Tailgating
It seems that here in Minnesota that tailgating is not something that happens once in a while, it’s the normal way to drive. It seems that everyone has the feeling that they are more important and have to get to their destination faster than you are going. Or maybe that isn’t it at all.
It seems to me that when in a car, people seem to think they become anonymous, almost like people feel when they are online. You can’t really see the face of the other driver, nor interact with them on any other level than the way that you are using the space on the road. People see cars, not the people who are driving them. So, they try to influence your driving by giving or taking away space. Imagine if that is how we acted when we were just out walking around.
You could be walking down the sidewalk, or inside a busy mall. This sidewalk has been marked with lines to indicate lanes and force you to use the rules of the road. You could be walking around, and find that someone it directly behind you, close enough that you couldn’t get a sheet of paper between you and them. You would say something, wouldn’t you? You probably say something to the tailgater, but they can’t hear you. You might think that tapping on your brakes might be a friendly way to indicate to them that you fell they are a bit too close, but you would be wrong. That is more likely to elicit a negative response. You might elicit the same negative response while walking, but if you are bigger then the tailgater, it’s likely that the situation won’t escalate.
This brings me to this mornings commute. On my way into the office, there was someone who had to get there faster than was possible given the congested nature of the traffic. They were swerving from lane to lane trying to get some sort of speed advantage, but it just wasn’t working for them. I usually find this extremely funny as you usually can’t win in that situation and the resaonable action would be to just settle down and go as fast as the traffic is permitting. They would have nothing of this. So, this person ends up directly behind me. I drive a pickup. The funny thing about a pickup is that if you tailgate me, I can’t see you. People get in so close that they are completely obscured by the bed of the truck, the most I can see might be the extreme top of the roof of their car. Other trucks are not as invisible, but the headlights and hood certainly disappear.
So, this driver is close, and the lane that I am in begins to slow rapidly, not a panic type situation, but none the less, a very fast deceleration. The driver behind me has very little time to react given his proximity to me, reaction times, the time it takes for brake light bulbs to heat up enough to become visible, etc. He has closed off any available escape routes as the drivers in the other lanes after witnessing the previous driving behavior have now begun to tailgate themselves to prevent further lane changes by the aggressive driver. So, it’s all smoke and screaching tires behind me. The driver tailgating me does not hit me, but the driver behind them does not have the time, probably due to further tailgating, and the accident happens. I continue on safely to work.
I don’t know how many times this happens in a day, but now the rest of the drivers unfortunate enough to be behind the accident have to deal with it for the next hour or so until the accident is cleared. This will backup traffic for miles.
There is no moral to the story. I don’t believe that driving behavior will change as it seems that most people are waiting for everyone else to start driving with some courtesy before they begin to themselves. It seems that there is nothing that can be done, you can’t fix stupid.
Next driving topic - the usage of turn signals.
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[...] 8, 2007 Merging Submitted by: Tim @ 8:46 am Filed under: General I know that last time I talked about driving, I said that the next thing I was going to write about was turn signals. [...]