‘Only a fool breaks the two-second rule'

Welcome to the world of tailgating, one of the most dangerous things you can do on the public highway. Very few of us haven't had that Scania (or Iveco/ Transit/Mercedes truck) moment, when all you can see in your rear-view mirror are those words and a giant radiator grille.

But how dangerous is it?

Very, according to the campaigning charity Brake, which says tailgating was a contributory factor in at least 54 deaths in 2006.

Research conducted by Brake amongst 4,500 motorists revealed that drivers who are at work' were most likely to tailgate because of time pressures.

Brake found 61 per cent of motorists driving as part of their work admitted failing to leave the vital two-second gap between them and the vehicle in front. This compared with 40 per cent of other drivers.

The research, which was undertaken with the breakdown and recovery firm Green Flag, also showed 74 per cent of at-work drivers admitted speeding at 80mph or more on motorways, compared with half of other drivers (49 per cent).

More than three-quarters of at-work drivers (77 per cent) admitted driving at 35mph in a 30mph limit, compared with six in 10 other drivers (62 per cent).

Cathy Keeler, head of campaigns for Brake, said: "It's horrifying that so many drivers admit breaking such basic road rules as leaving a two-second gap or sticking to the speed limit, especially when they drive for work.

"Work pressures are no excuse for impatient and aggressive driving. Given the terrible death toll of nine people killed every day on our roads, there can be no room for complacency."

However, despite causing all this trouble on the roads, and the new Department of Transport research that shows that our chance of dying in a road smash is one in 200 - tailgating is NOT against UK law.

Inspector Shaun Cronin of Dorset Police Traffic Unit explained that it was dealt with either as driving without due care and attention or as dangerous driving.

"It happens all the time. Only today as I was driving to work in atrocious weather I had a person behind me driving so close I couldn't even see their headlights," he says.

However, he stressed that dealing with tailgaters relied on the victim driving properly, too.

"It's tempting to slam on your brakes," he said "But you must not do that because it could be dangerous driving in itself.

"What we teach police drivers to do, in any situation, is to give yourself time to react so that whatever happens, you can take the right action to get out of trouble."

So, to deal with tailgating, drivers should slow down and if it's safe, pull into a left-hand lane.

"The best advice is actually very old but it's still as true today," he says.

"When you're driving behind someone at whatever speed, pick a point or object by the side of the road, and as he goes past it, say to yourself Only a fool breaks the two-second rule'.

"If you find yourself going past the object before you've finished saying it, you're too close. It's great advice because it works at all speeds."

British drivers may feel the tailgating heat - a recent petition on the Prime Minister's website attracted 87 signatures to ban the bad road behaviour - but it is a problem all over the world.

The government of Southern Australia launched a blitz after discovering a third of all accidents were rear-end smashes caused, in the main, by tailgating.

Hong-Kong and Singapore take the problem seriously, as does the Department of Transport in Wisconsin USA, which has suitably blunt advice for the tailgater and the tailgatee.

"Tailgating is a common cause for traffic crashes," says the Department. So keep these thoughts in mind:

• As lovely as you may think your vehicle is, the driver in front of you doesn't care to have it fill up his or her entire view in the rear view mirror.

• Tailgating doesn't make the person in front of you drive any faster, and may just get them irritated with you.

• If you must get ahead of the vehicle in front of you, maintain a proper distance and wait for a safe time in which to pass.