coming soon (tailgating camera)

Next thing they will do is check to see if you have clean underwear on. I ride with a group of motorcycle riders and our distance is 3 seconds apart but if one of the lead riders happens to slow down even for a sec this would reduce the distance to less than 3 seconds, if this was to happen I guess they would ticket many riders as their gap wouldn't be in the specs of this piece of equipment.

If they use that technology they will start writing a lot of tickets. Where ever you go people are tailgating.

You're driving along at the speed limit trying to follow the 2 second rule (and because of the space between the vehicle ahead of you and your vehicle), someone cuts in between your two vehicles taking up the empty safety zone space.

You slow down and drop back trying to set up another safety zone space, but because of the speed of the vehicle that just passed you.. your declining speed, and the drivers behind you seeing a wide gap.. they now zip ahead and occupy what was to become your safety space zone.... which causes the same situation to happen over and over again.

I experimented with that SAME situation once some years ago on the interstate and I found my speed dropping from 70mph to 45. Each time I slowed down to try and create a safety zone space between my vehicle and the one ahead of me others just zipped around me and occupied it.

So I agree with most of the posters here. These units are going to be used as nothing more than hand held money makers. For those of you who agree they're the greatest thing since sliced bread.. "Keep on drinking the government Kool-Aid."

Nuvi1300WTGPS

Isn't technology great

The article says the police had the unit on loan from the manufacturer. I find it hard to believe that the officer had the required training or that the city officials had approved the device. I think a judge would have thrown out the evidence.

I agree with you spokybob.

Amen brother.

Enough with the "Big Brother" eyes.

Just another way for muni's to make more money.

What's 2 seconds distance at 1 MPH?

2.9 feet

I drive on the California freeways all the time and I always see tailgaters. It seems as nobody here observes the 2 second rule for following distance. Many people never learned to drive from a driving school, but rather from friends and family who don't know about the simple rule. I believe that many have not taken the driver's education class in high school because that course has simply disappeared from the school's curriculum and that many learned to drive from foreign countries where tailgating is common. I know many rear end collisions occur because of the tailgating I support the technology if it used here and I hope it does.

Seems to me you have all the same problems we have here, the only difference here is the cops don't wear guns, If I get pulled over atleast I wont get shot, the rest seems the same.

interesting

You have better lamb. And a better rugby team.

The 2 second rule is impossible in the DC/Baltimore area. As posted above, try to maintain that distance and you will eb cut off continuosly.

I try and maintain 3 seconds between my vehicle and the one in front of me. And, I tend to drive more and more in the right hand (slow) lane. Not many people want to drive in the slow lane anymore unless they are about to exit, so I do not have much trouble having a distance buffer in front of me.

I do, however, get frustrated because of tailgaters behind me. I think the day is coming when automobiles will have sensors that will warn the driver when the car is too close to the one in front. Maybe this will help people back off (or go around).

Wow, I never would've expected this. What's next? Cameras to spot drivers using cellphones? What about cameras to spot people smoking in their cars with young children on board?

It will never work during rush hour in any major city as you never have 2 seconds (let alone 1 second). Add to that the way people slow down when they see a cop (even when going the speed limit) and you add another dimension. Bad news...

It's a revenue issue nothing else. 2 seconds is to prevent a collision with the vehicle in front. The 2 seconds is meant to be violated in a hard brake situation of the vehicle in front, the 2 seconds gives you time to react. Now they don't want you to violate 2 seconds ever, effectively doubling the distance they want you to follow so that 2 seconds is never violated, that is totally absurd, and could probably be effectively argued in court.

Nothing but a money maker.

With the ebb and flow of normal traffic, we all are going to be following too closely at some point.

NOT

People here in Edmonton tailgate a lot but I have noticed that doesn't happen as much anymore. With the roads in such rotten shape you need that warning distance to prevent your car falling into one of the killer potholes. I guess if they didn't pave the roads then people wouldn't speed as well. Maybe we should all go back to dirt roads and Model T's. That will solve the speed problem!!

Bob

like in Vermont?

They're better than the (once) paved roads here!

Sounds more like an "orifice" than an officer to me....

There is a silver lining to cameras doing all sorts of things. If we completely replace the duties of the police officers on the road, we can get rid of those pesky police cruisers. I like all these stupid cameras if they can actually replace the policemen.

What a great can of worms they want to open.

In the article example, if Wall Ave has a 40mph speed limit, a 2 second distance is 117 ft. He got a ticket for 1.2 sec distance, which would mean 70 ft. Roughly a Tractor-Trailer length in urban/suburban traffic.

Since we are talking about technology enforcing the letter of the law here, one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand doesn't cut it anymore. To be in violation at 40 mph you only need be off by 5.8 feet (1.9 vs 2.0 sec).

Do we really need to go down this path for the sake of safety, or might there be other motivation?

More garbage-in.

Many years ago, when I lived in Minnesota, there was a movement to encourage one to have a single white light mounted on the front of your car. The light was always on. The idea was to make your car more easily identified to on coming traffic and pedestrians at times when normal headlights were not on.

I think the movement came from traffic studies of Greyhound buses who always drove with their lights on.

Now, many cars have automatic headlights on when they start their cars -- like my Matrix. A good safety feature.

At the same time, there appeared in the back windows of many vehicles a two light, low intensity bar, of a red and a yellow light. When your foot was on the accelerator both lights were out. When your brakes were applied, the red light was lit. When your foot was off the gas (and you were in motion), but not on the brake (coasting), the yellow light was lit.

The yellow light was the important one for it gave a signal to the car following that you were slowing down 'slowly' (not breaking) and would alert them ahead of time for your possible breaking. It was believed that this greatly helped avoid tailgating collisions.

However, this apparently didn't catch on and has quietly disappeared. IMMH I think this is a good idea. Certainly much better than someone applying their brakes to send a signal to the tailgater -- in effect being responsible for closing the distance gap more than it was.

As was stated, in the D.C. area where the standard for what seems to be the majority of the drivers is to constantly change lanes to acquire a better position, people seem to protect the space in front of them by moving closer to the car ahead. Usually you can watch those multi time lane changers who eek ahead of you and find that miles later, they have not advanced at all and are abreast of you. That will give you your smile for the day.

But worse is in some parts of Florida, where cars will pass on your right side using the sholder of the road to get in front of you -- kicking up dirt, dust and stones.

Oh, for a perfect world.

Amish buggy driver