Not exactly tailgating, but a radiator incident. The sort of thing that could happen to anyone.
Just before Xmas 1965 I was being given a lift in a Mk1 Hillman Husky which had a very substantial bit of 2" x 2" angle iron instead of a rear bumper, and a tow hitch in the middle intended for a trailer for an Enterprise dingy. We were waiting at the lights at the bottom of a wet slippery hill near Reading when suddenly, bang, we were shunted across the road and the rear window was obscured by with steam. Fortunately no other vehicles were involved.
We went round the back to have a look and the owner of the previously immaculate Bristol was in tears. The radiator was smashed in and there was water and steam everywhere. The back door of the Husky had been steam cleaned and most of the mud from the lake was gone, and the only damage was a tiny dent in the back door where the centre of the top of the radiator grill had just touched it.
The Bristol owner had just collected it from the repairers, having suffered precisely the same kind of accident two weeks previously and was on his way to have four new tyres fitted.
Gandolphs twin, you cannot be prosecuted for using a hand held device whilst driving. What I think you are referring to is an old offence under the radio and telecommunications act which no longer exists. This was used to cover such devices as CB radios and two way radios, in those days you would be prosecuted for not being in full control of your vehicle. Generally a Police officer would have to have some evidence of not being in control such as mounting the kerb or weaving in the carriageway. This offence still exists but was mainly surpassed by the specific offence of using a mobile phone whilst driving in 2003. Interestingly you can be prosecuted for this if using a phone as a passenger whilst supervising a learner as well. There generally has to be some evidence that the device i.e the phone is making some kind of electronic connection i.e a call, text message or reading and listening to voicemail. Putting make up on whilst driving would also come under this legislation but this tends to be dealt with under driving without due care and consideration, all of course under the Road traffic act of 1988. HGV drivers using there mobile phones whilst driving are dealt with much harsher. If the Officer dealing with it submits a report to the traffic commissioner the HGV driver more often than not loses their HGV entitlement for 6 months eg they are disqualified from driving HGV’s for that period. Tail gaiting is seen and dealt with by the courts as a serious offence and generally if backed up by video evidence is dealt with under the Dangerous driving section of the act which can carry a custodial penalty.
Today I came the closest I’ve been to a major car accident since my immaculate Series IV Humber Hawk was written off by a Sunbeam Alpine jumping the lights at Hillingdon Circus in 1973.
We were returning in the MX5 down the M40 from Annual Service and MOT at Hughes in Farnham with new front pads and brake fluid (this is significant), and I noticed a white Hyundai surging up behind and then dropping away again several times. We were in the middle lane at a solid 70+ steadily going past a few trucks and a couple of cars, and the right hand lane was empty and nobody anywhere near in the mirrors, other than the white car and its woman driver with eyes just above the top of the steering wheel and a massive frizz of ginger hair mostly obscuring the two small kids bouncing around loose in the back of her car.
Passing over the top of the Denham roundabout where M40 becomes A40 I’m just about level with an old Jag in the slow lane when the Hyundai goes past and suddenly pulls in to my lane such that her rear lights are about level with my wing mirror! I dropped anchor and moved as close to the Jag on my left as I dared. The Hyundai then nearly collects the Jag which is now more than two car’s length in front of me and also has to brake. Naturally I flash lights and sound horn as does the Jag, meanwhile SWMBO beside me is saying ‘Don’t get involved! Don’t get involved!’
The Hyundai then rushes off into the distance playing chicken and over- and under-taking other traffic randomly as if she has a death wish and never had a driving lesson in her life and no kids in the back. The Jag driver and I exchange shrugs, SWMBO is very quiet.
Phew. We are all still alive.
This was a short ten minute journey, and for once I had not bothered fitting the dash-cam. Those five seconds would have been well worth posting. I didn’t know my aged reactions were quite so good, perhaps it was because I was half expecting the erratic driver in the white car to do something stupid.
I once read somewhere that the majority of people’s traffic accidents are within five miles of their home; this incident was maybe a mile or two away, as was the Hillingdon one.
I was looking forward to a trip from brum to Lincoln on Saturday in my RF but tailgating made some of the trip a misery . Coming back in the dark I was blinded by headlights in the wing mirrors .one young lad in a fiesta st was on my case for miles . I would like to know why some idiots seem to have it in for MX drivers ?
The first two words sum it up. He thinks he’s actually Max V.
Edit. I’ve just remembered my Dad used to have a wooden box for tissues/wiper cloths jammed onto the parcel shelf in the rear window, and the one face was entirely a mirror pointing straight back. Illegal now?
I would have stuck it for a couple of miles then pulled over to let them pass.
I’ve done it in the daylight, let a BMW driver pass, they then had (he/she who knows) no one to tailgate so dropped the speed to around 40mph in hope I’d catch up with them. No such luck for them as a car passed me then passed the BMW. BMW driver then sped up again, chase on again for them. Anyways 4 miles on I’d reached my destination so glad.
I once attended a driving improvement lecture which my corporate employer insisted everybody did. When asked about tailgaters I replied that I slowed down to a speed appropriate to the distance at which they were following me - lecturer was impressed.
However my favourite trick was eastbound on the A14 - a road I used a lot in those days- as you approached Kettering there was a speed camera just under a bridge, I would wind the speed up so the tailgater was following me at 80+ In the outside lane and dive left and brake hard at the last second - pop!
Got several like that, always satisfying.
Worse thing I find in the 5 is motorcycles who seen to want to ride in my nonexistent rear seats.
I know exactly where you are describing on the A14 . That’s a great move getting them on the camera . I had a motorbike that was ridiculously close to my rear bumper at the weekend ,I kept slowing down and pulled over in the end as I just wanted an enjoyable drive .
I know what you all mean, some drivers just don’t keep a safe distance.
The worse seem to be drivers like my wife who are too nervous to pass, but will happily tailgate!
The only way they learn is by having an accident and paying the price.
In my experience it’s just best to find somewhere safe to pull over and let them get on with it.
I know we moan about driver assistance systems, but maybe the autonomous braking in newer cars will keep warning them they are too close.
Another annoyance are drivers expecting you to get out of their way. Driving up the M5 tonight in the 2nd lane when a truck suddenly decided they want your lane when your level with their rear end, he’s in the left lane. I couldn’t go anywhere, right lane with passing car, had to brake hard to avoid contact. Actually there was a group of trucks in the left lane passing a slip road coming on to the motorway, this idiot forcing their way on to the motorway at great speed, this was the problem, the truck had to move or bang a collision. We all survived but it was a brown trouser moment.
You’ve touched on another dangerous annoyance there, Mick.
Those drivers who seem to think they have right of way from a slip-road onto a motorway with no consideration for the traffic already there. An experienced driver on the motorway will adjust speed / lane to accommodate joining traffic, but there’s always the idiot who is already up to excess motorway speed on the slip road with the intention of joining and getting to te outside lane as soon as possible, no matter what the other traffic is doing.
That’s what this driver did, trucks in convoy (too close for my liking) so they pushed in a gap off the slip road expecting one to give way. He appeared out of that lane right in front of me a short distance further up and made straight for the 4th lane.
Would it be possible for suitably qualified drivers to have an Exocet missile on the front and one one the back, with permission to use one every 6 months for blockers and tailgaters respectively? It has to be as big as an Exocet so as to completely vaporise the target vehicle, leaving no dangerous debris.