RE: Tailgating warns others you're trouble
Monday 29th November 2004
Tailgating warns others you're trouble
Bad driving by others causes crashes: survey
About half of all motorists have either been involved or were almost involved in an accident on the roads because of paying too much attention to someone else's bad driving.
That's the amazing statistic unearthed by Privilege Insurance, who reckons that four million crashes are caused by drivers taking evasive action to avoid others.
The company also found that the tell-tale signs which drivers use to identify potential troublemakers on the road are:
- Tailgating - 93 per cent
- Ignoring pedestrian crossings - 90 per cent
- Overtaking on the inside - 82 per cent
- Straddling lanes - 78 per cent
- Failing to use headlights - 78 per cent
- Failing to use indicators - 76 per cent
- Cutting corners or driving over hatched areas - 70 per cent
- Braking hard and fast - 67 per cent
- Constantly changing speed - 65 per cent
- Not reading traffic flows - 54 per cent
Note that speeding doesn't make the top ten at all.
Discussion
gh0st said:
Overtaking on the inside.. ...
If its possible then the person who is being undertaken is in the wrong lane!
That's not always the case.
I have found that moving out into a stream of traffic in the overtaking lane, has then allowed somebody to increase their speed, and pull into the space I vacated, and then try to pull into the overtaking lane in front of me.
If you try not to tailgate, then you end up with other bad drivers taking advantage of the space you have left.
With regards to the speed on our roads, I used to travel a lot around London, where the speed of traffic was generaly higher than other provincial cities, and everyhting seemed to happen much more smoothly.
It is also true of the difference between driving during the week and the weekend. Weekdays, even with the greater volume of traffic is far less frustrating, than at the weekend, when people drive 20 miles below the speed limit.
I wonder.
Adding speeding TO this top 10 makes it less hard to believe . . . that accidents happen in those situations when driving to fast also. Tailgaiting fi is done by someone who wants to overtake and thus wants to drive faster than the car in front. I wonder who is speeding here . . .
I speed +10 to +20% to the allowed maxspeed but only on the highways. And yet Beemers and Mercs want to push me aside, and fast please . . . (I hate those big dzjerman headlights . . .)
To drive save AND fast: that's another story. Maybe one should get another lisence that says "speeding " allowed . . . because you can handle things.
Adding speeding TO this top 10 makes it less hard to believe . . . that accidents happen in those situations when driving to fast also. Tailgaiting fi is done by someone who wants to overtake and thus wants to drive faster than the car in front. I wonder who is speeding here . . .
I speed +10 to +20% to the allowed maxspeed but only on the highways. And yet Beemers and Mercs want to push me aside, and fast please . . . (I hate those big dzjerman headlights . . .)
To drive save AND fast: that's another story. Maybe one should get another lisence that says "speeding " allowed . . . because you can handle things.
Constantly changing speed - 65 per cent?
What? Like we have to do in Poxgatsfordshire all the time because the speed limits are up and down like a whore's knickers? Leave my village (30) into a brief NSL before another 30, then a 40, then 100yds of NSL before a 30, then into a 40 before a 50 and finally an NSL - and that's on a 5 mile stretch of road.
What? Like we have to do in Poxgatsfordshire all the time because the speed limits are up and down like a whore's knickers? Leave my village (30) into a brief NSL before another 30, then a 40, then 100yds of NSL before a 30, then into a 40 before a 50 and finally an NSL - and that's on a 5 mile stretch of road.
MMC said:
Constantly changing speed - 65 per cent?
What? Like we have to do in Poxgatsfordshire all the time because the speed limits are up and down like a whore's knickers? Leave my village (30) into a brief NSL before another 30, then a 40, then 100yds of NSL before a 30, then into a 40 before a 50 and finally an NSL - and that's on a 5 mile stretch of road.
This illustrates a good point.
I hardly know WHAT the speed limit is half the time because it keeps changing for absolutley no reason.
The only indication of a change in speed is the poxy sign, no change in road layout, environment etc etc that could suggest a different speed is required.
