Tailgating is among top five causes of road accidents in the UAE, but still, motorists take it pretty normal as evident from the latest survey by RoadSafetyUAE and QIC Insured. Out of around 1,000 residents, 41% of motorists confessed that they tailgate unmindful of the crash.
“Tailgating is one of the most impolite, irresponsible and reckless behaviors we can observe on our roads pretty much every time we hit the roads,” said Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE. “The majority of UAE motorists recognize the dangers of tailgating, however only 59 percent ‘never’ tailgate,” he said.
“Tailgaters blame slower vehicles in front or their own ‘running late’ for their offensive behavior. There is little empathy for the ones getting tailgated, despite the fact that tailgaters are well aware of the stress and distraction they cause.”
When questioned about the reasons of tailgating, 33% of the participants criticized slow moving cars in front of them, 23% told they do it when they run late, and 10% reported that they do it because they are also tailgated.
“As seen in previous behavior studies conducted by RoadSafetyUAE and QIC Insured, once again the segment of the young drivers had the worst scores: they tailgate others more, they have less empathy with the ones they tailgate and they show the least willing to get out of the way when they get tailgated themselves.”
When asked to people being tailgated, how they feel, 36% told they simply try to move out of the way to hurrying drivers, 25% declared they get panicky, while 9% just don’t care about them.
Edelmann emphasized to know about the reasons of tailgating to tackle this misbehavior properly. The study also highlighted the fact that 43% drivers are not aware of the official safe distance between vehicles, which is an alarming situation for authorities trying to improve the road safety.
Edelmann underlined when drivers were questioned about the advised safe distance between vehicles at 100 km/h, just 24% were accurate in their answer. Surprisingly, 22% believe a distance of ‘one car length’ is enough in such a situation against the recommended two seconds or 56 meters distance.
“UAE motorists, however, see education as the main opportunity to improve the behavior (55 percent), followed by more police presence and enforcement (48 percent), as well as by in-vehicle technology (42 percent) and higher fines (39 percent). Moreover, road safety education should also be focused on the young drivers”, Edelmann added.
If you find someone tailgating you, complain now.