Tailgating Campaign

Motorists who drive too close to the car in front have been the target of a campaign to reduce the number of collisions and injuries caused by ‘tailgating’.

Brett Dixon, president of APIL, said: “Some injuries and subsequent insurance claims could easily be avoided if drivers backed off and left a bit more room.

“Driving too close, or ‘tailgating’, is a bad habit of which many drivers are guilty. It is incredibly dangerous as well as antisocial, and can be really intimidating for other drivers.

“When in traffic, drivers are advised to leave enough space so that they can see the tarmac between their car and the car in front.

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“In the UK we have 50% more traffic per kilometre than the European average. This, coupled with bad driving habits can cause needless collisions and injuries which should have been avoided.”

The campaign is supported by the insurer LV= (Liverpool Victoria).

Martin Milliner, LV= director of claims, said: “On a regular basis we see claims coming through that could have easily been avoided if only drivers had adopted a safer approach.

“With tailgating in particular, many of us have probably found ourselves in a situation where we might perhaps have been driving too close to the car in front, or the car behind has been too close to your boot.

“Encouraging drivers to stop doing this and getting them to ‘back off’ is something we believe is very important and we welcome APIL’s campaign.”