Arizona using tailgating detection for tickets

Another stupid thing for motorists to get tickets.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1204tailgate1204.html

Conclusive proof? I'm sorry, I don't trust electronics for stuff like that.

Quote

"Tailgating accounts for most of the collisions in the Valley," said DPS Officer Michael Beaudoin, who has written about 100 tickets using the laser in the past year.

"The majority of the reactions I get from drivers are that they don't realize they are tailgating."

Tailgating is not only a cause of accidents, it is also a factor in many road-rage incidents.

Ohh? There is where is comes in. The money that gets generated by new tickets.

What is the legal distance?

The article says something like "following too close." That's bullshit.

I mean I can see why they want people to stop following too close, but to my knowledge, there is not a set "distance" to follow. I'm probably wrong, but oh well.

No no, you're not wrong. I'm currently learning how to drive and the California state driving manual just says not to tailgate and 'don't follow to close', but it doesn't say how many feet you should be from the car in front of you. So how they can pass tickets out is beyond me, because they fail to tell you the legal distance (there much be, what do they consider the cut-off point for legal distance when they check it? Maybe let the drivers in on that trade secret, hmm?)

Tailgating is dangerous, though. But it'd be much better to give a set distance rather than stopping and charging people found to be tailgating. It doesn't teach them anything, they're following what the law says to their own definition. In California, damn near everyone 'tailgates', compared to less dense states (I had some family visiting from Oregon and they said they were amazed about how close the cars here were from each other). The fact that there's no clear cut distance is where the problem lies, people aren't aware they're tailgating because they don't consider it tailgating, and that's why it needs to be specifically defined.

This is the rule I learned and is in effect in a lot of states........

"Two-Second Following Rule:
Watch the car ahead as it passes a certain point such as a sign, pole or tree. Then count "one thousand one, one thousand two." If you pass the same point before you finish the count, you are following too closely and should drop back. This is the twosecond following rule. More distance is necessary at night, in poor road or weather conditions or where visibility is limited.


When merging into a lane in front of another vehicle, make sure that you also allow adequate distance between your vehicle and the vehicle behind you. In this way, if something-ahead causes you to brake suddenly, you increase the likelihood that the vehicle(s) behind you can also safely slow or stop behind you."

http://www.oregon.gov/OSP/PATROL/safety_tip_following_close.shtml

I usually use the Two-Second rule. But I don't want to get stuck behind some one going 55 MPH (speed limit in NY) in the left lane where I'm going 70+ MPH. If your gonna drive slow stay to the right... please.

I routinely go 80 MPH on the parkway in NJ. It is 65 MPH and most people go at that speed. If everyone did a two second rule, no one would be able to pass anyone.

If you go out into PA on Route 80, there is a low-tech version of this already in place, they have big dots in the lanes and your supposed to keep 2 dots between you and the car in front of you, or I suppose they could give you a ticket.