By Susan Melony
If you often drive on the highway, maybe you have no issues with it. However, you may also not like highway driving, and you only do it reluctantly. You’re driving faster on the highway than on local roads, and that means, if you get in an accident, you may see more vehicular damage and more serious injuries.
You’ll probably see all kinds of dangerous driver behaviors if you drive on the highway. You might see a driver trying to unwrap their burger while changing lanes at 70 miles per hour. Perhaps you will see an individual going 30 miles over the speed limit sometimes.
However, in this article, we are going to talk about tailgating, another driver behavior that you may see on the highway. If a car hits you because of this behavior, then you will presumably need to find a skilled tailgating accident lawyer who can help you with your lawsuit.
What does tailgating mean, though, and why do some drivers do it? Let us take a few moments to talk about this phenomenon in more depth right now.
What does tailgating mean?
First, let’s take a second to define tailgating for those who don’t know what it means yet. Tailgating means that there’s a driver who’s riding the bumper of the car ahead of them. Just about anyone who spends some time on the highway should know about this behavior, since it’s fairly common.
Maybe you’ve tailgated another driver before. Perhaps some driver engaged in this behavior with you instead.
Either way, if you have a tailgating situation, that’s dangerous. If the driver of the lead car steps down on the brakes suddenly for any reason, then the driver behind them might hit their rear bumper. That can damage both cars, and it may also injure both drivers, not to mention their passengers.
Why does someone tailgate?
Often, if someone tailgates another vehicle, they will do it because they feel that driver should get out of the fast lane. If you have two cars in the fast lane, and the lead car doesn’t exceed the speed limit, or they only do so by five miles per hour or so, the driver of the car in the rear might begin to feel impatient.
That’s when they might start tailgating. You maya remember from driving school that you should stay approximately three car lengths behind the driver ahead of you if the traffic conditions allow it. If someone tailgates, though, they’re not doing that. Maybe they’re only one car length or less behind the lead driver.
If someone tailgates, they might honk at the other driver or gesture at them angrily as well. As you might imagine, that kind of behavior does not usually elicit a very happy reaction from the driver on the receiving end.
Tailgating falls into the reckless driving category
If you talk to a driving expert, they might tell you that tailgating falls into the general category of reckless driving. You can also put changing lanes without signaling in that category. You would probably put speeding in there as well.
Most instructors who teach formal classes to neophyte drivers will tell you that you should drive defensively. Any of the behaviors that we are talking about mean that you have someone who’s doing the opposite.
That’s never a good thing. You might have someone who exhibits aggression or recklessness while driving, and if they do this often, maybe it won’t ever cause a problem. However, if they do it one time too many, they might run into a fellow driver who doesn’t like it very much. If that happens, then a violent confrontation can result.
You can argue that tailgating constitutes road rage
You might even make the argument that tailgating falls into the road rage category. If most drivers would agree that you shouldn’t engage in reckless driving, then even more will say that you should never drive in a way that indicates you’re having road rage issues.
In reality, some drivers take their personal problems onto the road with them. Most therapists would probably tell you that if you do that, you’re a kettle of rage that is about to boil over.
If you drive defensively, that means you’re in control of your emotions. If you tailgate or engage in the other behaviors that we’ve described, then it usually indicates that you need to reevaluate your life and the way that you’re conducting yourself.
How can you stop this behavior?
If you tailgate often, then you should take some time to look at the rest of your life and see what’s happening in it. It’s pretty likely you have some sources of unresolved anger that you need to consider and potentially resolve.
It is easy to just say to someone “don’t tailgate anymore,” but without addressing their underlying anger issues, it’s easier to say that than to do it. If you find that you’re having an issue with frequent tailgating, or any of the other problematic behaviors we’ve described, then you should probably look into therapy.
You can speak with a therapist about what’s troubling you. Maybe you already know, or perhaps it’s a complete mystery. Either way, if you start to talk about what’s happening in your day-to-day life, maybe you can start to understand what’s making you act in these ways.
Your driving behaviors often tell a lot about yourself, though you may not usually take the time to think about that. Someone who doesn’t speed probably doesn’t care if they get to their destination five minutes late. That’s usually healthier than the alternative.
If you tailgate often, then you should stop doing it. You can cause an accident, but you might also trigger a road rage incident in another driver if you happen to pick the wrong one. You never know who has a weapon in the car, so stopping this behavior should definitely top your to-do list.
