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Detecting Tailgaters With Lasers
stoolpigeon writes "Police in Arizona are using laser range finders to detect and ticket tailgaters. An officer can now measure not only the speed of passing vehicles but also how close they are to one another. The detectors described in the article are built by Laser Technology Inc., a company that provides lasers for traffic control, engineering, and even tactical/military solutions. The article mentions how tailgating is connected to many accidents and incidents of road rage; this observation fits my experience."
It seems like they could spend money on so many different things. . . . They need to catch speeders more than tailgaters."
:)
Umm, no. Tailgaters are worse. There can be a smart speeder. There is no such thing as smart tailgater. Becauses, it is not speeding that causes accidents, it's the person speeding needs to take extra caution. It can be done, even if it usually is not. Tailgating in-and-of-itself is dangerous.
"I've seen people at 0.04 seconds. That is less than half a second," he said.
Talk about enlightening comments.
Some of the comments there say that someone else will just pull ahead of you. Ahem, they will then get tickets. That's the point. Then they complain that they're close for a minute and get tickets, well, this complaint and the first complaint are opposites.
I hope these tickets work. Next we can take on gawkers.
Have you read my journal today?
Like they say, there are only two types of drivers:
The assholes in front of you, and the assholes behind you.
I try to be a safe driver. So, I drive with the intention of leaving a couple of car lengths between me and the car in front. What happens? Someone sees that as an invitation to merge on over!! Next thing I know my "safe space" is down to inches. Best thing to do then...I upset the guy behind me and slow down opening up more of a gap trying to manage between not letting someone over and making sure I have some room to stop.
My idea was a flashing neon sign that says, "back off!"
Problem is, everybody thinks they're a perfect driver, and get very weird when anybody tries to tell them otherwise. Hence all the road rage incidents connected to tailgating.
My strategy is to slow down, but subtly, so they don't register that I'm pissed at them. I don't even brake, I just don't push the accelerator as hard as a normally do. Invariably the tailgater gets impatient and passes, without registering any change in my driving.
It is, of course, frustrating to see bad driving and not be able to communicate your concerns to the other driver. But frustration is better than being targeted by a psycho.
A better strategy is to just vary your speed by +/- 2 MPH in a continuous cycle. Then even if they don't pass, they have to give you more room. Try it. :-)
Currently hooked on AMP
So, either keep out of Illinois or take off that stupid paper hat, get off your high hobby-horse and get your sorry slavish-speed-limit-obeying butt into the right lane.
Comments should be like skirts. Short enough to keep your attention, but long enough to cover the subject
When I run into a tailgater, I (... and don't criticize me if this seems wacked out or dangerous) I pull to another lane. Then they go on by.
And if I'm on a road that is 2 lanes, and I get a guy 2 inches from my bumper I (... get this...) I pull off the road for two seconds as soon as I can and let some other person deal with them as they rush on past..
Seriously, I want to concentrate on driving, not whether some nutball in back of me is going to slip up and ram into me because he's got anger management issues.
To my way of thinking, guys who slow down in front of tailgaters have the same mentality as the tailgaters, they only express it differently.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Do you think all the other people behind you who weren't tailgating deserved to be punished too?
Driving doesn't have to be about making the other fucker pay. That attitude is why I hate driving so much. It even affects me sometimes. I've had that angry feeling boil up and done stupid things several times, but I'm not proud of it. The thing I'm least proud of is the tailgater who got me so angry/scared that I popped down a gear causing him to rear-end me. Yeah, he totalled an expensive car and was 100% "at fault" but I felt kinda bad about it. I do wonder if he still tailgates so badly.
Man, you really need that seminar!
The correct answer is also (e): if you're in the fast lane, move the fuck over and get out of the way!
At least around here, I'd say the single biggest traffic problem is caused by people forgetting this.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
I'm going to be the contrarian here. Most tailgaters I see (including myself, of course) have legitimate gripes. If you have nobody in front of you and a queue of cars behind you, chances are you are going too slow!
I always try to be aware of my surroundings, including looking in the rear-view mirror. If I'm in the left lane and there is someone approaching from the rear, it's easier and safer to reserve moral judgement about their character and do the smart thing--pull to the right at the earliest possible opportunity and let him overtake me. Why can't everyone manage to do that? See, when I happen to be the one in an unusual hurry, 9 times out of 10, the guy in front of me in the left lane is totally oblivious of my presence. To wake him up, I either have to drive dangerously close, pass on the right, or hit him with a few high-beam blasts. It's a no-win situation for both of us.
