Published: Tailgating-How to Stop It - David D. Lentz, Attorney at Law

The following is an article written by David D. Lentz. It has been published on a website owned solely by him:

[OPINION and ANALYSIS.]

Tailgating has become a ubiquitous practice on our roads and highways. Years ago we were all taught in driver’s education to stay at least one car length behind the car in front of us for every ten miles per hour that we were driving. This, of course, meant that if you were driving 60 miles per hour then you should keep at least 6 car lengths behind the car in front of you, and four car lengths if you were driving at 40 miles per hour. It seems that nowadays however, no one obeys this very simple but important safety tip, and because of this the roads have become infinitely more dangerous.

The rear ends of many cars nowadays are designed such that there’s often a headrest in the middle of the backseat and a rearview light somewhere in rear window. Many trunks are also somewhat elevated, especially for vehicles with lift gates. This often limits the ability of drivers to see vehicles following close behind them out of their rearview mirrors. At night, it is quite common for the cars following another driver to be so close that the front driver can’t see a tailgater’s headlights from his rearview mirror. This often means the front driver does not know that he’s being followed by a tailgater. To add to the danger, even at interstate speeds in excess of seventy miles per hour, it is not uncommon to be followed by someone at less than two car lengths. This is particularly true at rush hour.

Naturally, all of this has a tendency to either (i) create unease, if not outright panic, in the driver of the front car; or (ii) a situation where, even if the front driver wants to get out of the tailgater’s way, he feels that it’s dangerous to do so. Why? Simply put, because tailgaters, especially the high speed types, at some point often try, for a multitude of reasons, to quickly accelerate in order to dart around the front driver. The problem is that the front driver doesn’t really know if the tailgater is going to do this or not. As such, the front driver is often afraid to stay in either his own lane or to try to get over into another one. Anyone being followed by a tailgater who has either wanted to pass someone in front of him, or to get into a turn lane to make a turn understands how unsettling this situation is. For the elderly and/or nervous types this creates a situation that is fraught with danger and makes driving a sometimes-terrorizing experience.

Twenty years ago, the author had a car that had a very strange and intermittent “cut-off” problem. His engine would simply cut off for no apparent reason while driving down the road. This could happen anywhere at any time without warning. However, when it did happen, the author would have to somehow get that car out of the flow of traffic and over onto the shoulder of the road. Normally, this could be accomplished only by coasting without power to the side of the road, all while hoping that the other drivers would cooperate. One has to wonder whether the author would even be alive today had folks tailgated back then like they do today.

The fact of the matter is that a tailgater has an obstructed and very limited view of the road. The tailgater cannot see many of the potential problems in front of the driver ahead of him. Extremely dangerous situations arise that are ripe for an accident when the driver of the front car confronts an emergency or an unexpected situation, such as a child, another car or an animal unexpectedly entering the road. The driver in front may automatically, as a reflexive reaction, slam on the brakes. In such a situation, the tailgater, not seeing the child, animal or car as quickly as the front driver, has no real ability to safely respond or to stop as fast as the front car. An accident causing considerable property damage, serious personal injury (many times, long term, serious and permanent) or even the death of the front driver and the tailgater himself can occur. Other drivers, passengers and pedestrians may get injured or die as well. This is because the tailgater may push, in a chain reaction, the front car into another car if the tailgater back-ends the car in front of him hard enough. In short, tailgaters are dangerous not only to the front driver and himself but they are also dangerous to everyone else in the immediate vicinity.

The problem, of course, is that most tailgating is either not done in the presence of a police officer or, for whatever reason, police officers do not write that many tailgating traffic tickets. This means that it is difficult, if not impossible, for the government to eradicate tailgating. To rectify this problem perhaps there should be a centralized national reporting system where folks can pay small fee to report tailgaters. The fee would be in some amount so that someone would be adequately deterred from making a false report against an innocent person with whom they have some personal grievance but who is not otherwise a tailgater. Also, someone could only report a particular tailgater once. This would hopefully also limit personal vendetta reporting. One has to wonder whether car and truck manufacturers cannot, with existing technology, install rear facing bumper level cameras that can time stamp photos of vehicles following too closely. It should then be easy for anyone to upload those photos to a centralized tailgate tracking website.

In any event, if the alleged tailgater got a certain number of reports (all from different people), they would be put on a list of tailgaters that would be sent to all automobile insurers. This would undoubtedly increase the car insurance rates of tailgaters, perhaps substantially, which in turn, would make them uninsurable and/or cause them to practice safer driving habits. (Over time or by taking certain driver safety courses, these “points” could be removed from the tailgater’s record.) Tailgating during rush hour and/or traffic jams caused by accidents would naturally not count as tailgating offenses.

A system similar to the foregoing might be the only viable means of actually finding and getting rid of tailgaters because, as stated, normal judicial processes appear to be ineffective for this purpose. Regardless of whether the above proposal is adopted, however, all tailgaters, should be warned. Many lawyers say that if a tailgater does cause or get into an accident, either they or their insurer are, almost always, going to be held liable or at fault and responsible for paying for the property damage, personal injuries or death of the other parties involved in an accident. It is an extremely rare case where the courts or juries fail to find the tailgater liable. And importantly, this is true regardless of whether the front driver unexpectedly stops for little or even an erroneous reason. The bottom line is that in personal injury and property damage cases, the driver who hits another vehicle from behind is almost always held liable regardless of the circumstances.

Perhaps this article will spur driver’s education instructors to do a better job of teaching the dangers of tailgating to their student drivers. Perhaps, the one corrective action proposed herein, or something better, will be adopted so that our roads and highways will be safer. The best result, of course would be for tailgaters to stop tailgating.

[End notes appear following this article.]

David Dixon Lentz November 16, 2023 corrected December 3, 2023