Smart Motorist

Good Weather - During daylight with good, dry roads and low traffic volume, you can ensure you're a safe distance from the car ahead of you by following the "three-second rule." The distance changes at different speeds. To determine the right following distance, first select a fixed object on the road ahead such as a sign, tree or overpass. When the vehicle ahead of you passes the object, slowly count "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand." If you reach the object before completing the count, you're following too closely. Making sure there are three seconds between you and the car ahead gives you time and distance to respond to problems in the lane ahead of you.

Inclement Weather, Heavy Traffic, or Night-Time Driving - In heavy traffic, at night, or when weather conditions are not ideal (eg. light rain, light fog, light snow), double the three second rule to six seconds, for added safety.

Poor Weather - If the weather conditions are very poor, eg. heavy rain, heavy fog, or heavy snow, start by tripling the three second rule to nine seconds to determine a safe following distance.

Tailgating - Following a vehicle too closely is called 'tailgating'. Tailgating is an agressive driving behaviour that is easily mistaken for road rage. Use the three-second rule to avoid tailgating. Most rear end collisions are caused by the vehicle in back following too closely. If someone is tailgating you, move to another lane or turn off the road as soon as possible and allow the tailgating vehicle to pass.

Do You Tailgate Dangerously? - Dr Driving (aka Leon James Ph.D.)

Those that drive family & economy cars tailgate less than those who drive sportscars and SUVs by a ratio of 2 to 1.

The results for the 10 states in this sample for which I had enough respondents to make statistical comparisons, show the worst five States with a mean of 21% dangerous tailgating: Colorado (25%), Georgia (20%), Pennsylvania (20%), Michigan (19%), Texas (19%). The lowest tailgating States are: Illinois (8%), New York (10%), Florida (14%), Ohio (15%), California (18%).

There are as you might expect, age differences as well as gender differences. Among young drivers, 19% admit to tailgating dangerously, which is about one in five. This is more than middle aged drivers (15%) and senior drivers (6%). This age pattern recurs in many aggressive driving behaviors: as we get older, we drive less aggressively. Women admit to as much tailgating as men (15%), in general, but once again there are significant influences attributable to the type of car they drive, as show in this table:

You can see that those drive the "soft" cars (family and economy) tailgate less than those who drive the "hard" cars (sports and SUV) with a ratio of two to one. This holds true for both men and women. However, with SUV drivers we see a reversal between the genders: more female SUV drivers tailgate dangerously, by their own admission, than male drivers of SUVs.

 

Comments

Bob Long  - Professional driver |2008-05-12 01:27:49 If the lane to your right is empty, your in the wrong lane! If you just got passed on the right, your in the wrong lane! If you can't or won't drive the speed limit, use another road that suits your vehicle or style of driving! 10   10

Mike G.  - Experienced Driver w/40 years |2008-05-18 06:48:57 A recent tailgating type on the rise is when there is more than one lane in the same direction and a tailgater pulls up within 5 feet at the speed limit, usually 55-65mph; although there is plenty of room to pass safely. (no provocation) I have not figured out a good way to get rid of such a tailgater. Although, at night dropping my rearview mirror to reflect tailgaters headlights back at tailgater seems to work most of the time. Looking for suggestions. 4   2

SethDove  - SethDove |2008-07-21 04:39:47 Woman tailgate waaaay more often then men, no matter the vehicle. This survey was self-report, and woman often don't even know they tailgate. I often signal to the tailgator behind me with hand signals, and the women tend to reply with questioning exasperation; they don't know why I am upset. I truly believe that most women simply don't get it. (All of that said, *when* a male tailgates he often is much closer than a woman.) 4   8

mark  - accident on vacation |2008-08-03 05:01:02 I use the 3 second rule all the time, but it doesn't work if your driving 65 and someone decides to stop on the interstate to avoid debris. I decided to stay in my lane, bad idea. I should have took over the next lane.... I rented a car for the rest of our vacation. 1   1

