Why Do People Engage in Tailgating Behavior on the Road?

[BobG]

The Jeep Cherokee I used to own had a great anti-tailgating device. The tube to the rear window washer developed a leak, so instead of washing my rear window, it would squirt an arc out behind me. Not only did I not fix the leak, I started looking for yellow washer fluid. If a car was too close behind me, the arc would reach anywhere from the nose of their car to the middle of their front hood. Not only did I not fix the leak, I started looking for yellow washer fluid (I found green, but no yellow).

When I used to make trips to DC, my attitude was "Forget the speed limit! Just get in the left lane and go with the flow." The maneuvering in the other lanes was just too exciting for me. And, naturally, since I was usually unfamiliar with the location of my hotel, once I was within 50 feet of my exit I'd cut across all of the intervening lanes to make my exit.

Actually, I can read a map pretty good and I know to look up both the exit I need, plus the 3 preceding exits when in a town like DC. In a town like the Springs, I only need my exit and the preceding exit.

 

[Moogoo]

One idiot tailgated me last year. Had to do an emergency stop as the cars in front were all stationary. Then of course the dear tailgater went right into the back of me and caused a domino type effect righting off three cars (ours included). He didn't even have time to break as he was much too close. Please don't do it. Whiplash, back problems and becoming a back seat driver is no fun. (woe is me ;) )

 

[P4PPY]

I once did a small psych test on the cause of tailgating. The results were interesting.

It seemed that drivers would gauge their speeds based on the car in front of them subconsciously. Instead of looking at their speedometer, they would just follow the car in front of them and their vision would judge the speed. This happened more and more at faster speeds and longer durations of travel time.

The reason behind the tailgating was when the car in front of them would slow down or speed up gradually. The mind would not calculate in the safest distance as the speeds increased. It would only tell your mind to accelerate or decelerate depending on the speed of the car in front… not the distance.
Brake lights were the only thing that would “wake” the mind up.

If you really want to mess with someone though… use your E-Brake to slow down. Your brake lights don’t come on… and the vehicle will slow down at a faster rate than normal. (Just don’t lock the rear tires up). The car behind you (if in a state of subconscious driving) will bump into your tailgate without even knowing what happened.

 

[Moonbear]

I once did a small psych test on the cause of tailgating. The results were interesting.

It seemed that drivers would gauge their speeds based on the car in front of them subconsciously. Instead of looking at their speedometer, they would just follow the car in front of them and their vision would judge the speed. This happened more and more at faster speeds and longer durations of travel time.

The reason behind the tailgating was when the car in front of them would slow down or speed up gradually. The mind would not calculate in the safest distance as the speeds increased. It would only tell your mind to accelerate or decelerate depending on the speed of the car in front… not the distance.
Brake lights were the only thing that would “wake” the mind up.

That actually makes sense to me. When you're going faster, you usually spend more time looking at the road and things are moving too fast to spend so much time looking down at the dashboard. You "go with the flow." Even more so if there are a lot of cars on the road that you can use to pace your speed...usually more important to drive a speed consistent with the rest of the traffic flow than the posted speed limit anyway, whether it's slower or faster.

I can also see how gauging a safe distance for your speed would become less accurate with more speed and more traffic. Again, you're not looking down at the speedometer, but watching the vehicles around you to stay in an opening, which may not be a safe following distance, but gives you places to move laterally if you need to swerve, for example. The way cars are built so well insulated, you really can't tell by feel anymore how fast you're going, so may underestimate your actual speed too (again, more so with longer distances driven as you habituate to the motion).

And, there may also be what I call the "claustrophobia factor." Nobody likes to feel boxed in or stuck behind another vehicle (this is especially bothersome to me with all the tall SUVs on the road that I can't see what's happening ahead of them), so you get closer as you prepare to pass so you can get "out into the open" and see where you're going.

