Lucky to be alive

vanandjuanunited said:
There was about 5 of us in the fast lane. The first three cars was pretty close together , which i would consider tailgating each other. The car infront of me was an Black Audi A3 which i would say was about 1 car length away, and then i was at least 1.5 - 2 car lengths away from the Audi.
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The Audi that you refer to in your red text was obviously behind him. He mentions 5 cars, the first three 'pretty close together', last of which was a black A3 1 car length in front of him, then there was him, then behind him there was another Audi 1.5 - 2 car lengths away (which is still ridiculous, but not who he was tailgating).
 
Lustral said:
So . I should stay around 15 car lengths away at 70mph ? I agree with the two second rule, that's what I was taught ages ago
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1 car length at 65-70 is tailgating. If you agree with the two second rule, why not stick to it?

Also, it's not the "fast lane" (one would question why you were in that lane at all if the middle lane was clear for you to swerve into...)

Try to drive a bit more sensibly and next time you might not have to rely on luck.
 
Lustral said:
So . I should stay around 15 car lengths away at 70mph ? I agree with the two second rule, that's what I was taught ages ago
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Correct - as mentioned in another post, there are some sections of motorway which have marked chevrons which are 65m apart IIRC. These demonstrate the correct distance at 70mph from the vehicle in front.

I know in practice this rarely happens, however 1-2 car lengths is not acceptable.
 
shoes said:
Well, a minimum of two seconds - so 60 yards or so at 70 mph = around 15 car lengths.
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Doesn't that assume though that the vehicle in front is going to spontaneously stop dead? As a general rule if you can fit a bus in between you and the car in front you should be ok, a bus isn't as long as 15 cars...
 
kerrgreg said:
I have to confirm the M27 specifically around this area is bad for tailgating and people "pushing on" often being mistaken for getting something out of your boot!

Crashes appear pretty regularly during my commute and its lucky I have not be involved in one yet, more often now I choose to drive at 60-65 in the slower lanes to avoid the "rat race"

Stands by statement however: only been driving for 5 years and have yet to do real rush hour time on the M25, so this is my opinion
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I would see at least 2 accidents a week on the M27 since doing the winter commute to work. Either on my side or the other side. The traffic officer on the hard shoulder could have been a factor in the accident . The rest of the way I was just cruising along at 60-65 mph getting to work
 
Robbie G said:
The Audi that you refer to in your red text was obviously behind him. He mentions 5 cars, the first three 'pretty close together', last of which was a black A3 1 car length in front of him, then there was him, then behind him there was another Audi 1.5 - 2 car lengths away (which is still ridiculous, but not who he was tailgating).
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No, I think it's fairly clear he means the Audi was 1 car length behind the group of three, and he was 1.5 to 2 lengths behind the Audi.

Lesson learned hopefully, op. The reason you had to swerve without even the time to see if you were swerving into anything, which could have caused a much more serious pile up, was because you yourself were dangerously tailgating. So yeah - lucky to be alive, but due to your own poor driving.
 
I do the M27 nearly everyday. In the morning people drive far too close close to each other, shuttling along at 70 so the traffic stops and starts very dangerously.
 
Liampope said:
No, I think it's fairly clear he means the Audi was 1 car length behind the group of three, and he was 1.5 to 2 lengths behind the Audi.

Lesson learned hopefully, op. The reason you had to swerve without even the time to see if you were swerving into anything, which could have caused a much more serious pile up, was because you yourself were dangerously tailgating. So yeah - lucky to be alive, but due to your own poor driving.
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I half knew there was a gap in the middle lane , but obviously didn't have time to re check , re confirm it when I moved. Yes point taken , key word could have been worse for me etc etc and others hence a bit lucky.
 
ubersonic said:
Doesn't that assume though that the vehicle in front is going to spontaneously stop dead? As a general rule if you can fit a bus in between you and the car in front you should be ok, a bus isn't as long as 15 cars...
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lolwut?

How long does it take you to see brake lights in front, process this, think up the response action, take your foot off the throttle, move it to the brake pedal and then apply the brake pedal? Even if this takes half a second then you've lost 15 metres of your stopping distance before you have even started, and that's assuming you're paying attention.

What if the car in front can stop way quicker than you can? The UK legal limit for braking effectiveness is ridiculous, you could pretty much open the door and put one foot on the road and coast to a stop and still stop within the prescribed stopping distance.

Taking that risk is also obscene - you may not care for your own safety, but what about other people's safety? If you plough into the back of me 40mph faster than I'm travelling there is a fair chance I'll be injured worse than you would be.

Too many risk takers on the road IMO.
 
ubersonic said:
Doesn't that assume though that the vehicle in front is going to spontaneously stop dead? As a general rule if you can fit a bus in between you and the car in front you should be ok, a bus isn't as long as 15 cars...
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You need enough room to stop if the car in front slams on.

I saw a crash the other day on quite a slow stretch of road basically caused by someone tailgating and not leaving themselves enough room to react tothe car in front slowing to a complete halt and it seemed an entirely silly way to have an accident.
 
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shoes said:
lolwut?

How long does it take you to see brake lights in front, process this, think up the response action, take your foot off the throttle, move it to the brake pedal and then apply the brake pedal? Even if this takes half a second then you've lost 15 metres of your stopping distance before you have even started, and that's assuming you're paying attention.
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Like I said though the vehicle in front isn't going to stop dead, when it brakes it will slow down, you have the distance in between you plus its stopping distance to stop/react in. If the vehicle in front weighs more and has inferior brakes then the 2 second rule is grossly excessive.
 
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ubersonic said:
Like I said though the vehicle in front isn't going to stop dead, when it brakes it will slow down, you have the distance in between you plus its stopping distance to stop/react in. If the vehicle in front weighs more and has inferior brakes then the 2 second rule is grossly excessive.
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as i learnt the hardware sometimes its not as straight forward as this, car infront of me had someone pull out doing about literally 10mph, 70mph car hitting a 10mph car decelerates a lot quicker than if he was to brake!! I wasn't even THAT close compared to what is being discussed in this thread (~4 car lengths) and i had no chance at all. person behind me I hadn't noticed as tailgaiting either also had no chance. That was painful

I now drive quite a lot further away and get very nervous as a passenger when others don't lol
 
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