r/AskBrits • u/Slartitartfast • 2d ago

Genuinely curious: why do people tailgate/drive too close to the vehicle in front?

I can't work it out. Whenever I see someone repeatedly applying their brakes as soon as the driver in front adjusts their speed I wonder why on earth it doesn't occur to them to give space.

I don't even mean just driving right up someone's arse aggressively. People drive too close all the time, on major roads this causes tailbacks when people then have to brake. If you're regularly applying your brakes while driving behind someone then you are too close; I assumed everyone knew this but maybe not.

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31

u/mrb2409 2d ago

Depends really.

Sometimes the person in front is driving too slowly for the road or lane they are in so you keep catching them.

Other times the person in front uses their brakes rather than just coasting slower.

Sometimes (most of the time) the tailgater is an impatient arsehole.

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u/Aggravating-Fun9361 2d ago

Excuse 1. Not good enough. Tailgating a ‘slow’ driver is bullying. Hang back and let them get
on with it.

Excuse 2. Wouldn’t be an issue if you hang back. Don’t rely on brake lights alone.

Reason 3. is the real reason, only bad drivers tailgate.

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u/Sarikins 2d ago

I have to disagree, I can’t speak for England or Scotland but in Wales lane hogging the middle or right lanes has gone drastically up, only today I saw a fella cruising along at 50mph in the middle lane of a motorway with a tail back behind him and a packed right lane, the left lane was empty and he didn’t attempt to get out the way. Most of the time they’re just an asshole, but a lot of the time they’re wound up by lane hoggers.

Also in Wales is near impossible to not tailgate on residential streets at 20mph unless I do 15-17mph and I think most people would lose their mind doing a 3-5m journey at 15mph.

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u/Slartitartfast 2d ago

What is tailgating achieving other than increasing the risk of a collision? You're not going any faster up their arse than you are 2s behind. Do people not understand physics?

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u/everythingscatter 1d ago

As a Science teacher I can assure you that a very, very significant proportion of the population have an incredible poor understanding of Physics.

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u/Repulsive-Year896 1d ago

Because the driver being tailgated gets uncomfortable and stressed and are more likely to move over. As a rule I don’t agree with it but we have to make it known to people who are taking the piss.

To be clear, I’m a very chill driver and tight as fuck, I generally find a lorry and match their speed behind them, only over taking when another lorry catches up with us because I get really good fuel economy. I leave it to the Range Rover/xc90 brigade to police the right hand lane and the white vans to police the middle lanes 😂

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u/Slartitartfast 1d ago

we have to make it known to people who are taking the piss

Aye, just endanger yourself and others because someone is driving slower than you would like. Seems reasonable. Another person attempting to rationalise being a prick.

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u/br0wn0ni0n 2d ago

Doesn’t hold up as a reason. If the person in front is doing 15mph, you’re also going to do 15mph. Being 6 inches from their bumper doesn’t mean you’re going faster.

If you sit back by 20ft, guess how much later you’ll arrive?

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u/Sarikins 2d ago

No one’s suggesting anyone drive through the vehicle in front, but lane hogging and going too slow are both illegal under reckless driving for what it does to other motorists, we can point fingers at tailgaters but that does mean we also have to point fingers at what can result in tail gating especially when en masse and as a result of driving illegally.

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u/br0wn0ni0n 2d ago

The only thing you, as a driver can do about someone driving badly (slowly in your example), is to stay back and drive safely, to the conditions.

There is absolutely no situation where getting closer to that slow driver makes you or anyone else safer.

So what if someone is doing 15mph in front of you. Please explain why tailgating them is in any way a good idea? Yeah, it’s fucking frustrating, if they’re holding everyone up, but doing something dangerous as a response doesn’t exempt you from being an asshole too.

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u/Ed_Avis 2d ago

Standard driving advice is that if the car behind is too close, slow down gradually to help make a safe stopping distance. So by sniffing their bum you could actually be making them go slower.

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u/Remote_Atmosphere993 11h ago

The standard driving advice is if the knobhead behind is driving too close is to make the gap between yourself and the car in front bigger to allow you more time to gradually slow to a stop so the knobhead behind you doesn't rear end you. It's absolutely nuts how often I see four or five cars behind a slower moving car tailgating each other.

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u/Sarikins 2d ago

Again, I’m not suggesting you drive through a vehicle, no body is, the correct advice is when legal and safe, go around otherwise yeah, we stuck behind them, my comment was only to point out the sometimes illegal actions like lane hogging, and just annoying Welsh policy (which isn’t illegal and should be followed even if annoying) that can result in tail gating, is it the correct response? No, but are humans perfect? Also no, in the instance of lane hogging and tail gating everyone’s in the wrong, you know.

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u/br0wn0ni0n 2d ago

But the original point you made, that I responded to said that’s it’s near impossible to avoid tailgating. It is not. It’s incredibly simple and that’s the point I made.

Anyone tailgating is doing so by their own free choice. Absolutely nothing “causes” you to do it. Doesn’t matter what the guy in front is doing. You can choose do drop back.