Not to mention the fact that there are more scamera signs than limit signs, so as you're driving along, unsure of the limit in the first place, you come across a scamera warning, you don't know how fast you're supposed to be going so you slow down anyway, and you may well be doing half the road's limit, someone comes up behind you actually within the limit but more aware of it, and goes into the back of you.
And the scamera gets none of it.
And the scamera gets none of it.
Constantly looking at speedometer because the 6 billion cameras our Nanny State government sees fit to install force hawk-like attention to dashboard, not what's actually going on in front of you on the road - 99.9%
I wonder, eh.........
I'm guilty of at least couple of those Earth-shatteringly heinous crimes listed in that Top Ten, plus a few others, probably regularly. How many points? Oooh, none. How many claims? Ooooh, none.
IMHO, it's lack of appropriate observation that causes accidents the vast majority of the time, not speed. The faster you go, the further down the road you need to be looking. If you can't see far enough, don't go that fast. If you can see a long distance ( a few hundred yards or more), note the potential risk points and drive. Simple.
That's how I was taught....am I the only one?!
I wonder, eh.........
I'm guilty of at least couple of those Earth-shatteringly heinous crimes listed in that Top Ten, plus a few others, probably regularly. How many points? Oooh, none. How many claims? Ooooh, none.
IMHO, it's lack of appropriate observation that causes accidents the vast majority of the time, not speed. The faster you go, the further down the road you need to be looking. If you can't see far enough, don't go that fast. If you can see a long distance ( a few hundred yards or more), note the potential risk points and drive. Simple.
That's how I was taught....am I the only one?!
dinkel said:
I wonder.
Adding speeding TO this top 10 makes it less hard to believe . . . that accidents happen in those situations when driving to fast also. Tailgaiting fi is done by someone who wants to overtake and thus wants to drive faster than the car in front. I wonder who is speeding here . . .
The government would agree and say put a speed camera on the road.
I'd disagree and say there is nothing wrong with driving fast, the problem is the agression of the driver (in this case resulting in tailgating). IMHO In rush hour traffic it is agression that is the problem more often than not leading to a multitude of dodgy manouvers.
Rob
Rob_the_Sparky said:
. . . . I'd disagree and say there is nothing wrong with driving fast, the problem is the agression of the driver . . . . Rob
Well here you have the deadly combination.
I'm very sorry to say but - and I do like speed very much / if you can call it that - driving fast has to do with skill and concentration. Everytime an F1 pilot gets angry he makes a mistake. We can all see that on telly. Racing on a track is a controlled situation where drivers and cars are more or less equal. The road is not such a situation. There are all kinds of *ssh*ll*s out there. People that makes you wonder wheter they ever got their lisence in a legitamate way . . .
I prefer empty roads to do my little red taglining . . .
My pet hate is people joining off a slip road, and expecting you to get out of their way (when it's probably impossible for you to do so anyway).
How many times a day must I save some bozo from having an accident ?
If they can't get up to the correct speed to 'merge' into traffic without impeding someone, then they should leave their car on the drive.
People who hurtle up behind me to 'shove' me out of the way are simply ignored, and they know why.
I am always polite and slow down for tailgaters, to save them from a speeding ticket.
Compared to say 20 years ago, the urban roads are simply too crowded to fool about on, and that's what a lot of people are doing out there.
Some of us are driving all day long, and not just a quick blast to and from the office/school.
If I had to live in the south of England, I think I'd just throw the towel in and go by bus or train.
It 's just not worth the stress.
Thank god I can remember when driving was fast and fun,
AND PEOPLE USED THEIR INDICATORS !
How many times a day must I save some bozo from having an accident ?
If they can't get up to the correct speed to 'merge' into traffic without impeding someone, then they should leave their car on the drive.
People who hurtle up behind me to 'shove' me out of the way are simply ignored, and they know why.
I am always polite and slow down for tailgaters, to save them from a speeding ticket.
Compared to say 20 years ago, the urban roads are simply too crowded to fool about on, and that's what a lot of people are doing out there.
Some of us are driving all day long, and not just a quick blast to and from the office/school.
If I had to live in the south of England, I think I'd just throw the towel in and go by bus or train.
It 's just not worth the stress.
Thank god I can remember when driving was fast and fun,
AND PEOPLE USED THEIR INDICATORS !
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