SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Confusion over what is a "safe following distance" has QUT [(Queensland University of Technology)] road safety researchers calling for a standardised definition to prevent tailgating.
- Tailgating conclusively linked to rear-end crashes
- Most drivers leave less than a 2 second gap between them and the vehicle in front
- Rear-enders account for one in five Queensland crashes
Dr Sebastien Demmel, from QUT's Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety -- Queensland (CARRS-Q), said the results of the study which found 50 per cent of drivers tailgate, was being presented at the 2017 Australasian Road Safety Conference in Perth today.
"This study, for the first time conclusively linked tailgating with rear-end crashes, but we also identified confusion among drivers over what is deemed to be a safe following distance," he said.
"Despite drivers perceiving they are following at a safe distance, our on-road data showed that in reality most don't leave the recommended two to three second gap," he said.
"At some locations 55 per cent of drivers were found to leave less than a two second gap between them and the vehicle in front, and 44 per cent less than a one second [gap]."
A safe following distance is 5 feet. While looking at a smartphone.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 12 2017, @09:55PM (13 children)
Someone may frustrate you, but you choose how you respond to that frustration, and you are responsible for your own behavior.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 12 2017, @10:59PM (4 children)
I'm not touching you...
I'm not touching you...
I'm NOT touching you...
I'm NOT touching you...
You get the point... one certainly is responsible for one's own behaviour, but at some point, you just take out the cricket bat and go bananas on the guy. And in some cases, people will look at you and go: "good on him, whomever is on the receiving end of that bat, is deserving of what they are getting, in fact, I may just as well join in!". People hogging the passing lane is one of those cases (or it should be).
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 12 2017, @11:17PM (3 children)
No I certainly do not. Losing one's temper is immature and dangerous any time, and often lethal when driving a deadly weapon (motor vehicle).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 13 2017, @01:51PM (1 child)
Does that mean that you do not approve of *any* military intervention? Am I getting that right? Because that's the equivalent of this between countries.
One man's aggression is another's 'signaling'. I take it you also never flash your lights at anyone?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 13 2017, @02:11PM
I would not approve military operations that are "go bananas". Military operations should be rationally decided, planned and executed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 13 2017, @05:19PM
Ah the moral absolutist. Hopefully one day you'll realize that people are human and expecting perfectly logical and ethical behavior at all times is simply unrealistic. This will also improve your personal life as you stop trying to judge/fix the world and roll with the madness instead. Do what you can, and otherwise don't let the madness ruin your/other's life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 12 2017, @11:07PM (1 child)
Personally, I mounted an extra windshield washer system with a single nozzle mounted just above the rear bumber, and filled it with a yellowish liquid. When these idiots tailgate me, they do not just get frustrated, they get pissed off! Or they at least think they are being pissed on.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 13 2017, @03:29AM
I had a friend long ago that had one of those volkswagens that had the exhaust pipe mounted straight up in the center of the rear of the vehicle.
He had had it with tailgaters bumping his rear bumper into his flywheel.
He had rigged a small 12V pump so as to feed pump used motor oil into his exhaust line, so it would be ejected through the pipe into the air at windshield level.
Sure enough, one day, I was riding with him and someone else started tailgating.
He told me he had an anti tailgater button, makes any tailgater go away in ten seconds or less. I did not believe him. I pressed it. It did exactly what he said it would do.
I suppose the tailgater probably had to spend at least an hour soaping down his car to get all that motor oil off.
(Score: 2, Troll) by Snotnose on Thursday October 12 2017, @11:44PM (3 children)
I get annoyed, then irritated, then frustrated. Then I do everything I can to get in front of the asshole.
I fail to see the conundrum. If you have a constant stream of traffic passing you on the right (in the USA), you're being tailgated constantly, and the folks who pass you open their sunroofs and give you the finger, you just might be the problem.
tldr; if you drive slow in the fast/passing lane, fuck you with an unlubricated 12" dildo right up the ass.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by AthanasiusKircher on Friday October 13 2017, @02:36AM (2 children)
Slow drivers in passing lanes are a problem. I agree. Tailgating is a separate problem (and generally a MUCH more serious and dangerous issue).
Just because the first problem exists does not justify people's behavior in creating even worse problems.
A few years back, I was on a highway at morning rush hour and fell into one of those situations where some idiot was driving the speed limit in the left lane, and everyone was passing around him on the right. I was several cars back, but kept maintaining a safe distance, even though that caused even further idiots to drive around me. At some point, someone cut someone off three cars in front of me. Car behind slammed into the first and was probably totaled. Car behind him swerved, clipped the second car, and flipped over and went off the highway. Car behind him slammed hard into the first and spun around backwards on the highway. I had room, so did a quick lane shift and got out of the mess... and lucky for the person in front of me, because the three or so tailgaters behind me also slammed into each other. Pretty sure if I had been following in the general stream of tailgaters (with their amount of distance) in front and behind me, I'd have been seriously injured if not dead, crunched up in a giant pile of cars.
I've never felt my heart pounding as much as after getting out of that incident. And I barely had room to do so. You may think it's harmless to tailgate the jerk riding in the left lane, or to swerve around him cutting people off along the way while you give him the finger... but keep in mind you're actually doing something freakin' dangerous and could kill yourself or someone else when you've going at highway speed.
Is it really worth it just because someone's annoying you or you might spend an extra couple minutes on the highway? (Unless you have a long commute, going 5-10 mph faster, which is often the differential that creates the road rage in the left lane, is generally not going to save you so much time that it's worth risking your life... IMHO.)
(Score: 4, Informative) by FakeBeldin on Friday October 13 2017, @08:32AM
And if you do have a long commute, you'd be better off leaving earlier.
Speeding is necessary in some cases (e.g. medical emergencies). Commuting isn't one of those cases. Leave earlier and accept that there are other vehicles on the road.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Friday October 13 2017, @10:56AM
And potholes. Don't forget potholes. If you tailgate you might not have enough time to spot and avoid potholes on the road, and could find yourself losing an hour replacing a tire. At night. In the rain.
Safe following distance is essential.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Kilo110 on Friday October 13 2017, @01:48AM (1 child)
Yes, great line to use to teach children. But it doesn't account for the practicalities of human nature.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Friday October 13 2017, @08:07PM
Which is why self-driving cars are going to take over.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!