Silly car question #9: What do I do if somebody is following too close?

Friday, 21 July 2017

Advanced driver instructor Mike Eady explains what to do about tailgating. Hint: you just add water.

We all know the 'two second rule': when following another vehicle, pick a stationary object such as a road sign and count two seconds as the car in front passes it. If you reach that point before you've finished counting, you're probably too close.

And that's just in dry conditions. In the wet, four seconds is more appropriate. That will give you time to see any hazards ahead, including hard braking by the vehicle in front, and react accordingly.

Being a time rather than distance rule, it works at pretty much any speed because you need to be further back at motorway velocity to count two seconds than you do at 50kmh on an urban road.

Tailgating is a big problem. But slamming on your brakes isn't the solution.

So far so good. We all know the two-second rule.

**READ MORE:

Following distances become even more important in tricky weather conditions.

* Tips for driving in winter weather

* Silly car question #2: is it worth learning to drive a manual?**

Car behind too close? Pull this, rather than pushing the brake pedal.

Except that a lot of time, the person behind you doesn't. Following too close, or 'tailgating', is one of the most common and complained-about problems in city driving. It seems be happening more as traffic conditions get worse and people get more impatient.

It's dangerous and quite frightening to see nothing but a pair of windscreen wipers and the whites of somebody's eyes in your rearvision mirror. So what should you do?

According to TrackTime advanced driving instructor Mike Eady, your first instinct isn't neccessarily the right one.

'Most people would say hit the brake lights - give the person behind a brake test,' says Eady.

'But that's a very aggressive move. If you hit the brakes hard and the person behind hits you, it can be deemed your fault. You could be fined for causing the accident.

The answer, says, Eady, is to take anger out of the equation.

'Generally, the person tailgating isn't doing it on purpose. They're thinking about work or other things and they just creep closer and closer… and stay there.

'The answer is to put your windscreen-wiper washer bottle on. The water will go over your car and land on the one behind.

'It's almost like spraying the cat with water.

'Just keep on doing it: it's not aggressive, they'll us their own wipers and naturally drop back.

'If the other driver is still aggressive, pull over and let them go.

'Let them have a fight with somebody else.'