Rant: Tailgating
The above picture is from the state of Florida. I don’t live in Florida, but I felt it was the perfect picture for this post.
I am originally from Southern California. Most people would say that Southern California has the worst drivers, but since I lived there my entire life, I was used to it.
Six months ago I moved to the state of Washington. We live in Seattle’s Eastside. I love it here, but there is one habit that the drivers have that drives me crazy: tailgating. I typically drive the speed limit, or a little faster. If there is more than one lane on a street or highway, I typically drive on the right side so that faster cars can pass. However, here in Washington, drivers tailgate and many refuse to pass.
I live a few miles from the freeway and have to take a two lane road to the house. The speed limit on this street is 35mph and they have been doing construction on this street for a while, making the speed limit 25mph in sections. Many drivers go over 50mph on this street and insist on tailgating anyone that actually follows the law by going the posted speed limit. Keep in mind that this road also sees a lot of wildlife: squirrels, raccoons, and deer (just to name a few). I know that I’m a little bit of a prune when it comes to going the speed limit, but it’s because I’m from California and they pull people over all the time for going over the speed limit. I’ve been pulled over a few times for speeding, so I’m caution because I don’t want any other tickets.
Every day, I encounter at least one tailgater here in Washington. My husband says that he thinks that many of the drivers don’t know that they are doing it. I believe that about some of them, but I think that some of the drivers are just plain rude. My husband tells me to just ignore them, but I am always afraid that they’ll hit me. And, yesterday I saw that tailgating finally did cause a 5 car accident on that same road that I take to get to my house. I don’t think that anyone was hurt, but all the cars had major damage to both their front and back-ends!
So tailgaters – back off! There is a reason that they recommend that you keep at least a full car length between you and the car in front of you. And, maybe, if you’re going a little faster, give yourself a little more distance between you and the car in front of you!
