The Art of Tailgating: Moving Violations. All opinions welcome.

[LIP]

not sure if it was the only color available when it was first introduced, but it is now an extra. £750. same as the exion lights i got the st 2 which is £1000 more than the standard but you get the exion lights, esp and a better sony sound system.

I got aload of extras for my new mondeo. I got a Sony 6 CD changer, 2 subs, a rubber mat to stop stuff sliding about in the back, alloys, and alloy cleaning kit and all that kinda stuff and i got the seats scotchguarded. There was more but i cant remember. All for 13k - cheap as chips realy, concidering it's an 06 and only had 2000 miles on the clock.

If i had been quicker i could have had the 3 litre petrol V6 version, but i wasnt - and i dont think they're selling them anymore. Anyway, concidering the distences i drive the diesel works out alot cheaper. The services cost more though for a diesel, but i'll do that myself, concidering i service both my vans myself too. no point shelling out money when i can do it for free.

[birdgirl73]

My logic is: Don't stop before you have to, and don't give out nervous signals to the long line of traffic behind you to "go" when it's not time to "go".

So...... to the original point: What exactly qualifies as tailgating in your book? Do you always go by the two second rule? Do you consider the posted speed limit an actual limit? Are you a skootcher?

I know that makes me the bad guy, but someone has to do it. So what do you guys and gals think is really tailgating?

You are acting like the bad guy, Chalice. You think it's funny and it serves your youthful impatience, but take it from a former paramedic: If you're that close to the person in front of you and someone slams into the back of you, you're going to get a heck of a bump, maybe even one that could badly hurt you. It could hurt someone else in front of you, too.

What qualifies as tailgating depends on the speed you're going. If you're doing 70 mph on the highway, you need to use the Rule of a Thousand times 7 (stay "one one-thousand" back for every 10 miles of speed) so you have the room to stop. For trucks and heavier vehicles, which no one ever gives enough room to, there needs to be even more space. If you're parked in a line of traffic, you need to be able to see the guy's license plate behind you and yours needs to be visible to the person in front.

Sure, write this off to my being an "old lady." But it's not that at all. I've worked too many MVAs where people were too close, either in front or back, and someone got a devastating neck injury or, if they weren't belted in, went popping forward through the windshield after a bump in the back and had devastating or fatal injuries. Those accidents are not pretty. Out there trying to stay safe are not just regular folks like us, but also people like mothers and babies, old folks, unsure drivers, cars full of school children, pregnant or sick folks. People who, if you hit them or caused them to hit someone else and suffer a disabling or fatal injury, I have to hope you would feel regretful about.

Do some defensive driver training. Your life and other people's, no matter how much you hate skootchers and believe you're entitled to get as close as you want, are worth more than that.

[thcbongman]

In DC, everyone drives like 1 1/2 car lengths in front of each other. It's the norm, they're too many cars here, not enough roads. You get use to it, but it's comfortable to do so.

But I prefer to chill out and not tailgate anyone. But it does irritate me when people give too much space between another car.

[MadSativa]

Their is no art to tailgateing, it is a menuver that should never be used but sometimes is a must in evasion. Tailgating leaves you vunerable in manny ways, example- if the car in front brake checks your car is now disabeled, if the car in the rear rams you you have no room to menuver, basicaly you are trapping your self and leaving your self vunerable to attak especialy for car jacking. But in Alaska I got family that says tailgaters just end up road kill. Dude your in a part of the country where trafik is not as bad as every where eles cant u just go around?? I use medians and dirt raods all the time unless Im in the city then I just roll with trafic, belive me in an emergancy I could get whereever I wanted in a very small amount of time but if its just every day driveng be safe casue if your unsafe it just amplifys the way everyone else drives....

On a side note I dont know why here in the US we dont have all this little desiel engines their much more efficiant than gas, and much more reliable, besides putting turbos in desisels is alot easier than engine mod. for gas engines

[weedmaster]

I got aload of extras for my new mondeo. I got a Sony 6 CD changer, 2 subs, a rubber mat to stop stuff sliding about in the back, alloys, and alloy cleaning kit and all that kinda stuff and i got the seats scotchguarded. There was more but i cant remember. All for 13k - cheap as chips realy, concidering it's an 06 and only had 2000 miles on the clock.

If i had been quicker i could have had the 3 litre petrol V6 version, but i wasnt - and i dont think they're selling them anymore. Anyway, concidering the distences i drive the diesel works out alot cheaper. The services cost more though for a diesel, but i'll do that myself, concidering i service both my vans myself too. no point shelling out money when i can do it for free.

Only 13k you got a right result on that mate:thumbsup:you wouldn't want the 3l petrol it would cost you a fortune to run, i only get 19.5 mpg around town and 23 mpg on the motorway with a average speed of 90-100 mph, the mondeo est is a great allround car, use to have a 18 lx.

[JaggedEdge]

For the most part I leave two car lengths between me and the car in front of me, however, I do a lot of highway driving. When I come across someone driving slower than 5 under the posted limit, I will usually accelerate until I'm about a 10 feet from their bumper. I than hover my foot over the brake peddle and ride it slightly until I'm a few feet away from them, than back off and repeat the process until I can either pass or they pull over and let me get by.

As for when at a stop light, I usually leave enough space between my car and the car in front of me so I can maneuver somewhat in case some asshole tries to car jack me.

Let me also add, I only tailgate when there aren't cars behind me.

[higher4hockey]

i go by the four second rule, i stay four seconds behind someone.

and i DO NOT tailgate, there is a special place in hell for people that do as far as im concerned.

i saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, "if you can read this i can spike the brakes and sue you. "

[jdmarcus59]

I go by the rule that every body on the road is a moron, there fore I drive around
to protect my self from people who cant drive. Now I know that there are good drivers out there but I dont know who they are, so I drive my car with the assumption that the guy in front, and the guy in back and the guy on the side dont know iam there, and so I drive expecting that the other guy is going to screw up, and I have already figured out how iam going conter his dumb move. and I have a class A CDL and I have not been in a fender bender, nor have I gotten a ticket in 30 years, following these rules.Take it are leave it
but it has worked for me.

[geonagual]

I leave the reccommended distance between my car and the car in front of me....3 inches..lol..j/k

[Weedhound]

I try to maintain distance.....but am I the only one that thinks if you just stay several car lengths behind some people.....eventually they'll just crawl along at ten mph because they can't handle anything over that or they are on their cell phone????? I live in a small town....LOTS of one lane streets..... MILES to town.....and WAY too many people who are only giving driving about 1/10 of the attention they should. I personally would like to see ALOT of today's safety devices (seatbelts, airbags) taken away. They save too many idiot drivers who then get into another safe car and continue to drive like idiots. I liked the old days when....if you didn't pay attention in your car to driving......you didn't last very long. Bring that back.!!!!