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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 Thexalon on Thursday October 12 2017, @10:18PM (4 children)
Another aspect of this that just makes things worse: More than a few problems are caused by people being passed speeding up in response. So even if everyone's being being disciplined about what lane they are in, the person going 70 who pulls out to pass someone going 55 might find themselves being half of a moving roadblock as the person who was going 55 speeds up to 70. And if they decide to give up on the pass and pull back into the right lane, the slowpoke slows right back down again with them. All of this drives the person behind them that wants to go 85 absolutely bonkers, as well as the person who is trying to go 70 but can't let the person behind them by.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Friday October 13 2017, @03:44AM (3 children)
I find the very situation you describe happens to me a lot in my van. I really don't want to drive all that fast, as I am not as maneuverable as smaller cars built for speed, and I can do a helluva lot of damage with the amount of kinetic energy supposedly under my control.
If someone tries to pass, I do everything I can to help him out.
Once he is ahead of me, he's gone.
I would *much* rather have him in ahead of me than him being penned up behind me, stewing.
I hate to be an asshole by driving too slow, but I would rather be an asshole than a murderer.
If I feel I am barely in control of this thing, I'm driving too damned fast.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 13 2017, @07:49AM
As someone who drives long distances the thing that pisses me off is big trucks bringing the high speed lane down to 45 as they pull out and creep past the big truck going 44.
I call it the Outbound Truck Sort. It will end up using all available lanes.
This happens on the road out of town in any city that attracts more than two trucks. They are all trying to accelerate to highway speed. Some have heavier loads, and it takes them a mile or two more. But the clown hauling potato chips has to get to 65 ahead of that guy pulling heavy loads.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday October 13 2017, @03:59PM
A very good point, which the exception I follow of people who are wandering side-to-side in their lane. This probably means they're distracted/inebriated, in which case I feel safer getting in front of them in case they decided to randomly hit the brakes or swerve into somebody in the other lane or something--minimize the ways they could hit me. Of course, when you do decide to pass them, it behooves you to do so as quickly as possible.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 13 2017, @05:36PM
This is something I follow all the time.
If you're not going fast, that's fine, just don't clog things up. If someone is just sitting next to you for a while, either slow down or speed up depending on the situation.
Of course, people promptly get discouraged from following this after someone speeds past them, enters their lane, and then slows down like crazy for no apparent reason.