Do you tailgate? Do you follow the vehicle in front of you too closely?
Tailgating is described as an aggressive behavior of following the vehicle driving in front of you too closely to the extent that the distance between the two does not guarantee to void collision. The effect of tailgating is rear end collisions of vehicles.
Research by Smart Motorist has revealed that hard cars (sport cars and SUV’s) are prone to tailgating that hard cars (family and economy cars). They also revealed that more female SUV drivers are also prone to tailgating than male SUV drivers.
Tailgating is actually caused by the following factors:
- Preventing Cut-Ins
- Negligence
- Coercion
Preventing Cut-Ins
Prevention of cut-ins is the primary cause of tailgating. In this case the leading vehicle prevents the following vehicle from over taking on the left or the right so they follow the car ahead of them closely to prevent cuts-ins. This leads to tailgating which has a serious tendency to cause road traffic crashes.
Coercion
Preventing Cut-Ins may lead to coercion which further intensifies tailgating. Prevention of cut-ins is actually an aggressive driving behavior which causes the following driver to engage in road rage.
The following vehicle may often decide to punish the leading vehicle by aggressively blowing their horn, putting on their headlight or indulging in bad driver conduct. All this leads to road traffic collisions.
Negligence
You can too sure of your driving skills that you open up yourself to tailgating. Often times, experienced drivers tend to follow the next vehicle too closely which may stem from over confidence, time factors or any other concerns.
So how do you avoid tailgating?
The best way to avoid following tool closely is use the three seconds time elapse method. Ensure that you have at least 3 seconds following distance between you and the leading vehicle. Nonetheless, this will increase depending on your speed, weather and driving conditions.
You can contact Eureka Technical Services Limited for more information!
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