One idiot tailgated me last year. Had to do an emergency stop as the cars in front were all stationary. Then of course the dear tailgater went right into the back of me and caused a domino type effect righting off three cars (ours included). He didn't even have time to break as he was much too close. Please don't do it. Whiplash, back problems and becoming a back seat driver is no fun. (woe is me ;) )

Well, there were two things that person did wrong. They were tailgating AND not watching the road ahead of you (and neither were you apparently if you didn't see the traffic stopping before you needed to slam on the brakes). If you watch ahead, you can anticipate such things unless you've just come around a blind curve...and in that case, yeah, you should leave more stopping distance between cars to account for not being able to see far enough ahead to anticipate slow downs.

 

[Cyrus]

When I am driving I don't look at the car infront of me. I look through the windshield of the car infront of me and watch the car infront of him. When THAT guy slows down I slow down, because I know the guy infront of me is going to react slow and then slam on his brakes. This way I almost NEVER find myself slamming on the brakes.

I only glance down at my speedo every few mins to make sure I am not going too too fast.

 

[Danger]

My driving technique is a bit different than what I am reading here. I use the 'Cylon' system; my eyes constantly sweep from side to side. My focal point is constrained to about a 30˚ wedge, but with 190˚ of peripheral vision, that gives me a pretty good idea of what's going on. It goes in steps, as opposed to a true sweeping motion. I look 15˚ to the right for about 1 second, then straight ahead for another second, then to the left for a second, then straight again. About every 5 seconds or so, I drop my glance to the dash for a second to check the speedometer, tach, and oil pressure.
That's on an open road. The only difference in city traffic is that I double the scan rate and don't check the dash except at a stop light.
I've never actually had any difficulty automatically adjusting the spacing with varying speed. That might be from being used to 'taking a lead' on something when shooting at it.

 

[lisab]

I only glance down at my speedo every few mins to make sure I am not going too too fast.

You wear a Speedo when you drive?

 

[Cyrus]

Im always packing when I drive baby. I need a special permit to carry around that concealed weapon.

 

[edward]

When I am driving I don't look at the car infront of me. I look through the windshield of the car infront of me and watch the car infront of him. When THAT guy slows down I slow down, because I know the guy infront of me is going to react slow and then slam on his brakes. This way I almost NEVER find myself slamming on the brakes.

I only glance down at my speedo every few mins to make sure I am not going too too fast.

Looking ahead is a good idea. I will usually drive the fast lane and if I can't see through the windshield of the vehicle in front of me I will drive a bit offset to the left in the lane so I can see what is ahead. It bugs the heck out of my wife because I drive so close to the edge of the road.

 

[Einstienear]

I don't know why people do it, other than unforgivable stupidity.
When I learned to drive, it was the car-length rule. Now it's considered that a 2-second separation is safe, so I give 3 under clear dry conditions, or 4 if it's a motorcycle in front of me. Both of those distances go up by 50 or 100% for adverse weather or road conditions.
I don't like it if someone tailgates me, but I have ways to make their lives miserable if they don't back off.

True,I agree.

Driving my Chrisler 300 while someone tailgating dangerously close behind me is by no doubt dangerous.

Einstienear

 

[Cyrus]

Looking ahead is a good idea. I will usually drive the fast lane and if I can't see through the windshield of the vehicle in front of me I will drive a bit offset to the left in the lane so I can see what is ahead. It bugs the heck out of my wife because I drive so close to the edge of the road.

Lines on the road mean nothing to me. Ill drive half way on the shoulder if it means I'll take the turn smoother. I use all the available road surface possible. Most off ramps have a shoulder. They say take the off ramp at 40. If you drive with your car in the middle of the white line between the off ramp and the shoulder, you can take it at 60mph and it will feel smooth as silk with no tire noise, and no feeling of being thrown to the outside of the turn. Just keep the white line relatively in the middle of your windshield during the entire time you take the off ramp. (Although, there's a bit more to it. For example, almost all exits are to your left. So you want to start the turn almost all the way to the right as possible. Then when you turn left you want to kiss the apex and keep the shoulder line in the middle of you car. That way it will feel smooth, and you will go fast the entire time). Most of the time cars following me are also going fast...until we go on the off ramp and I leave them in my dust despite the fact that my car is not powerful at all. They just take the turn wrong and end up slowing down considerably)

 

[rocketboy]

...you can take it at 60mph and it will feel smooth as silk with no tire noise, and no feeling of being thrown to the outside of the turn...

