I've complained off and on about the excessive focus on speeding and the excessive punishments for DWI. Despite what some might think of me, I do think some laws should be enforced, and in some cases more vigorously.
The biggest one that stands out in my mind is "Following Too Close," a violation of section 1129(a) of the Vehicle and Traffic Law of the State of New York. This used to be commonly known as "tailgating," but that term has been taken over for parties in parking lots of football games.
Here's what I know as a traffic lawyer and a personal injury lawyer: following too close is the most common cause of traffic accidents. You will often read statistics that say speed is a factor in some large percentage of accidents. Baloney. I was a trial lawyer for one of the largest auto insurers for over three years, then law clerk to a judge handling a number of car accident cases, and now have my own practice where I still handle car accident cases.
We do see accident cases where speed is a factor, and even some where speed is a major factor. But in most cases it's not a factor at all. You could get into semantics and say that if someone was driving slower the accident wouldn't have happened, but you could also say it wouldn't have happened if he stayed home that day, or if he'd been driving faster as he would have been further down the road and would not have encountered the other car at that intersection. Well, hopefully you get the idea.
Following too close is the cause of many, many accidents. I see people doing it all the time. But I rarely get cases where someone is charged with following too close. Why? I don't really know. Maybe if a police officer reads this blog he can explain.
I have my guesses. For one, speeding tickets are politically popular, so there's pressure on patrol officers to write speeding tickets. The government spends lots of money on radar, lasers, and related equipment so they have to justify the spending. It's easy to write speeding tickets. Just sit in a U-turn on an interstate and you can write tickets all day long.
Then there's the punishment side. Following too close is a 4-point ticket with a fairly low fine (I think total is under $200), and under Insurance Law 2335, one such offense cannot affect your insurance rates. By comparison, a speed of 16 mph over the limit has a max fine of $355, also four points, and can raise your rates (probably 30% a year for 3 years). At 21 mph over the limit it's six points $655 total, and the same problem with insurance.
Just my personal opinion, but going 86 in a 65 on an empty interstate is far less dangerous than the guy who was tailgating me this morning, one car length behind me at about 50 mph (hey, there was traffic - I really couldn't go faster). He was driving a beat-up car and I'm driving my ubervagen (Audi A4 Avant). My car does 70-0 in about 170 feet. His car probably takes over 200 feet.
As an aside, don't tailgate the Corvette Z06 -- they've got awesome brakes - I think it's 70-0 in 140 feet. I read Car and Driver, so I know such things. And I stayed at a Holiday Inn once too. :-)
I really don't think it would be that difficult for police to enforce 1129(a) of the V&T Law, and I wish they'd do it more. I do like getting paid to handle all these speeding ticket, but I'd like to be safer and some enforcement on this issue might actually make a difference.
Friday, December 22, 2006
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12 comments:
the cops and the government does not ... i repeat.. does not want you to know the law. this is big money.drivers manuals do not include many driving laws, such as keeping your windows free of crap or nothing on your mirrors, or having your drivers window operational, or college stickers on rear window, etc. etc.
Finally someone exposed the real problem out there on the roads. Following too close is a huge problem and my experience shows most of the time its committed by young girls in small cars, thats probably not relavent but is more FYI than anything. Your 100% correct about the police not recognizing or attempting to deal with the problem. I got tagged by a tailgater recently and when I slowed down and pulled over to let the moron by, a Sheriff Deputy pulled in behind me and wanted to know if I had been drinking. I told him what was going on and he had to be a witness to it but, after explaining he just got back in his car and left. Thanks for a great blog, I for one appreciate it.
From my experience in Delaware, 75% or more are speeding so you could safely say speeding was a factor in most accidents. Maybe not the biggest factor, but they were probably speeding.
I stopped speeding January 1, I mean really, 55mph on the interstate where 55, 25 in a 25, 35 in a 35 etc. Before I did this I never realized how bad tailgaiting was. I am tailgated like crazy now. 2/3 of the drivers tailgate me. I can't possible pull over everytime someone does this. I agree police should enforce this law.
