Tailgaters are the UK’s most irritating road users

[Lighting90]

Tailgaters are the UK’s most irritating road users

Tailgaters are the UK’s most irritating road users and more needs to be done to tackle the menace of ‘close following’ according to a new campaign, launched today to improve the standard of driving.

The habit of driving too close to the car in front was voted as the most irritating behaviour of other drivers by 36 per cent of road users in an AA/Populus survey of over 14,500 AA members, conducted to launch the Autocar/AA Drive Better Campaign.
And not only is tailgating extremely annoying, it's also very dangerous.

Edmund King, AA president reveals that: “Survey respondents were spot on to highlight their irritation with tailgaters. Data reveals that leaving pure human error aside tailgaters fall just behind ‘loss of control’ as the major cause of crashes. It’s a problem not only on motorways but also on dual carriageways, country lanes and in road works. Some tailgate to bully drivers out of the way, others because they just don’t think of the potentially tragic consequences of their actions.”

However, the dangers of tailgating have been lost in the war on speed, which has seen a much greater emphasis placed on catching speeding drivers than teaching better, safer driving techniques. And with more Brits taking a staycation this summer, the roads are going to be busier than ever with more accidents, many of which will be caused by the dreaded tailgater.

The AA says that ‘detailed analysis of police accident causation figures has shown that close following is a particular problem, contributing to 16 per cent of motorway accidents.’ However, the AA says that it’s difficult to judge the scale of close following accidents on lesser roads, ‘mainly because many more of the collisions will not involve injury and therefore not be recorded in studies.’

It’s clear, then, that tailgating is one of the most serious aspects of the poor driving evident on the UK’s roads. The problem lies in trying to educate drivers – some with decades of experience – to not only take tailgating seriously, but also to be able to judge safe braking distances at various speeds.

Heavyweight motoring brands Autocar and the AA have joined forces to make motoring a better experience for road users frustrated by the lack of ability or care of many drivers. The Autocar/AA Drive Better Campaign believes the route to better, safer roads is education. Autocar and the AA will be lobbying the government for a re-think of the driving test process.

“For more than a decade the road safety message has been speed kills,” said Chas Hallett, editor of Autocar. “But the truth is a little different – just five per cent of all accidents (and 12 per cent of fatalities) were wholly or partly caused by a driver breaking the speed limit. Poor driving causes the vast majority of accidents and tailgating is the cause of many collisions. Tailgaters need to remember the danger they put other road users in.”

[Al Downie]

I would have voted for 'people who drive in the middle or outside lane when not overtaking'

[toppa]

or fog lights on in the rain

[Dave-H]

I would have voted for 'people who drive in the middle or outside lane when not overtaking'

My favourite bugbear too ... i always tail gate them

[conkers]

I had a few of them yesterday. I was bang on 60 on a single carriagway A road (the limit as far as I'm aware) with an MPV 5ft behind, I caught up with another car doing 50 (no problem with that from me) but because of the tailgating MPV I overtook and carried on. The MPV then tailgated the other car as far as I could see them and never once attempted to overtake on a long straight and clear road. If people are up someones backside it says to me they want to get past but this plum just liked to see whats in the boot!

[Satancom]

I would have voted for 'people who drive in the middle or outside lane when not overtaking'

Yup this causes me great irritation

[Al Downie]

Oh! Yes! There's another one - 'people who won't overtake slow vehicles, making it more difficult and dangerous for everyone behind them to overtake'.

[Lighting90]

Oh! Yes! There's another one - 'people who won't overtake slow vehicles, making it more difficult and dangerous for everyone behind them to overtake'.

That one you have to becareful of, you may for instance as the followng driver not see or realise of something that causes another in front not to try and overtake... I never stress over someone who rathers not overtake than have them take a risk that they are not comfortable with...


I can give one example of a situation where the driver at the front of the queue knew something the impatient driver did not know behind... the tractor man we had working for us at the time, was coming back to the farm during harvest with a tractor and loaded trailer, he indicated he was turning right into our farm, the trailer board was low down, and the size of the trailer obsured the lights of the tractor, the car directly behind him saw he was turning right, so didn't overtake, the driver behind him decided he was an idiot for not overtaking a tractor and trailer on a straight road with nothing coming, that impatient driver needed a new car after that decision to overtake, and he put our tractor driver in hospital... the only damage to our tractor and trailer was we needed a new rim for the rear wheel where he hit....

[Keg]

Coming back up the M6 last night, a young lady in a Merc coupe tried for over an hour to undertake myself and 2 cars in front. We were averaging 75-80, even if she had managed to get past without causing a pile up, what about the other 40,000 cars in front of me?.

Which brings me to one of my bugbears- Undertaking.

Quite happy to do it at 3:00am on an open road, i hate the members of cloc ( Central Lane Owners Club) as much as anyone, but when lane 3 slows a bit then cars in lane 2 shoot up the inside then sqeeeze in, lane 3 comes to a shuddering halt and some poor sod 1/2 a mile back has to slam all on and gets shunted up the bum!

[Al Downie]

what about the other 40,000 cars in front of me?

Depends! If the 40,000 cars in front of you are all doing 20mph in the outside lane, but the inside 2 lanes are free, then it seems quite appropriate to undertake!

It occurred to me on the A1 this morning (on my way to the CLA game fair), that as soon as you put a single HGV limited to 60mph on any dual carriageway, you effectively turn that road into a single carriageway because no motorist wants to get stuck behind that lorry. So all cars squash into the outside lane and never leave, in case they're not allowed back in again when they reach the lorry half-a-mile ahead. Add to that the huge tailbacks that occur when one lorry overtakes another at 0.001mph faster than its partner, and it's EASY to see why the government is telling us that increasing taxes will solve congestion. Oh yes.

Don't get me started...

[Al Downie]

And another thing!

Folk who, when they see a sign showing that the lanes merge in 2 miles, will immediately swerve into the inside lane (creating a twenty-mile, single-lane tailback) and then harbour furious resentment against people who proceed to the roadworks and merge in turn like they're supposed to. Even more annoying than that are the flippin' idiots who pull out to block the outside lane two miles away from the roadworks, because they don't want people to proceed ahead and merge in turn, like they're supposed to.

[Discoterry]

I was tailgated for about 5 miles driving through our local villages, in the end i slowly stopped the car,he was to close to be able to pull past me and couldn't reverse because of a car behind him, i got out and explained to him the error of his ways.He appeared to be Very,very,very sorry!.After that he kept a good distance back.
I think people see the Land Rover badge and it makes them a bit funny in the head, people are always doing it!.

[Keg]

I Agree Al, use the A1 north a lot and teh same problem. I also agree that if the 40,000 other users we doing 20 mph I would be the first to blast up the inside, but we were all doing 75-80ish and would have gone faster if conditions had allowed.

All the other driver was doing was undertaking 4 cars then trying to force her way in.

[Wesley Pegden]

I once was overtaken (I was doing 30mph in a 30mph zone through Stanley Village, Derbyshire)) by some goon on a moped who was TEXTING at the same time as he was overtaking me.

Bloody scary

[Al Downie]

Old-timers who drive at a constant 40mph regardless of whether the speed limit is 30mph or 70mph. Often in 2nd gear, and mostly with a bewildered and terrified expression and a hat.