Driving the busy highways and byways of some parts of Australia can prove challenging for grey nomads in big rigs … and it’s certainly not made any less stressful by the impatience of other motorists.
The practice that some people have of ‘tailgating’ or driving way too close to the vehicle in front is probably one of the most irritating and nerve-wracking behaviours that caravanners and motorhomers are confronted with.
A couple of mass pile-ups in Victoria has once again sparked police warning about just how dangerous tailgating is.
The rear-end collisions involving a large number of cars and eight hospitalisations — has prompted police to issue motorists a stern warning.
In the first incident on the Mornington Peninsula, a van failed to notice congestion at a roundabout and collided with the ute in front, sending five vehicles smashing into each other and two people to hospital with minor injuries. And, last month a rear-end collision on EastLink claimed seven vehicles, resulting in 29 shocked passengers and six people taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
In the past three years there have been 494 rear-end collisions in Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula. In 2016 there were 21 serious injuries.
Somerville Highway Patrol Senior Sergeant Andrew Brockway said a large percentage of drivers distracted by mobile phones caused rear-end collisions.
He told the Herald-Sun that maintaining a two-second distance between the car in front will “enable you to be able to stop safely”. In the wet, at night or on unsealed roads it should be double that.
The distance travelled in two seconds at 60km/h is 33m, at 100km/h it’s 56m.
Motorists can determine the two-second distance by watching the rear of the vehicle in front pass a particular spot and count the seconds until the front of their vehicle passes that spot. If it’s less than two seconds, they’re travelling too closely and need to drop back.
Come to Bundaberg Qld if you want tailgating.Driven in nearly most towns and cities in most states over many years of travelling, both as a grey nomad towing a big van and a truckie in my working life. Never have I seen driving as bad.I would rather drive thru Penant Hills in Sydney in peak hour than take my chances in Bundaberg.Stevo
leave a gap like that in the main cities and someone cuts in
Let ’em go! Even if 30 cars cut in you you have only lost 60 secs. Definitely not worth worrying about if you feel safe and do not crash your car.
Bad here in Busselton as well. All ages; not just restricted to young ones
Try Hobart, and if you try to change lanes they will speed up and block you.