Safe Speed Forums

The Arizona driver's license manual cautions motorists to keep at least two seconds between their vehicle and the one in front of them. That's supposed to allow enough time to react if the front driver slams on the brakes.

Beaudoin said he regularly targets cars with less than a second of distance between them.

"I've seen people at 0.04 seconds. That is less than half a second," he said.

Beaudoin said he sets the gun to measure the distance from his position to the center of a traffic lane. When two cars pass that location, he uses the gun to track the speed of both vehicles and calculate the distance between them.

For Beaudoin, that means two seconds in typical driving conditions.

Worse still, this system will not account for drivers cutting in front of others...

to the absolute maniacs who obviously own the road...

If you want to drive slow, fine...just get the hell out of my way

I think 'this system' can, since it appears to include a human operator.

Let's hope you're right, but what about drivers in front who brake (like drivers do when spotting cameras) - how would the operator know this?

If I was enforcing tailgating, there would have be evidence of a 'continuing offence'. I'd want to ensure that I could observe the driving over a good few hundred yards.

Oregon launches tool to crack down on tailgating



State is first in U.S. to use system

By SARAH SKIDMORE
Associated Press writer

PORTLAND — Drivers who follow too close are more than annoying, they are unsafe.


The Oregon Department of Transportation said tailgating has become the leading factor in crashes in the state. But now Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico and Tennessee are trying a new tool to curb the problem.

Using an upgraded laser, typically used to measure speed, police can now pinpoint the distance between cars. The technology has been used for years in Hong Kong, Australia and parts of Europe but wasn’t available until recently in the United States.

“We know it happens a lot more (than is ticketed),’’ said Steve Vitolo, program manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Safety Division. “Police have a reluctance to cite and judges to commit, because (the measurement) is very subjective.’’

Police target the first car’s bumper and then the second car’s — measuring the traveling speed and distance between the cars. The upgrade costs $600 and $700 per laser, according to the company that creates them.

Oregon was the first to use the tool, starting its trial last year. A Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office sergeant heard about it being used overseas and approached the company about trialing it in the United States.

It is now being used in Portland, Gresham, Clackamas, Salem, Grants Pass and Lane County, Vitolo said. Oregon has roughly 4,000 convictions a year of drivers who follow too closely. The general rule for drivers in Oregon is to allow two seconds of travel time between each car.

No information was available on how many had been made with the new laser.

“I don’t think I was hesitant (before) when there was a violation,’’ said Dept. Adam Phillips with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office. “But I feel like I am more likely to succeed in a court setting if there is a violation.’’

Arizona, New Mexico and Tennessee followed Oregon’s lead, launching trials in their states within the past year.

The laser is made by Colorado-based Laser Technology Inc., which said it is rolling the product out slowly to allow for proper training and introduction to the courts.

Because the technology is so new, the company said any area that wants to use it must agree to allow them to present the technology to the judges and prosecutors there first, as an introduction. The results from the laser have been challenged in court only once, in Arizona, and the company said the technology was upheld.

If the courts continue to accept its results, the company said it may roll it out more aggressively in the future.

Police groups have embraced the concept.

“Technology is how we are going to solve these problems,’’ said Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Association. “We’ve seen that with speed cameras, red light cameras and other technology.’’

Adkins said new technology always comes at a cost, so don’t expect to see it nationwide immediately.

No doubt (which is why I initially assumed it was going do be done from a moving patrol car), but now we're relying on operator judgement which can be fooled by relative lateral movement between the two vehicles (as well as the dodgyscope). I would be really impressed if such a system would allow two separate measurements, but I doubt it.

If I was designing a tailgating camera, I'd put continuous video on an overbridge, filming traffic over at least 600 yards of approach, then measure the gap between vehicles with a 'break beam' device. One practical installation for the 'break beam device' would be to have a reflective pad on the road surface and Rx and Tx firing vertically from the overbridge adjacent to one another.

I don't believe that it is necessary to measure speed to establish tailgating with video evidence and a time measurement of the intervehicle gap.

Motorcycle Roadcraft specifically discusses the "overtake position" which equates to a 1 sec following distance.

Is there the same advice in the equivalent the motorists Roadcraft?

They are ever so shy of defining 'the overtaking position'. In fact I can't recall a definition from Motorcycle Roadcraft either.