60? I do about 190 through there... sucks though because there's usually a stoplight at the end of the off ramp.

 

[Cyrus]

Im not talking about KPH. 190KPH is 118 MPH...are you joking? You're going to kill someone going that speed on an off ramp. Thats moronic.

 

[rocketboy]

nonono mph man, I go faster and faster each time, I mean you have to have some way to make driving entertaining when your not tailgating people right? Soon I'm going to need a new car though I think I'm nearing the limit of mine, and I don't want to lose the game.

 

[Cyrus]

Oh, I forgot that you own a 190MPH ferrari.

There going to scoop your brains off the interstate one of these days.

 

[rocketboy]

hehe... on a more serious note, can anyone imagine going that fast? I mean, high end sports cars these days top out over 200mph, with a few exceptions over 250! Furthermore, not only are they incredibly fast in a straight line, but their handling capabilities (I'm talking European sports cars, not american cars) are incredible. I can think of very few things I'd rather do than drive a high end Porsche (like the GT2/GT3/Turbo/Carrera GT) on a closed circuit... it would be, well, I can't find the words.

 

[Cyrus]

You would not be able to handle such a car at its limits. You would kill yourself.

 

[rocketboy]

I never said anything about taking it to its limits, I have no doubt that I lack the driving skills necessary to do that. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be absolutely exhilarating!

 

[Hurkyl]

So I guess my question has been answered mostly indirectly (and directly by chroot) -- I had assumed that the prevailing cause for tailgating is a combination of not actually having learned properly how to drive, and sheer stupidity... and none of the stories in the thread apply to the general case.


I would like to point out that if I'm "blocking" you in the left lane, that either means I am in the process of passing a group of cars, or I have been pinned into the left lane (e.g. by someone speeding up as I was passing). In the latter case, tailgating would be counter-productive -- cutting off most of my rearward visibility is likely to increase the amount of time it takes for me to move back over to the right. In the former case, it runs the risk of shifting me out of "pass these cars" mode into "risk mitigation" mode. (Which would again probably increase the amount of time I'm in front of you)

In any case, I do not consider being in front of you a sufficient reason to drive illegally.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

hehe... on a more serious note, can anyone imagine going that fast? I mean, high end sports cars these days top out over 200mph, with a few exceptions over 250! Furthermore, not only are they incredibly fast in a straight line, but their handling capabilities (I'm talking European sports cars, not american cars) are incredible. I can think of very few things I'd rather do than drive a high end Porsche (like the GT2/GT3/Turbo/Carrera GT) on a closed circuit... it would be, well, I can't find the words.

http://www.millionairesconcierge.com/racecar.htm

 

[rocketboy]

http://www.millionairesconcierge.com/racecar.htm

That is awesome! They have some other cool stuff as well "fighter jet thrill" *boyhood excitement races through rocketboy*

 

[rocketboy]

I would like to point out that if I'm "blocking" you in the left lane, that either means I am in the process of passing a group of cars, or I have been pinned into the left lane (e.g. by someone speeding up as I was passing). In the latter case, tailgating would be counter-productive ...

you're right, tailgating isn't going to help anything, a more productive solution is to pass on the shoulder!

 

[Integral]

I drive a McLaren Mercedes SLR which has carbon ceramic disk brakes and can stop in half the recommended distance. Thats why I tail gate.

I do tail gate but I have this thing where I have to be as close as possible to the car in front. Even when the traffic has stopped I only leave a couple of inches between cars. I don't know why, just one of the many weird compulsions i have.

Jerk.

Sorry

 

[Integral]

Im always packing when I drive baby. I need a special permit to carry around that concealed weapon.

Undoubtly, a small caliber with a short barrel.

 

[Kurdt]

Jerk.

Sorry

Sheesh! I was only joking about the McLaren SLR.