It's one of the problems, but not a major one. One of the major ones I see from NYC streets is those old people don't know where they are going or what they are doing, or someone driving at 45MPH in the fast lane on a major highway thus those who follow at greater speed, have to seek ways out. In response to the FTC tickets in NYS, I think it's complete BS, my cousin just got one few days ago while exiting the highway. He wasn't following someone, but the person in front of him in the left lane suddently made the lane change to make the exit and my cousin couldn't slam on the brakes because there were cars following him. Cop tagged my cousin with the FTC ticket but not the other person for unsafe lane change. IMO, I don't think cops these days are doing their job properly because they don't have the correct judgement, NYPD is full of power hungry retards, and all they want to do is giving out profitable tickets instead of keeping local streets safe and sound.
I couldn't agree with you anymore...
It is too bad that you have no idea what you are talking about. "Following too close" worse than DWI?
How many accidental deaths have you encountered among your clients from "following too close" versus DWI?
I didn't say following too close was worse than DWI. But yes, following too close can be fatal. It depends on the circumstances, but a good example is when a very large vehicle like a tractor-trailer tailgates a much smaller vehicle.
The one accident fatality that stands out from my experience involved a dump truck that crossed over the centerline, killing the driver of the SUV he hit. There was no alcohol involved.
The other way following too close causes serious accidents is not from the rear-end collision, but from the attempt to avoid that collision causing something worse (like a head-on or hitting a pedestrian).
I'm a cop who stumbled upon your blog post as I was researching common causes of traffic crashes. While it is "common knowledge" among many in LE that Following Too Close (FTC) is the most common, I wanted to confirm this. Generally, my impression is that FTC, Failure to Maintain Safe Lookout, and Failure to Yield, are each represented significantly. My impression of this comes from working crashes for over 15 years and these were the most common.
Of the most SERIOUS wrecks, (e.g. fatality, serious injury, or both) the most common factors seemed to be DUI, Excessive Speed, and Driver Fatigue, or very often a deadly combination of all three. Road design is also a significant factor, as two-lane undivided tends to put one into opposing traffic more so than, for instance, a four-lane divided highway.
I can speak only for myself as an individual officer, but I like to catch Tailgaters (FTC) and write them a citation. It is something that is often easy to spot. It is a common cause of wrecks.
People often "fight the ticket" and they often win when they do so. The infraction is seen as so minor by the Courts that when a Defendant takes the trouble to take off work to appear in Court, the Judge will go ahead and dismiss the ticket... and give me a dirty look.
Not to mention... if you go out and write cites for minor infractions, you quickly get a reputation for being an officious jerk.
Still... my view has always been that I get paid to enforce ALL the laws. Someone can always be polite and pleasant enough to be given a warning. However, enforcement DOES change behavior and preventing accidents should be more important than one's desire to be well liked. I didn't sign on to be a cop to win any popularity contests.
ME? I cite for FTC. But other guys (and gals) don't tend to because they don't want to write minor infractions, they don't want to be thought of more badly than they already are as a cop, and they don't want to be in Court on their off-day only to lose and get dirty looks from the Judge.
Hope this helps. Happy Motoring. Remember... One car length for every ten miles an hour! :D
Thank you all for your comments and thanks for including the "One car length for every ten miles an hour" information.
I was yelled at this morning for tailgating under 25mph (one traffic light to the next). Is there a rule of thumb to follow for traffic lights? Should a driver wait for a car lenght in front before stepping of the brakes once the light turns green?
I don't think there's a different rule of thumb. One car length per 10 mph should still apply. Your suggestion of waiting a car length is not a bad idea. My vague memory of drivers ed is that you should be almost a car length behind at a traffic light when you're stopped -- you should be able to see the bottom of the rear tires of the car in front of you.
Think about it another way - is it really going to get you there any faster? You can lag more than the rule of thumb and you'll usually get there in the same amount of time.
Excellent article - I totally agree with you, but there are few people that think rationally as you do. People crash because they hit another car. Speeding down an empty freeway is minimally dangerous.
I would love to see an aggressive enforcement campaign of flagrant aggressive driving -- just have cars with cameras that patrol the freeway, and with extreme tailgaiting or, say, 5 lane violations in a 1 minute period, etc., mail the person a ticket. More effective IMHO than speed cameras, "sobriety checkpoints" or other big brother-type enforcement.
I like the last suggestion, except for the "mail the ticket" part. That won't work in NY generally, though I suppose they could pass another law. Usually the police have to hand you the ticket.
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