Hello have just got back from organising our retirement home which is not in this country thank God.I have just read some of your replies and wonder why you are such an angry arrogant bunch(only some)I am an x HGV driver of many years and an RTITB approved and registered LGV instructor who has passed advanced tests in all categories and also a club motorcycle racer. Only one person had the balls to admit tailgating goes on.Just in case you do not know a safe traveling distance from the vehicle in front at 50 mph is 50 feet or meteres.To answer the guy who could not work out how the driver managed to gesticulate to me I moved into a lane for turning right,stopped because of oncoming traffic,he drove along my inside leaning out of his window with his arm and finger and while looking back at me for several seconds proceded to drive forward.Again in case you do not know and a lot dont the 2 second rule is MINIMUM safe distance for an alert driver in good conditions and that applies to a car which can stop far quicker than a loaded LGV.
The reason this tailgating practice upsets me so much is one of my daughters was killed while travelling in the back of a car which was crushed by a loaded LGV ,By the way the driver involved was not classed as tailgating,just could not stop in time because of the weight of his vehicle and after inspection of the vehicle it was found to be in a roadworthy condition(incuding the braking system)Please do not reply to this because I will not be visiting this site again because as it upsets me to much.So next time you are on the road ask yourself if the vehicle in front stopped suddenly-could you?
All the best to you all
Jimmy0000
I know you said dont reply but in case you are still therecan i say the following,
-
My condolonces to you and your family for the loss of your daughter. ( i hope i never have that happen ,i had a scare a few years back but luckily my son pulled through and is ok now)
-
tailgating does happen by HGVs , Buses, Cars and motorcycles and its all wrong.
-
Not all HGV drivers are like that but unfortunately people remember the bad ones.
-
We all get angry at times and its better to let off your frustration on a web forum than at someone face to face.
-
Sorry that you feel you cannot visit this site again (thats your decision) the industry needs as many decent folk as it can get to try and educate the ignorant
-
If i’m out of order saying all this jimmy0000 then please tell me i wont be offended.
7 if number 6 applies please accept my apologies
Best regards and good luck for the future
tailgaters have only 1 redeeming feature, that they aint immortal.
Tailgating, or to put it in it’s proper term - driving too close, is the one thing that a driver cannot control - the gap behind you
Think about it - you can control whether you speed, what gap you leave in front of you, using a mobile phone, fiddling with the radio, etc etc…
Yes, there are ways of reducing the danger of the driver behind but there is no way you can immediately prevent them from doing it.
What is the answer - I don’t know - it seems that a number of drivers have a ‘thing’ about leaving gaps in the tarmac in front of them and filling up that tarmac space is more important than safety.
I know why they keep doing it - because they keep getting away with it - that is until something happens such as in the first post in this thread 
- My condolences.
I don’t condone speeding but which of these two would you rather have…
a driver doing 100mph on a motorway with very little traffic and a good half mile of clear lane in front of them …or
a driver doing 50mph on a motorway about 10 feet from your rear end 
I know which I would choose - the one who can stop in the distance they can see to be clear.
I wish the authorities would err more on the safe distance aspect than the speed one - it must be possible to have safety gap detectors/cameras these days with modern technology
There, I’ve had my little rant 
ROG - They did have safety gap detectors/cameras before, they were called police patrols. Since the advent of the speed camera the patrols have been reduced greatly. This means that dangerous driving is becoming all too common.
Ragnarok:
ROG - They did have safety gap detectors/cameras before, they were called police patrols. Since the advent of the speed camera the patrols have been reduced greatly. This means that dangerous driving is becoming all too common.
Ain’t that the truth, The Germans had a few fatals due to tailgating, now they operate the box system, if there’s two motors in the box the one at the rear gets his wallet out, they also use helicopters.
I think the reverse used to work in the old Yugoslavia, probably an excuse to extort pivo vouchers from the Brits but they used to nick you for travelling too close to the vehicle behind! probably a translation problem, that you were really impeding traffic but that’s the flatheads for you 
Ragnarok:
ROG - They did have safety gap detectors/cameras before, they were called police patrols. Since the advent of the speed camera the patrols have been reduced greatly. This means that dangerous driving is becoming all too common.
i agree. but when u say dangerous driving, i think its more like dangerous every thing. since the police were replaced by speed cameras the roads have be come a jungle. some drivers, operators didn’t like the police, but fore most of us they were the only friends we had. Providing a level playing field for us to operate in. Bad practice has become the industry standard.
newmercman:
Ragnarok:
ROG - They did have safety gap detectors/cameras before, they were called police patrols. Since the advent of the speed camera the patrols have been reduced greatly. This means that dangerous driving is becoming all too common.Ain’t that the truth, The Germans had a few fatals due to tailgating, now they operate the box system, if there’s two motors in the box the one at the rear gets his wallet out, they also use helicopters.
Same system used in Belgium and France. Too close and you will be paying a fine, the markings are clear to see
a point here its LAW that you must keep half
the distance of the Tacho speed away from the person
in front of you, I am unsure of the how its enforced in the UK, however the Germans start fineing and banning you when they catch you breaking the AB-STAND
laws;AGAIN WHEN DRIVEING OVER 50KMH
in a lorry you must keep 50m+ away from
joe blogs in front of you,