 

[Greg Freeman]

The use of tailgating is to get the slow drivers out of the fast (left) lane of traffic. Personally I don't tailgate much myself, someone would have to be going pretty slow for me to do that. What I normally do is drive my comfortable distance behind someone, and usually within a couple of minutes someone will start getting close to me. I'll just switch one lane to the right, let the people that want to tailgate past, get behind them and let them clear the way. Traffic (not just for me, but the dozens piled up behind the one slow guy) then speeds up tremendously. People going faster than the speed limit (even around 20 mph faster on a 70mph roadway) don't really bother me (I usually get out of the faster lane if I'm in it to let them pass), it's the person yabbering away on the cellphone or falling asleep or just plain not paying attention that cause me problems.

Edit: If traffic starts to pile up behind me (therefore making ME the slow guy in the fast lane), I usually just step on it, going up to 15-20mph over the limit to get around any obstacles in the right lane, then switch over to let the faster traffic past. Everybody wins in that situation.

 

[Moonbear]

it's the person yabbering away on the cellphone or falling asleep or just plain not paying attention that cause me problems.

Same here. They'll drive you nuts because they're completely oblivious that they're impeding traffic driving under the speed limit or an inconsistent speed (that's more annoying than the slow drivers, because it's harder to just pass them), and usually in the middle or left lane (if they want to go that slow, they belong in the far right lane with flashers on like all the trucks with full loads that can't get up the mountains). If they're especially oblivious, that's why they put horns in cars...to wake them up and let the person on the other end of the phone know they can't talk and drive at the same time too.

If everyone would get in their car and focus on their driving rather than everything else...phone, radio, screaming kids (you'd think with all the carseat and seatbelt laws that kids would be less of a distraction than they were when I was a kid crawling around the car fighting with my sister because she crossed the invisible line on the seat onto my side), eating lunch, putting on makeup, shaving, organizing schedules, etc...then we might not have such problems.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

The use of tailgating is to get the slow drivers out of the fast (left) lane of traffic.

There's a recipe for you. Pick the worst drivers on the road, and put yourself in danger of hitting them. This is Darwin Award material at its best.

 

[ShawnD]

I once did a small psych test on the cause of tailgating. The results were interesting.

It seemed that drivers would gauge their speeds based on the car in front of them subconsciously. Instead of looking at their speedometer, they would just follow the car in front of them and their vision would judge the speed. This happened more and more at faster speeds and longer durations of travel time.

The reason behind the tailgating was when the car in front of them would slow down or speed up gradually. The mind would not calculate in the safest distance as the speeds increased. It would only tell your mind to accelerate or decelerate depending on the speed of the car in front… not the distance.
Brake lights were the only thing that would “wake” the mind up.

If you really want to mess with someone though… use your E-Brake to slow down. Your brake lights don’t come on… and the vehicle will slow down at a faster rate than normal. (Just don’t lock the rear tires up). The car behind you (if in a state of subconscious driving) will bump into your tailgate without even knowing what happened.

I notice this a lot. I drive a standard, and most of my deceleration is from engine braking because I'm trying to save money on future brake repair, and I'm trying to save gas (you burn less gas if you gradually slow down and never need to come to a complete stop at intersections, opposite of truck owners who race toward red lights).
While engine braking, people tailgate like crazy. They have absolutely no clue how fast they're going, how fast I'm going, what a good distance is, or even that there is a red light ahead of them. I drive a small car, too, so it's not like they're physically incapable of seeing what's up ahead; they're just retards.

What's interesting is that you can also tell who's a retard by looking at brake lights. Today on the way to work, there was a small car to my left, followed by a guy in a truck. The small car gets up to the standard ~68km/h (8 over the speed limit), and the guy in the truck is tailgating him. I'm going a bit slower than that, so I'm getting a back view of this, and I see the truck guy is applying his brakes every few seconds. Closer, tailgating, braking, closer, braking.
My brother does this too. I once let him drive my car on the highway, and he kept using his brakes to slow down. He would get a big gap, accelerate hard, brake, big gap, accelerate, brake. If your friend starts complaining that he needs to fix his brakes every 10k miles, it's probably because he sucks at driving, and it has nothing to do with the mechanical integrity of the car.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

That is awesome! They have some other cool stuff as well "fighter jet thrill" *boyhood excitement races through rocketboy*

http://www.incredible-adventures.com/

I was planning to do Migs over Moscow by now but business got slow, so I needed to wait for a time [back up now though]. In the mean time we are looking at the Hollywood and Vegas flights.

