E

EIGHTY kilometres from home on the final leg of a three-week 7,000km roadtrip taking in unrestricted Autobahn routes, nine Alpine passes, a few busy Italian cities and London’s M25 only to encounter the most dangerous leg of the journey – from Adare to Newcastlewest. Not a dangerous road but a dangerous driver. We all encounter stupid on the road and sometimes we do stupid and generally we can accept stupid as a one-off act but being stupid for a longer period of time is unacceptable.

On leaving the town of Adare I noticed in my rear-view mirror a young lady in a red VW Golf approach quite rapidly behind me. Bear in mind my journey to date and that home is close, I wasn’t hanging about. There was a long line of traffic entering Adare. An overtaking opportunity for her was greatly reduced.

She couldn’t set up an overtaking manoeuvre but she was still closing quickly until she reached the point that I was unable to see her car's headlights in my rear-view mirror. There are rules around this but I have a simple one, if I can’t see the number plate of the following car in my rear-view mirror, that car is in my space. Now we have a problem – she had well and truly entered my space. Standing in line for a rock concert, uncomfortable – 100kph in a car, absolutely looking to pick a fight. However I’m not that type of guy (on this occasion) so I slowed enough to let her pass when the opportunity presented itself.

A quick check in the mirror, she doesn’t seize the opportunity – in fact, she is looking to her left and appears to be texting. She is now driving her car using peripheral vision and my bumper as her reference. Now I am concerned, again I can’t see the headlights, that is how close she is. Her sixth sense has well and truly captured my attention.

My first attempt at creating distance didn’t work, so now I put another car between us. This only worked for a moment as that car pulled in. Maybe I should do the same but I just want to get home. However I tried it again on two more occasions but she followed on both and resumed tailgating.

On my last attempt to put distance, she races up to my bumper, this time drinking from a coffee cup and again looking to her left and still appears to be texting. For a brief moment when she looked out the windscreen I seized the opportunity to signal my concerns. A tip on the brake pedal – enough to engage the brake lights but not to slow my progress.

Her reaction caused her to spill the contents of her coffee cup on herself and drop her phone. Putting aside my fear of a potential accident I am impressed at her ability to multitask; tailgate, text and take on refreshments, all at 100kph.

Unfortunately this spillage has given her something else to do while tailgating and texting. However once all cleaned up, normal activities resume, back to texting and, oh yes, tailgating. I am impressed.

Newcastlewest only a few kilometres away; on safety grounds it may be time to concede and pull over. Thankfully on entering the first roundabout she took the first exit and removed herself from our route.

The sense of relief that this short, but potentially dangerous, journey was over, but it is only beginning for someone else. This person is a danger to herself and other road users and there is only one outcome and it is a serious accident. And it will happen, statistics prove it. Be safe on the roads – DON’T TAILGATE – FOR YOUR OWN SAKE…

On a final note, in an accident tailgaters are 100% liable no matter what the circumstances – period.