Tailgating should be made a criminal offence

passatrider

martinthebandit wrote: »

I don't think I said that, all I did suggest was that, if it is happening to you more than it does to others, then there may be something about your own driving that is contributing, its not an unreasonable suggestion is it?

Oh and I don't tailgate, although like other people I do get annoyed by bad drivers who choose to drive much slower than the speed limit needlessly.

The speed limit is what it says, it's not a target.
If you come across a driver in front of you who drives under the limit then the right thing is to maintain a gap and wait for a safe and legal place to pass is it not?

No, the tailgaters are the bad drivers here..

martinthebandit

passatrider wrote: »

Why are people who choose to drive slower than the speed limit seen as bad drivers here? The speed limit is what it says, it's not a target.
If you come across a driver in front of you who drives under the limit then the right thing is to maintain a gap and wait for a safe and legal place to pass is it not?

No, the tailgaters are the bad drivers here..

Its been awhile since you passed your driving test hasn't it?

Any idea why its a fail if you needlessly drive slower than the speed limit during your driving test?

I agree that tailgating is bad driving but your not coming across as a shinning example of good driving yourself

passatrider

martinthebandit wrote: »

Its been awhile since you passed your driving test hasn't it?

Any idea why its a fail if you needlessly drive slower than the speed limit during your driving test?

I agree that tailgating is bad driving but your not coming across as a shinning example of good driving yourself

I just edited my post before you replied after reading it back..

Joe_Horner

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

Maybe, it's the tailgater at fault REGARDLESS of how the person in front of them is driving? The person behind has to chose to either drive so close it's frightening, or back off a bit and leave a gap. It's doesn't matter if the person in front is doing 50, 60, 70 or 80mph. The driver in front doesn't MAKE anyone tailgate!

^^^ 100% this.

Personally I don't like the idea of creating another offence for it because we already have too many overlapping bits of legislation, which can actually reduce successful prosecutions. When the first step is having to decide which of a dozen separate laws is the "appropriate" charge to bring, you're opening the door for people getting off.

Dwdca or dangerous driving cover tailgating well enough - although personally I'd scrap Dwdca and remove the requirement for "dangerous" to mean actual danger on the basis that exactly the same bad driving shouldn't cease to be "dangerous" just because of a fluke of circumstances!

Tailgating is then the first area I'd target under the revised law. At the moment the problem, apart from acomplete lack of traffic police, seems to be the subjective nature of the evidence. We can do speed cameras, we can do average speed cameras, I find it impossible to believe that we can't do tailgating cameras.

Capturing the speed and distance / time between vehicles then taking video of any falling closer than a certain threshold according to the measured speed would be pretty trivial even with existing hardware. "Flagged" cases could then be assessed by humans for fairness based on the speed / distance measurements and the video of the circumstances. They could also be used for spotting things like lane-changing too close (would trigger the camera, the human operator would then see that the second car wasn't tailgating but the first had pulled in front).

Sgt_Pepper_2

pogofish wrote: »

Did I say it was?

You said it was a criminal offence.

Gordon_Hose

Why do you keep bringing up examinations? It's irrelevant. You drive to the conditions regardless of being on your test or not.

If you do 70mph when the conditions dictate you should be doing 50mph, you're gonna fail miserably.

Doing 60 to overtake slower moving traffic doesn't mean the vehicle behind has the right to tailgate. Any SENSIBLE driver would adjust their speed accordingly and wait for the car in front to finish their overtaking maneuver.

Idiophreak

martinthebandit wrote: »

Any idea why its a fail if you needlessly drive slower than the speed limit during your driving test?

This is interesting...what's the problem?

I regularly drive under the speed limit, but don't view it as "needless". I "need" to save money, so drive at a more economical speed. That's a fail, is it?

Gordon_Hose

Oh, and I'm not a perfect driver and haven't suggested I am. However, I'm clued up enough to realise tailgating is just plain dangerous and that I need to adjust my speed based on what is in front of me. Not try and bully the car in front all the while blaming them for driving 5 mph below the posted speed limit.

martinthebandit

Idiophreak wrote: »

This is interesting...what's the problem?

I regularly drive under the speed limit, but don't view it as "needless". I "need" to save money, so drive at a more economical speed. That's a fail, is it?

Yes it is a fail, and for good reason.

Gordon_Hose

martinthebandit wrote: »

Yes it is a fail, and for good reason.

Not necessarily. Depends on the road conditions. Depends on slower moving traffic. If you can't physically do 70mph, then tailgating the car in front is gonna get you a big fat fail as well.