Trevor L. (Edm, Ab, Canada)  - near perfect driving record 25ys+ |2008-10-29 03:21:21 The majority of drivers don't even know they follow too close!! I catch myself breaking the minimum two second rule but many drivers don't even allow themselves one second of distance!! I would bet you're numbers are badly skewed since your reporing is from drivers themselves, many of which have poor judgement and knowledge of safe following distance. I would confidently suggest a realistic figure be that about 85% of drivers regularly tailgate, 40% at less than one second distance, and 20% dangerously close. 7   0

David (Virginia, US)  - Guilt on both sides |2008-11-24 20:59:55 I think this is indeed a common problem but MOST of the time it's caused by the driver in the front not moving to the right. Slow drivers on the left lanes really increase traffic problems and generate this type of situation, where the driver in the second car is just trying to tell him/her: "go faster or get out of the way". If we drive politely and let the ones going faster to pass, then none of this will happen. 3   10

Jim  - trafic |2009-01-10 23:06:38 nice rulers 0   0

Timbo  - A tip if you have traffic in front of you |2009-01-13 20:45:35 I try not to tailgate, but due to city driving conditions, I am sure that my 3 seconds diminishes to 1.5 from time to time. A way to improve your time to react is to look through next car's windshield. You can see many (though not all) the reasons that guy might suddenly slow down. I know this is not foolproof, but it is better than nothing. 1   0

Tom  - 2 second rule |2009-04-19 22:01:38 I think 6 seconds in inclement conditions is too conservative. In congested traffic, someone will always be jumping into the gap you create, and you'll have to slow to then maintain that distance behind the person who jumped in. Then you'll be going too slow and get hit from behind. It's far more important to be alert and avoid distractions than to be creating a huge gap between you and the car in front. 2   4

Nardo Beganoff  - Sniffers |2009-06-30 04:42:23 I've driven over 750 000 km and have found tailgating one of the most stressful experiences, particularly on dual carriageways that have two lanes. If you are travelling at 110 km in the centre lane (the speed limit) and the car in the gutter lane is travelling the same speed then neither you nor the other motorist is obliged to do anything especially when their lane is full. So speeding motorists and tailgaters back-off. Further-more if you speed-up to try and move left to let the tailgater overtake, you'll never get back as the tailgaters travel dangerously close, hanging onto each other's bum fluff. 0   1

Mike  - H&S Manager |2009-07-22 12:29:32 Keeping a safe following distance on interstates in New Jersey and PA during rush hour is a daunting challenge due to "gap fillers". People think your buffer zone is an opening to pass, change lanes, make progress. Like others say above, they just don't get it. Takes persistence. 0   2

30 Year Long Distance Commuter  - Let 'em by: Don't Play the "Brakes" Game |2009-08-09 19:00:53 If you think someone's tailgating, just get out of the way and let them by! Too many times, during many long daily commutes, I've seen drivers slam on their brakes because they think someone is following too closely. Not only is that incredibly dangerous, it's arrogant and stupid: you're just endangering everyone on the road. GET OVER and let them by! Refusal to get over is much more aggressive and dangerous than simply sucking it up and moving to the left. Unless you're a traffic cop, you've got no right whatsoever to attempt to control another driver, and it's just sheer foolishness to do so. #77 on your cell phone calls just about every State Trooper Barracks on an interstate, regardless of where you are. Please take the next exit, report the jerk, and get back on the highway. Don't endanger everyone on the road! And, for goodness' sake!, don't call from the highway. Just for the record, it's by far MORE aggressive to tell someone "NO YOU WILL NOT" instead of asking "may I pass?" That doesn't exonerate tailgaters, but doesn't it make more sense to just let them by? 2   3

