Quote Originally Posted by chaliceburn
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.