Same with a single-lane road. If you simply must drive slow and enjoy the view, have the courtesy to pull to the shoulder when people approach who actually have a destination they are looking forward to reaching.
Sure, there's the occasional idiot who gets in the left lane and tails everybody within inches, making them all pull over one by one, but these tailgaters are in the minority.
Please hang up the phone, be aware of your surroundings (especially the people behind you), and keep up with the flow of traffic. In short, drivers should be participants, not obstacles.
Did you ever notice that people driving slower than you are idiots and that people driving faster than you are maniacs?
Here's an idea, let the weavers assholes be themselves. Why would you purposely close the gap or actively prevent someone from getting in front of you? If you are driving too slow for them, let them be in front of you and eventually they will do it to someone else and be gone and you can go about your own business and not have to worry about them at all.
I've often wondered why people play that gap closing game myself. If someone whats to weave in and out of traffic, let them go, as others have stated, in heavy traffic, it is not an effective means of making better progress anyway. You may feel they are being unsafe and maybe this is your chance to exercise your 4000LB weight around too as an equalizer? Closing a gap and disrupting the flow of a weavers is NOT safe either. If you want to play it safe, maintain your existing speed and gap and let the weaver go about his business. The weaver is not being as safe as he could be but closing the gap is not the safest thing you could do either.
On that note... I live on a corner with a hidden intersection on a semi rural 2 lane state road. I see people pull out in front of cars all the time. One time a car pulled out in front of someone and that someone slammed on his brakes and laid on the horn until he came to a complete stop. After he came to a stop, he started yelling at the other person that pulled out in front of him as that person was driving by him in the other direction, the need for a complete stop was completely unnecessary. Hey, shit happens, get over it. Well now that he was at a complete stop and half way around a hidden corner and attempting to make his point known to a car that was no longer within hearing distance, he got rear ended by a third car coming up behind him on that hidden bend. Okay, technically he was not at fault because he got rear ended but his blatant actions had put himself in a very unsafe situation regardless of what the law states. I see a lot of people trying to be "safe" and educate other drivers on the road but in reality, they are being unsafe themselves. Just like the guy that hits his brakes when someone is tailing him. If you don't want to be tailed, move the hell over. I know a car is a big powerful glob of various metals and plastics but using that psychological power to force your driving ethics on others is NOT safe. Considering that the person is not going to change their habits because of your gap closing you have absolutely NOTHING to gain. Gee, I've been driving like a weaver for 20 years and today someone closed the gap on me. I learned a lesson and I am never going to be a weave again!
Bad boys rape our young girls but Violet gives willingly.
Except for breaking, as all the cars are stacked up behind you, perhaps many of then tailgating each other, sure in a pile up you'd have the 'best' chance of surviving, unless a semi plows through the lot of you. Besides, we really do see you blocking up traffic, and I'll bet that you've seen more than a few people pull out in front aggressively, it's not 'random' you've pissed them off for the last 5 miles. Classic deadly Road Rage is most often a response to poor/inconsiderate driving such as yours, the left hand lane is the 'passing lane' which means one should never 'keep pace' with a car to their right. Stacking up traffic behind you is a pile-up waiting to happen, sure you 'might' not be involved, but other drivers feel this danger, and will then act aggressively against you when they can. Some fearful people cocoon to threats, others swing out in rage. Ironically, it's likely you see it as 'they did not see your car, further reinforcing your 'rule', however it's a wonder you have gotten shot yet.
Personally, I get a little 'spooked' when some does try to pace me, in particular the 'open' highway, if something like a deer runs into the road, it likely that we'll both try to avoid it by a combination of steering and breaking, and what are the chances that we'll do that at the same pace? I try my best to stay at a steady 10 mph over, moving over to the right to let faster drivers pass, and when I know that I won't be trapped in the right hand lane. Unlike others I really don't mind someone else passing me, but if I pass them again, I try not to let them ahead of me again.
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
No, I haven't.
You can drive slower than me and not be an idiot: don't hog the passing lane, don't match the speed of the drivers in the lanes who are right next to you (thus creating a wall), and be going at least 60 mph when you merge onto a freeway.
You can drive much faster than me and not be a maniac: just take the first opportunity to go around me (I probably won't be in the left lane, or will quickly vacate it when I see your speed) rather than tailgate, and don't change lanes close enough to me such that I panic.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.