D Vel  - Passenger |2009-08-16 02:30:25 My cousin was driving in a sports car and a family/economy car was behind us. He was right behind us, about a foot, at all times. We moved to the left for him to pass, and he slowed down. We returned to the center lane, and he sped up. We then sped up 10 miles above the limit to get away from him, he went at least 30 miles faster to get past us, and stick the middle finger at us. We saw him 30 seconds later make a turn. People will tailgate for no purpose. Aside from the 10 miles we went to get ahead of him, we were driving 55, the limit. 0   0

D  - Will we all get along? |2009-08-28 06:38:03 I follow the 3 second rule and drive the speed limit. I make way for people who want to pass, but it is not always easy. I may be leaving space for traffic to merge into the right lane from the on ramp. This is even more necessary when they are following each other too closely! If you want to pass how about flashing your brights a couple of times? When you do pass why not leave a larger margin of safety when it is available? Bottom line, in traffic I increase the 3 second rule to 4 seconds when tailgated as per the CA Driver Handbook. 1   0

Eddie Wren  - President: Advanced Drivers of America |2009-09-09 11:27:00 This is the best US website I've seen on this topic but unfortunately it is still not particularly accurate. The deciding factor in creating a truly safe gap depends upon the road surface conditions, not visibility (for example, in truly thick fog -- mentioned above -- you possibly could not even SEE nine seconds ahead -- that is when a very different rule comes into play). The key is the coefficient of friction of the road surface, for it is *this* that governs braking and stopping distances, which in turn dictate the required following distances. The rule is three seconds for a dry, clean road surface; double it to six seconds for a wet road surface (irrespective of whether or not it is still raining -- remember it is the available GRIP that counts); and the triple or even quadruple it (i.e. 9-12 seconds) for extremely wet or otherwise slippery road surfaces -- everything from standing water and the risk of aquaplaning, through soft snow, to ice (and at the latter point look for the first opportunity to terminate your journey before somebody else's bad driving on sheet-ice does it for you). The original rule was 2-4-10 seconds but this was extended to 3-6-12 as a result of research which showed that real-life reaction times are significantly slower than people expect them to be (largely because of complacency and a failure to concentrate). 4   0

Carolyn |2009-10-13 17:30:04 What ever happened to the rule that the left lane was called the "passing lane". It used to be against the law to camp out in the passing lane. This causes more road rage and also causes other drivers to weave in and out of traffic. 0   0

john fontanez  - AGREESSSIIVE |2010-01-05 16:39:50 I was driving and a person in a hummer and started tailgating me on a one way street. I increased my speed and he still followed. Then he rammed into my car (small economic car) and drve me off the road.. these people are crazzyyyy 0   0

3 Car Wreck  - Bad News |2010-01-10 16:48:07 Drivers on a local freeway habitually drive too close, and make the road very dangerous. I find the aggressive tailgaters appear to not be looking ahead.... perhaps so fixated on riding inches from the bumper of the car in front on them, fail to see the traffic ahead is stopping or slowing. I have had aggressive tailgaters swerve & weave in & out of lanes only to hit the wall of slowed traffic ahead. Driving is all about giving yourself defensible space & looking further ahead. Often times these aggressive drivers wind up next to you at the off ramp at the stoplight. None of those dangerous/multiple lane changes made any difference in the long run. Is it considered a victory if you burn more gas & endanger other people & get to the red light first? My husband was car 1 in a 3 car wreck on this road I mentioned. The driver behind him was following to closely as freeway traffic was approaching the rush hour logjam and traffic slows & stops. The Golden rule of driving, is you can't go faster than the car in front of you! The car behind him slammed into his car, and the car behind that slammed into her car, causing her to hit car 1 a second time. Two of the 3 cars were towed away, and eventually car 1 was declared a total loss, as well. Luckily because of the traffic jam this happened at a slower speed, but this kind of driving could be fatal. Respect your own life & others by giving space between vehicles. 1   0

Bill in PA  - 36 yrs driving |2010-03-11 00:21:03 I've found that using the windshield washer while being tailgated results in the tailgater backing off, with 99.9% results. Something about droplets of liquid landing on your windshield just makes you lift your throttle foot... 0   0

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