...stay on topic... it is a cure for tailgaters!

 

[Cyrus]

I notice this a lot. I drive a standard, and most of my deceleration is from engine braking because I'm trying to save money on future brake repair, and I'm trying to save gas (you burn less gas if you gradually slow down and never need to come to a complete stop at intersections, opposite of truck owners who race toward red lights).
While engine braking, people tailgate like crazy. They have absolutely no clue how fast they're going, how fast I'm going, what a good distance is, or even that there is a red light ahead of them. I drive a small car, too, so it's not like they're physically incapable of seeing what's up ahead; they're just retards.

What's interesting is that you can also tell who's a retard by looking at brake lights. Today on the way to work, there was a small car to my left, followed by a guy in a truck. The small car gets up to the standard ~68km/h (8 over the speed limit), and the guy in the truck is tailgating him. I'm going a bit slower than that, so I'm getting a back view of this, and I see the truck guy is applying his brakes every few seconds. Closer, tailgating, braking, closer, braking.
My brother does this too. I once let him drive my car on the highway, and he kept using his brakes to slow down. He would get a big gap, accelerate hard, brake, big gap, accelerate, brake. If your friend starts complaining that he needs to fix his brakes every 10k miles, it's probably because he sucks at driving, and it has nothing to do with the mechanical integrity of the car.

Your car must suck, because I brake my honda accord very hard constantly and it works just fine.

 

[Danger]

I have to use compression braking in the Camino, or my brakes are sqealing like stuck pigs within 4 blocks of home. It generates an awful lot of heat slowing down those 33" Trailblazers. I've always done it in any vehicle because of better control, but it's essential in that one.

 

[quadraphonics]

What makes me crazy is when I'm on a two-lane highway and I'm following the car ahead of me at a reasonable distance, going the same speed. That car ahead of me is doing the same, as is the car ahead of him, and so on, and so on.

Car after car after car, all moving along at the same speed on a winding, two-lane road.

Why, why does the guy in back of me ride my bumper?

Because tailgating you magically causes the car 20 spots ahead of you to speed up and clear traffic, obviously :]

Seriously, though, the only time it's okay to tailgate is to alert oblivious people that they're blocking the passing lane. And then, it should only be done for a short burst (it's the sight of you approaching them quickly that causes them to wake up and move over; they're liable to simply tune you out if you follow at a constant distance, no matter how close). Also traffic situations where you will get cut off by aggressive drivers if you leave any room in front of you... although that's not quite "tailgating" (as I understand the term) but simply "following too closely."

One phenomenon that absolutely baffles me are the people who will continue to tailgate a slow driver in the left lane even after the right lane(s) have become open, rather than just pass them on the right. Maybe these people are big sticklers for the no-right-lane-passing rule (which is a complete joke where I live). More likely they're just oblivious and don't even realize what they're doing (which is the cause of 99% of bad driving out there).

Although it bears mentioning that, where I live, there seem to be a lot of not-so-fast drivers that habitually drive in the fast lane (we have 4-lane freeways). No amount of tailgating or right-lane-passing or cuting-off will change their behavior: they apparently think that the leftmost lane is the slow lane. It's always disheartening when you see a slow-moving car enter an empty freeway and immediately change all the way over to the fast lane. The really baffling ones are the people who are attentive and courteous that they'll move over to let faster traffic pass them, but then immediately merge back into the fast lane and resume driving slowly...

 

[scorpa]

One thing I hate is passing lanes on highways with only one lane of traffic each way. In theory they are great and I always move to the right unless I am going to pass someone, and it never fails someone driving in the left lane who is planning on passing me will drive just behind me (but in the left lane) until the right lane is nearly about to run out and I need to move back over, then they decide to pass me. Seriously if you are going to pass me step on it and do it, don't dawdle in the passing lane and hinder my ability to merge back in when my lane is going to run out!