Tailgating tops list of UK drivers’ on-road peeves, AA poll reveals

A third of drivers are unaware of, or choose to ignore, the two-second rule according to research by AA Accident Assist.

The poll of 13,400 drivers found that tailgating is the behaviour that significantly irritates drivers the most, followed by both middle-lane hogging and talking on the mobile phone while driving.

Women are most irked by a vehicle that is too close to their back bumper, with 34% identifying it as the most irritating driver behaviour compared to 27% of men.

Drivers’ lack of adherence to the two-second distance rule has particularly negative consequences in the winter.

The Highway Code says you should “allow at least a two-second gap between you and the vehicle in front on roads carrying faster-moving traffic”. The two seconds are made up of the time needed for thinking and stopping. And when it’s raining, you need to at least double that gap.

AA Accident Assist data shows that accidents caused by cars driving too close to vehicles in front and failing to stop in time increase by a quarter.

Worse still, more than 10% of rear-end crashes lead to concertina shunts, involving at least three vehicles.

Statistics by the Department of Transport support this finding, showing that a fifth of car drivers are driving unsafely and irresponsibly by ignoring the Highway Code’s two-second rule for a safe distance between cars.

“We’re coming to the time of year where playing fast and loose with a safe distance from the vehicle in front is much more likely to end in disaster,” says Tim Rankin, managing director of AA Accident Assist.

“And if you crash into the back of someone, or hear a vehicle being hit further behind, we now know that there is more than a one in 10 chance that the impact will lead to a shunt down a line of cars.

“Applying the handbrake when stationary is the companion to following the two-second rule. Both prevent needless damage and injury, particularly whiplash, and worse for older and more fragile car occupants.”