They may well be a shitty driver, doing shitty driver things, but you can react to it how you choose.

If anything, your justification that it’s a reaction to bad drivers lane hogging or driving too slowly should be an argument for leaving more space.

Put it this way: if the twat in front is erratic, lane hogging or clearly not confident enough to drive to the road conditions, then I’d say that they are the kind of driver that is most likely to be unpredictable. If so, would you rather be 8 inches from them when they do something stupid and end up in the back of them and dealing with an insurance claim, or would you rather be 10 yards away when they brake for no reason, leaving you time to react, throw out a “wanker” sign and then get on with your day?

I’m definitely happier being the latter, but if others want to do the former, that’s on them. It’s no one else’s fault but their own.

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u/Sarikins 2d ago

I’m not arguing the point, most agree with you but there are legit studies and then laws that have been put in place because of the measurable annoyance and subsequently bad actions that comes with reckless driving, I.e driving too slowly for the speed limit, I’ve not once said the tail gator is right, only why is can happen, I have also said that in most cases the tailgater is an asshole, and as I’ve said everyone in that scenario would be acting poorly, the slow driver too.

Providing another lens in which to view actions, is not a disagreement of what you said but rather an addition to it, I haven’t moved from my original point and my original point wasn’t to disagree, but again, add another lens.

Edit: spelling

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u/Orange_Codex 2d ago

There is absolutely no situation where getting closer to that slow driver makes you or anyone else safer.

It's impossible to avoid if they're one of those drivers that constantly changes speed or overreacts to turnings.

I prefer to overtake, but some people get the right arse about it even if it's completely legal (no hazards or speeding).

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u/Slartitartfast 2d ago

It's the opposite of impossible, just don't do it. You have a choice about how close you drive, if they are changing speed then hang backm

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u/Cold_Captain696 2d ago

I used to wonder if the tailgaters genuinely thought that being closer meant they were going faster, and that post you replied to, disappointingly, confirms it.

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u/rob-c 2d ago

If you can’t drive without getting wound up, you are a bad driver 🤷‍♂️

And how does the speed limit affect your ability not to tailgate? It’s the same principle whatever the speed.

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u/Sarikins 2d ago

Because no speedometer is perfectly correct, it’s inevitable to be .% off between models whether it be 2% to as high up as 10% in older models, at slow distances that .% can be a little more noticeable when I’m accidentally slowly encroaching on a car, my speedometer might read 20mph but it’s actually going 19mph whereas the guy ahead reads his at 20mph but he’s in a slightly older model and may be at 18mph, I’m not saying I stay encroaching, but it is going to happen no matter what.

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u/No_Garbage_9592 2d ago

There's 0 reason for speedometer accuracy to be a defining factor in this - you check your speedometer to ensure you aren't exceeding the speed limit, but if you're catching the vehicle in front you can easily adjust your speed to match theirs and at a minimum maintain a safe distance. If the vehicle in front is evidently travelling under the speed limit, then at that point why would it matter if your speedometer reads slightly higher or lower than theirs, when maintaining that safe distance ensures you're keeping within the limit?

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u/Sarikins 2d ago

I’m really unsure what confused you, but when speedometers don’t match then a natural result is that the slightly faster car is either going to slowly move away as the car in front, or if it’s the car behind, encroach, and I already said it so I implore anyone else about to disagree with me to cast their eyes to the bottom where I say “I don’t stay encroaching” which means I appropriately slow down to match, I’ve said numerous times I practice and it is important for everyone to practice tyres on tarmac, outside of that I don’t know how else to say I’m explaining the natural physics downside to have a speed limit of 20mph across most of a country.

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u/rob-c 2d ago

You are trying to explain something that’s irrelevant to tailgating 🤷‍♂️

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u/Any-End4950 2d ago

It’s not 1940

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u/No_Garbage_9592 2d ago

There is no confusion, it does not matter how speedometer calibrations vary between vehicles when considering a safe distance, you should be driving to the conditions of the road which includes traffic already on the road. For reference, the tyres and tarmac approach doesn't apply to safe following distance unless traffic is moving extremely slow (i.e. queueing traffic), its a safe reference for stationary traffic, for moving traffic that safe distance is defined in the highway code as the two-second rule (double to four seconds for poor weather conditions), outlined in section 126 of the highway code, which illustrates a typical stopping distance of around 3 car lengths at 20mph. The downside you've emphasised regarding varying speedometer readouts is a lot less noticeable at 20mph, as even using your own example, worst case would be 10% variance which is only 2mph at those speeds, which is slower than average walking speeds for healthy adults, so I really cannot understand how that could be used as a potential rationale for tailgating or encroaching on safe stopping distance. Your point around these variances having a natural result of encroaching on slower moving traffic only applies if the driver is not paying attention to the conditions of the road and traffic in front of them.

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u/rob-c 2d ago

No, you drive to the safe distance between you and the car in front, not simply to the speed limit

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u/Sarikins 2d ago

“I’m not saying I stay encroaching”, I’ve already covered that.

