AIBU to ask drivers to STOP driving so close to me.

[Vintage2020]

Why why why do some drivers drive so close to my rear? It will not make the driver get to their destination any quicker. On a quiet road it’s irritating but when on A and M roads it is so stressful looking in the rear view mirror and there is a car doing 70 MPh only one or two cars distance away.

everyone feels tailgating is dangerous.

But it’s not tailgating when you’re driving at 15mph in heavy traffic and creeping forward which is what it seems you mean as you mention rush hour and also being a metre away from you.

And if you actually mean people are routinely that close to you when driving at pace, then either you’re not going as fast as you think you are or yes, they’re dangerous drivers.

@greysparkles - 2 car distances away seems OK? Although admittedly my car is large so 2 of them would be different to 2 fiat 500's...

Please tell me you don't really think it's ok to drive two car lengths behind another car going at 70???? Stopping distance is 96 metres!

See www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/learning-to-drive/stopping-distances/

You need to remember the '2 SECOND RULE' for a safe stopping distance behind another vehicle.
When the car in front of you passes a fixed point [for example a lamp post or similar] you need to be able to say 'ONLY A FOOL BREAKS THE TWO SECOND RULE' before your car gets to the same point.
This takes about 2 seconds to say and works at any speed your car may be travelling.

Keep safe folks.

Oh - and don't forget the most dangerous place to be on a motorway is between 2 lorries! Splat.

I recently moved to Singapore where there are lots of restrictions on cars but apparently few restrictions on dangerous driving. The last time I took a taxi and driver was changing lanes this way and that way at 50 mph with half to one car's length between all the cars. They don't leave room for stopping distance here. I can't stand it but I don't have much choice sometimes. 🙈

mathanxiety

The stopping distance depends entirely on speed. One car length for every 10 mph is the rule of thumb.

Only if the car you are using to measure length is 10 metres long (i.e. around the length of a double decker bus).

The rule of thumb is 1 metre for each mph.

60mph = 88 feet per second.
There will be about 2 seconds between seeing a hazard ahead and hitting the brakes. This is in optimal conditions with no distractions.
At 60mph the average total stopping time to a full stop will be 6.5 seconds, with the fastest reacting drivers taking about 5.5 seconds.

The one car length for every 10 mph is a useful rule of thumb.
Another (developed later) is the 2 second rule (giving you approx 175 feet of stopping distance at 60 mph).

www.drivers.com/article/1126/
Long but interesting article.

I am using Imperial measurements btw. Not metric.

Frustrating, yes, dangerous? not really if you think about it.
@JustInCaseCakeHappens - there are minimum speeds posted on US Interstates, ranging from 40mph to 55mph, because driving slowly enough to impede the flow of traffic is in fact dangerous.

Good bit of info @mathanxiety! Thank you.

Another (developed later) is the 2 second rule (giving you approx 175 feet of stopping distance at 60 mph).

"Only a fool breaks the two second rule" - it takes 2 seconds to say it!!

You are clearly driving too slow if this is a regular problem. Its just as dangerous driving slow especially when going onto and coming off round abouts and starting off again.Just the other day one young girl pull out like a snail onto the main road and stopped to look at her bloody air fresher and proceeded to do the same again messing about and not driving at a reasonable speed she was doing below 20 on a 30.

There are a lot of roads near me which are national speed limit, but no one seems to read road signs and consistently go along at 30mph.

I get incredibly frustrated behind them, I don’t tailgate but others do. It’s so dangerous to not pay attention to the signs on every single road you drive on - especially if you don’t know them!

there are minimum speeds posted on US Interstates, ranging from 40mph to 55mph, because driving slowly enough to impede the flow of traffic is in fact dangerous.

I am not pretending that driving too slow is a target either, but there are so many reasons why you genuinely need to slow down: obstacles on road, problem with road, car, other drivers.. If you can't stop or are driving dangerously because you are not happy with the speed, it's on you. It's people driving too fast in a vehicle they can't control who are dangerous. The same ones who will crash into a car stopped on the hard shoulder. It doesn't mean I would advocate having a picnic on said hard shoulders.

It doesn’t matter how slowly someone is driving there is no excuse to tailgate.

A lot of people just don’t know how to drive on a motorway - as is evident from sone posts on this thread! Safe distance has nothing to do with car lengths. It’s purely about braking distance and braking distance carries depending on your car, the condition of your brakes, the condition of the road surface (including things like water/ice/salt grit), your car load and your speed. Anyone who says that x length is a safe distance to jeep clearly doesn’t know what they are doing.

We have a lot of people like this where I live (it’s a popular area for retirees from London who seem to think that they can maintain the same distance on an icy a road as they would in Islington during rush hour). I would recommend flashing your rear fog lights whenever you encounter this, it’s always effective.

I have the same issue OP and I'm not a slow driver by any means. My main route anywhere is along a duel carriageway with one lane that splits into the motorway, leaving a single lane. Even though I have nowhere to go and am going just as far as the traffic in front of me I often get an idiot behind me. I've taken to spraying them with my screen wash.

I’ve had this twice in the last 2 days.

I was driving 31/32 in a 30mph area so not driving too slow, and had cars driving so close behind me I couldn’t see the front end of their car in my rear view mirror. Really freaks me out when this happens, never know if I should slow down or just carry on regardless.

How are you intending to ask them?

I don't disagree with you though (as long as you were not hogging the middle lane) and as someone who was rear ended at 70mph in November breaking 8 ribs and a vertebrae and rupturing my spleen I would urge people not to tailgate.

It doesn’t matter how slowly someone is driving there is no excuse to tailgate
I agree.

But I also think a level of personal reflection on one's driving is warranted if the same issue keeps happening multiple times.

Take my relative, for example, they are convinced the roads are full of "madmen". The reality is they driver slower than reasonable on many roads and have poor spatial awareness so also complain that parking spaces are tight, people are up their backside and so on.

Brake test them...

I'm with you @Vintage2020...I frequently find other cars driving dangerously close even when I am at the speed limit. I always drive up to the speed limit where safe to do so (so no driving at 60mph on single track twisty lanes for example!) but people still insist on driving super close like that's going to make me drive any faster. It doesn't, if it's safe to do so I slow down until they get the message and back off or overtake. No way am I driving at 60mph with some idiot on my bumper, that's safe for nobody.

Utterly baffled as to why people are saying things like 2 cars distance is a good distance - where did you get that info?! 3 cars is the minimum recommended length and that's at 20mph! 40mph the distance you need is 9 car lengths, and at 60mph it's 18 www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/advice/stopping-distances

I generally think if you're always encountering the same problems, no matter where you go, then the likelihood is that as the common denominator, you're the problem.

We all know that everyone driving slower than you is a moron, everyone driving faster a maniac.

Until we change that mindset, things won't improve.

Get a rear dash cam & send in on operation snap as tailgating is illegal

I drive on the speed limit but still constantly get tailgated, yes I agree 30mph might seem slow but I don’t want to break the law or kill someone

Horehound

What a stupid action to suggest, you could seriously hurt someone driving in that manner

I hate tailgaters. They always seem to do it when I'm going the correct speed or even slightly faster.

I usually just slow down until they back off.