Tailgating is prohibited in every province and each definition is pretty much the same.Kevin Van Paassen/The Globe and Mail
The Uber driver had just finished making a left turn and peered into his rear-view mirror. “Did that guy just honk at me?” He wanted to know if I shared his disbelief. It was early on a sunny July morning. He was mystified that a person could be so enraged, so early and on such a pleasant day.
I looked back from the rear seat to see a blue minivan riding our bumper. This object could not be any closer than it appeared. It was a foot, at most two, behind us. Somehow, this made sense to the minivan driver who appeared to be trying to teach us a lesson. He was succeeding. The lesson was that he was a foolish menace.
The Uber driver’s confusion congealed into anger. “This is a 40-kilometre-per-hour street … What does he expect me to do?”
“Some people are jerks,” I replied.
“Yes,” he continued wearily, “but if I have to stop, he hits us. It’s bad.”
“Idiot.” My observation was small consolation.
“Bad,” he continued. “Bad.”
He was right. Tailgating – the aggressive and illegal act of “following too closely” – is bad, very, very bad.
Tailgating is dangerous – obviously so. It’s prohibited in every province and each definition is pretty much the same. In British Columbia, “A driver of a vehicle must not cause or permit the vehicle to follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of the vehicles and the amount and nature of traffic on and the condition of the highway.”
This definition is crystal clear, but really shouldn’t be required reading. No sentient being can believe that travelling at a high speed a few feet behind another automobile is a good idea. On day one of driving school we all learn to leave at least two-seconds-worth of time between you and the car in front of you. Ideally, you leave three. The rate of speed is not a factor. Tailgating is wrong at any speed. If you don’t think 20 kilometres an hour is fast, I suggest you try stopping a vehicle travelling at that speed with your own car.
There is an abundance of statistics illustrating tailgating’s dangers and they prove that while it’s the tailgater’s sin, it’s everyone’s problem. According to a 2017 study by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 33 per cent of car collisions are caused by rear-end impact. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board reports that rear-end collisions account for approximately 950,000 injuries and 2,000 deaths. In Canada, tailgating is common. A 2019 survey by the Alberta Motor Association (AMA) found that 63 per cent of drivers “often” or “always” witness other vehicles tailgating. Only two per cent admitted to tailgating habitually. The AMA was so disturbed by the survey’s result they launched a campaign against “failgating.”
With its obvious dangers and the statistics to back these up, one can be forgiven for wondering, “Why does tailgating happen at all?”
The answer to this and to all such questions, ones that ponder voluntary participation in risky and illogical activities, can be found in one word: People.
People.
If animals drove cars there wouldn’t be tailgating because animals, while capable of violence, are incapable of what we human beings define as “rage” and by extension “road rage.”
A fox kills a hen because he is hungry. A fox does not kill a hen because the hen made him late for his job killing other hens. Rage doesn’t factor into it.
People, in contrast, are fuelled by rage. Tailgating is only one example. It starts with frustration. The vehicle in front is not travelling at a speed the tailgater feels is swift enough. The tailgater becomes the bully. They decide to “show” the slowpoke the error of their ways by riding their bumper. When this ends badly, as it sometimes does, it ends with the tailgater slamming into the rear of the car in front and then accusing them of stopping “suddenly.”
Occasionally, the driver who is being tailgated “stops short” by stepping on the brake, as a way of showing their displeasure. This is placing a bright succulent stupid maraschino cherry on top of a huge stupid banana split sundae.
Let’s return to our friend the fox. Does a fox “teach” a hunter that hunting is wrong by jumping in front of the hunter’s rifle? No.
So, how does stopping short in front of a tailgater and risking a rear-end collision teach a tailgater that it is wrong to tailgate because it increases the risk of rear-end collision?
Perhaps tailgating stems from a collective existential dread. From the moment we are born, the clock is running down and no one is there to explain the meaning of the ticking. Time just passes. There aren’t any studies to back this up, but I would guess most drivers tailgate because they believe they are late. Being late reminds us that time (at least our time) is finite, and that triggers angst. This angst transforms into anger and that anger leads to the irrational act of tailgating. Again, this is a purely human experience.
A fox has no concept of tardiness. Whatever time he eats the hen is the time he was meant to eat the hen. He’s never late.
“I know people have things to do. They’re in a rush,” said the Uber driver as the blue minivan angrily tailgated us. “But it’s not good.”
We turned right and the blue minivan kept going straight.
I was not feeling as charitable and sent it off with, “See you jerk.”
The Uber driver laughed and said, “That guy was crazy.”
Perhaps, but unfortunately not like a fox.
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