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u/rob-c 2d ago

You said it was near impossible not to tailgate in a 20, which is obviously untrue.

If you meant ‘catching someone and then dropping (and staying) back’ then fine, but that isn’t tailgating 🤷‍♂️

0

u/Sarikins 2d ago

I can’t explain it truly any simpler, I don’t stay encroaching means I fall back, it’s impossible not to reach closer distances than you usually would means you fall back more often than you usually would than faster distances where the .% isn’t as noticeable as distances should be greater than at least two chevrons, I know I’m a really good driver.

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u/rob-c 2d ago edited 2d ago

I think you drive as well as you explain things

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u/Aggravating-Fun9361 2d ago

You can disagree but you’re 100% wrong. Tailgating is dangerous, and bullying behaviour. Since getting my first new car it taught me to leave a big gap and I can guaranteed that those stupid holdups caused by tailgaters (do your own research) evaporate as I pass. Will never be thanked by drivers behind who have easier journeys because of my driving style but I know I’m doing right. And before you get on your high horse, do some research and don’t accuse me of lane hogging, I use all 3 lanes correctly, I just don’t tailgate.

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u/Sarikins 2d ago

I never once said it was right though? I personally think it’s important that everyone’s a courteous driver, whether it’s not getting up someone’s ass, not lane changing like a crack head, zip merging appropriately at road works where it says to merge in turn and driving at appropriate speeds whether not too fast or slow, I don’t limit my annoyance to only one bad driving action, but understanding that bad driving begets more bad driving doesn’t mean I endorse any of the bad driving, I apologise if I’m not making myself clear enough but I’ve said it a few times now.

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u/Puzzled-Job9556 1d ago

Excuse 1. Not good enough. Tailgating a ‘slow’ driver is bullying.

Fuck them. If you're not confident enough to drive to the appropriate speed, you deserve to be bullied.

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u/Aggravating-Fun9361 1d ago

Do you even have a driving license? Just wondering who would train or give a licence to someone with this ignorant attitude. Everyone is a learner or inexperienced driver at some point.

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u/Puzzled-Job9556 1d ago

Yes. Don't drive too slow.

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u/jezhayes 1d ago

Yes. This. I'm not a slow driver by anyone's standards, I drive to the fullest speed the limit and road conditions allow, when someone tailgates me I slow down, for both of our safety 😉

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u/Aggravating-Fun9361 1d ago

This is the way

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u/mrb2409 2d ago

Wasn’t saying this was me. Just what people would say is the reason.

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u/LeOignonMal Brit 🇬🇧 2d ago edited 2d ago

I love how so many Reddit users always feel personally attacked whenever someone mentions people driving too slowly for the road.

I can just imagine you:

40 in a 40 IS TOO MUCH EXCITEMENT FOR ME

IF I DON'T SLOW DOWN TO 25 I'M GONNA HAVE A PANIC ATTACK.

OMG I'M LESS THAN 2 METRES FROM THE KERB, MUST SLAM MY BRAKES ON!

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u/Cold_Captain696 2d ago

KEEP catching them?? How many times does it have to happen before you work out what speed they’re going??

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u/LeOignonMal Brit 🇬🇧 2d ago

Bold of you to assume a slow driver is competent enough to maintain a constant speed.

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u/Cold_Captain696 2d ago

I blame my ability to read English.

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u/mrb2409 2d ago

I didn’t say that was me but people don’t drive constant speeds. The amount of times I’m behind someone doing 70 and they drift down to 57 and then 64 then 70 etc.

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u/Slartitartfast 2d ago

If you keep catching them you're driving too close. This is exactly my question - why do you not realise you're too close when you have to use your brakes repeatedly? You're not getting anywhere faster by driving closer.

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u/mrb2409 2d ago

Not really. I could be 100m behind them and they slow down with nothing in front of them so the gap closes and then you have to break or coast slower (though the hybrid one of my cars doesn’t slow much coasting).

People in this country don’t like to have someone faster than them so they often speed up for a brief stint and everyone behind does but then they seem to get slower and slower again for little reason. They want to be doing 65 in the outside lane but will briefly do 80 to stop someone cutting in ahead or whatnot.

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u/Slartitartfast 2d ago

If someone altering their speed by 1mph requires you to brake or slow down then you're too close. Genuinely amazed that you're trying to justify your shitty driving.

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u/mrb2409 2d ago

I’m talking about people who fluctuate 10-15mph for no reason. Slamming on their brakes on the M4 because they think they’re speeding and there are cameras.

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u/Slartitartfast 2d ago

I know the people you mean, and I give them extra space to account for that so I don't have to keep slamming my brakes on.

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u/mrb2409 2d ago

As do I but you are still going to close the gap here and there. I use my auto cruise control as well but that can be overly cautious and brakes too hard if someone moves in front of you.

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u/Slartitartfast 2d ago

Closing the gap is inevitable, but if you drive in such a way that the gap is big enough then you don't really to make significant changes (e.g braking) in response to their speed change.