. Unfortunately commuting in Auckland does teach bad habits and those habits tend to follow us onto the open road.

Odd you should say that (not) I have always found the same thing myself.
This is one of the main reasons I don't like riding in groups.I like to sit up to 100 meters behind other bikes on the open road.I've had quite a few guys in the past say I am slow because I do this but the minite you take the lead you end up with some tosser sitting on your tail light.On a ride I went on with the Triumph owners club I had a woman on a new Thunderbird tail gateing me for the first half hour until we got east of Hamilton when we hit some road works.I know she had an attitude problem with not being able to stay with me in the twisty bits so she kept blasting up behind me on the straights.
She was so busy watching me she didn't see the road works until to late,I pulled to the left to get the best entry onto the gravel and she sailed past and ended up weaving all over the road with all the grace of a stranded whale.How she didn't go down is a mystery but it had nothing to do with skill.
I had a little chuckle about how she kept her distance after that.

[Posh Tourer :P]

I don't follow cages too closely on the bike, no/slim chance of avoiding running over any foreign objects or farkin deep potholes that suddenly appear in front of you, tailgating is reserved for twats that formation drive with another cage and block the motorway at 70k's or so!

Good point, I have found this also, but arent you supposed to be predominantly in the right hand wheel track anyway?

[sparrow_34]

yeah, but I don't want to rely on a cage driver to take evasive action or notice a hazard in front of them, some of the 4wd drivers may even take pleasure in testing out their suspensions capabilities

[Lou Girardin]

[QUOTE=Big Dog]
According to a handout at the ADDC, this is because it takes humans on average .8 of a second to recognise the danger posed by tail lights coming on. .6 of a second to decide what to do about it. And .4 of a second to do it.

Total 1.8 seconds for a healthy, well rested, focused and alert, 30yr old male with no contributing factors (eg lack of sleep, small amounts of alcohol, lack of attention, prescription drugs, stimulants (coffee red bull etc), favourite song on the radio, hassles at home or work stress.)
QUOTE]

1.8 secs reaction time! Did they check for a pulse?
No wonder we have so amny f'ing accidents.
Lou

[Drunken Monkey]

That's interesting......we've played with a reaction time test and of the five of us the two females in the group had faster reflex's.......wonder why they are adding time for them......

The did an interesting experiement on the speed doco - it wasn't that your average tennis pro, colin mccrae or michael schumacer had faster reactions than clarkson, it was their ability to cope with more elements at once, and experience helped in spotting hazards earlier.

(hmmm, doesn't illustrate my point tho - surely the gender than can watch the soaps, talk on the phone, iron the hubby's shirt and keep an eye on the baby all at once has the advantage here?)

What reaction test were you using? The old 'drop the ruler test'?

[Slim]

Unfortunately commuting in Auckland does teach bad habits and those habits tend to follow us onto the open road.

I'll say! Seven years or so since I left Auckland and the daily commute on the motorway, and I still have to make myself back off (in the car)! I think I mostly drive at the 1sec gap, and if there's no chance to pass or I'm happy with the speed, I'll start cruising & checking the gap until I hit the 2sec mark (it's a lot further than you'd think). It's easier at night, because I look for the end of my lights on the ground - if I can't see darkness before the back bumper of the car I'm following I back off some more.

But after all these years, it's still something I have to consciously make myself do.

On the bike, I'll ride quite close, but in the rh wheel track position, if I can see a chance to get past coming up (high speed filtering?) but back off if I'm happy with the speed the vehicle in front is doing or there's no chance of a pass (less likely on the bike than in the car).

[Motoracer]

I only tailgate when I try to give slipstreaming a go.