Is tailgating (when driving) an art? Except for its inveterate practitioners, most would instead label it a loathsome, blood pressure-raising menace! Why then is there so much around these days?
One reason in this humble observer’s view: some want to shine any way they can, get attention, stand out from the pack, all that. Gun one’s vehicle behind a driver obeying the limit, and … you’re suddenly important? In certain impoverished minds, so it seems.
I also think there’s a definite sadistic streak involved here, or at least, a goodly dollop of aggression. Some may actually enjoy inflicting discomfort on poor drivers stuck ahead of them in traffic.
Who keep consulting the rearview, silently mutter, and maybe curse, too; and sometimes just make an unneeded turn onto a side street in order to get away from such boors. Or: can it be that the tailgater’s simply in a hurry?
Sometimes that might be the case: he/she’s late for work, an appointment, a social gathering, a pro sports game, a concert, whatever. But for the most part no? So I’d argue, but unfortunately, I’ve done no statistical sample on this subject and probably never will.
What about plain distraction? Drivers who zoom around even in a Tops or Walmart lot, Dale Earnhardt types on anything like normal race tracks, do so because … lost in thought or perhaps future plans re some shopping expedition or holiday meal to prepare, that sort of thing? Yes, the distraction part can certainly rear its ugly head here, too, or so it feels. Where the tailgating becomes maybe inadvertent…
It also needs accentuation that today’s vehicles, including an armada of SUVs and pickup trucks, have lots of power. Yes, they’re turbo-responsive to the gas pedal, and certain drivers want to USE that facile power, or maybe they have trouble on too many occasions keeping it in check.
So: what do we throwbacks to Sunday drivers of yore DO? One thing sure: we must use that rearview mirror plentifully and often! Making sure to be aware of potential and maybe inevitable tailgaters behind us, even in supposedly placid little towns.
In fact, this phenomenon’s sometimes worse in those smaller places that ought to be so sweet and safe to navigate, but which again, feature all these modern vehicles with far too much oomph. Everything you need in such towns is only five or ten minutes away, but buyer beware: you can still encounter “tailers” en route, who seem even more incongruous and jarring in these putatively peaceful environs.
I don’t have that much more to say on this subject. Many of you could easily add a good deal to this discussion, with takes and insights I’d not even thought of re this trend of sorts that also engenders … a thing called accidents; and God forbid, medical problems like whiplash, not to mention hikes in insurance rates.
Just look at all the ads, including extensive infomercials, emanating from proverbial ambulance chasers! The attorneys benefit? You know it! After all, we now live in a Lawyerocracy of sorts, and tailgaters certainly contribute.
However: so on occasion do people in front of such pushy drivers, those insecure “hesitants” who use the brake more than they should, and without first consulting that rearview I rank as one of history’s more useful inventions! We’ve all known drivers who needlessly race up to stop signs, but ALSO (by contrast) like to brake for no reason when traffic’s proceeding as it should.
There can also be what one might term a potentially disastrous double-whammy here: i.e., when Mr. or Ms. Tailgater guns toward you from behind, and in front, the light’s changed and you’re ready to follow the truck ahead as he/she proceeds forward, only … the truck’s gearshift hiccups, the cumbrous, heavy vehicle moves backward, especially downhill … and I hate sketching any more of this sorry scenario.
Is this entire subject becoming a depressing one? I’d say so, and hopefully a future column will focus on the pleasures of driving, including zooming freely on deserted freeways in South Dakota (paying heed thereby to all sides of the equation). But I’ll let someone else do that one!