Why Taligate?

Ever get someone driving behind you riding up on your bumper? Do you care? Does it make you mad? Do you not give it a second thought?

Well, today, I had one of those experiences that make you think about the dangers of driving--the SUV ahead of me pulled sharply away from a traffic light as it turned green. Whatever he was hauling wasn't secure and rolled into his back window, thus shattering glass all over the intersection in front of me. (I didn't actually see it at the time, I just saw glass flying and landing. Took a few blocks of following the guy to put the evidence together so I am just guessing that's what happened.)

Today I am asking the question "Why tailgate?" Forget images of hot wings and beer before a football game. That's not what I am talking about here.

Every day I drive to work I notice people driving a mere 15 feet or so behind another vehicle while driving 65 miles per hour. This isn't a video game, folks. Lives can change in a bad way in a heartbeat. And what is gained? Two seconds. For two seconds of getting somewhere faster you are going to risk your life? Your passengers' lives? The life (lives) of anybody you smash into?

Normal human reaction time is .25 of a second. Pretty fast, alright. In that .25 of a second, you just traveled 23.8 feet. SMASH. You lose--guaranteed. Actually, you would go 47.6 feet because first you would have to react by identifying what you are seeing (e.g. road hazard, car stopping, etc.) then you would have to act by using the correct controls to avoid the hazard. Double loser.

At 95.3 feet PER SECOND, the two second rule minimum gives you 190.6 feet between you and other cars for safe reaction time. Put in sports distances, that's well over half a football field and well over the distance a professional baseball player runs from 1st base to third base. That's the MINIMUM safe distance. (three seconds is recommended)

Add distance on top of that if you are eating, talking on a cell phone, smoking, applying make-up (I heard this one on an insurance commercial and thought they were making it up but I have actually seen this take place.)

We had a minivan several years ago and that thing weighed 4,000 lbs. If 4,000 lbs. could stop in 15 feet, the energy it would take to do so would kill you even if you avoided hitting the car ahead of you. Think people!

Ok, so you don't like science and never had physics. Well, ignorance of the law(s of physics) is no excuse. Just because you don't want to do the math doesn't mean your car can ignore friction vs. momentum, too.

I really don't care if people think I drive too slow because I am driving the speed limit. Go around. That's why there are more than one lane on a highway. But if you can't go around, you don't have the right to jeopardize my life because you can't wait two seconds longer to get where you want to go. BACK OFF! Or at the very least plan better so you are not in such a rush. It's not my fault you can't manage your time.

Where does my caution come from? Real life experiences. I've been on the road long enough to know that the unexpected DOES and WILL come at you when you least expect it.

Examples:

1) I was driving next to a semi just as it blew a tire and most of it flew right over my car. Could someone tailgating me avoid that? No. Loser.

2) A semi passed me one day. Just as it cleared my car, one of it's highly tensioned support straps snapped and whipped the concrete right ahead of me. I braked hard.

3) I've come up on no less than 5 deer standing directly in my path and 3 running across my path at night. More brake slamming.

4) I turned a corner on a dark highway one time and a TREE was blocking both lanes of traffic. No matter what they say in golf, it didn't look like 80% air.

5) Don't even get me started about slowing down in fog. Multiple car pile-ups are just plain dumb. If you can't see, don't zoom. Hmm.

6) On a two lane highway, a car two ahead of me braked suddendly. The car directly ahead of me and the truck behind me weren't paying attention. Fortunately I was and had time to actually miss the car in front of me and come up with an exit strategy so the truck behind me didn't hit me. Three cars ahead was turning left. As soon as the vehicle they were waiting for passed me, I went into the opposing lane. By the time the truck stopped, it was even with the middle of our small car. This is real stuff, people.

7) Another time, a trailer hitch came undone ahead of us and separated from the vehicle.

8) A mattress flew off a truck coming the opposite direction and flew right over my car. What would you do if you were tailgating me when that happened? Again, LOSER. There is no way you can see what is coming if you are that close behind someone.

9) Another mattress fell off a truck in front of my wife's car.

10) Heating duct material flew off a truck directly in front of me. I was able to avoid it.

11) ICE! Hello? What are people thinking? So what if you have 4-wheel DRIVE. All cars have 4-wheel STOP and ice just doesn't care.

12) Years ago, my wife had a window SHOT OUT while on the highway. Do you think that was a calm smooth slow down? Do you think you could have seen it ahead of time if tailgating? Nope.

13) A huge piece of muffler pipe got kicked up by a trailer and came spinning in the air right at me. Nothing I could do about it at 75 mph. Fortunately, it hit almost dead square on my front bumper and I watched it skidding to the left of me, shooting up sparks. Hmm. That was close. I said calmly to my family who had no clue how close we were to disaster.

14) Oh, here's a good reminder: pot holes. When you insist on gaining that extra 1.85 seconds of getting somewhere faster, there is no way you can see pot holes, dead animals, debris, wood with nails sticking out or any other such road hazard. You will hit it. Period.

Maybe it is true that old people drive slower. I am getting old(er). I am driving slower. But I have seen the wisdom in it. You younger drivers who need to power zoom in and out of traffic, you are not impressive. All you are doing is showing you either can't manage your time, don't have emotional maturity, or don't have a clue. I wish you well ...

®2009, Kurt Holdorf story and illustration