Tailgating & Rear Protection - Part 2. Motorcycle Training
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Part 2 of a video that gives riders and drivers some insight into risks from other traffic that come from behind and some possible considerations and techniques to prevent collisions from the rear.
Another excellent video lesson, thank you. Car driving courses that I've done in the past where the Instructor has given a 'Demo' drive have taught me lessons I've never forgotten. I find your method of video teaching, on the bike talking us through the various situations is equally beneficial. Your videos are so much better than a video followed by a lecture type lesson.
@john Biddal thank you for your comments John, much appreciated. Im glad you find the style of teaching useful. Stay safe, all the best
If I only manage to take on 10 per cent of each of your videos at a time, it might make me a better rider. Many, many thanks.
thank you for your comment, im glad these videos are helpful. ride safe.
‘Only a fool breaks the 2 second rule - when it pours make it 4”
More first class insight and instruction. I'm sure this is an area few people think about.
@MGman100 thank you for your kind comment, all the best, ride safe
So true, nobody else is going to look after you out there, you have to look after yourself.
Very good point raised regarding extending the gap a little, especially if cars behind you are not abiding by the 2 second rule.
Thanks again for sharing, just as informative as part 1. We can never stop learning and it’s really hard trying to make safe driving and riding a habit without thinking about it.
Really enjoy your videos and the information is always so clear and easy to understand. I often hear your voice prompting me when out on a ride, please keep them coming. thank you.
@The Sacred Woods thank you for your comment, much appreciated. Im glad they videos are helpful, ride safe
Yet another really good video for old and new riders 👏👏 I never worry about people tailgating me in the car however when I'm on the bike I really do worry especially when I'm on stop. I avoid coming to a complete stop unless I really have too
@Richard Giles thank you Richard, a good practice to ride without stopping! All the best
@@MotorcyclePWR On the contrary I have seen riders even police riders fall off bikes at slow speed or who have stopped at lights and forgot to put their feet down. A mate of mine would always slow too soon and move at a snails pace up to lights in the hope they will change. They wont as they have just changed to RED against him.[ us ] and I am stopped and waiting for him to catch me up?????] As he does he wobble his feeble way forward to to the lights before he has to put is feet down or fall over. There are no points for being a complete idiot. yes at times we can time it right but most times we are holding traffic back and to the annoyance of other drivers.
your reminiscence creates an interesting picture! Naturally you dont want to aggravate drivers behind, but make an intelligent judgement about how and when to slow appropriately. With a good competence in slow speed control technique feeble wobbling shouldn't occur, but I think as with all things, its about finding the balance.
@@MotorcyclePWR Have been driving and riding for more than 60 years so have plenty of experience in dealing with others both as a civilian and a police officer. The safest place for a tailgater is behind..... someone else.
The H.C advises us to allow an apparent overtaker to overtake one and that is good advice. However it doesn't stop people from actually tailgating with no intention of overtaking one. Tailgaters are the most dangerous road users on our highways today as many of them have no idea that what they are doing is wrong. The others do but don't give a shit, about you or anyone else on the road.
They obviously have been instructed that one can be the Thinking Distance behind others as recommended by the DVSA in their handbook Essential skill. As a result of that publication and the training given by some regd. instructors we now have some of the most dangerous road user in the world.
A short wile ago I made a survey of a road out of my town and of some 80 vehicles some 49 of them were Tailgating. By that I mean unable to stop in the distance seen to be clear to the vehicle in front. should that vehicle have come to an immediate halt. According to recent surveys Tailgating is causing the most concern amongst other drivers.
Many thanks for your knowledge
@Wendy Cosh you re very welcome, thank you for watching. all the best
I recently had a gravel lorry chase me down in a average 40 mph (camera) zone, bare in mind I was doing 40 mph safe distance behind another lorry. It got so close it absolutely terrified me, I pulled off at the next turning. I'm definitely investing in a rear camera to add to the front, some people are rotten drivers, there's never any old bill to catch them these days.
Really useful stuff
At about 2.00 you talk about the 2 second rule and that bikes don't need to be closer at any time to the vehicle in front due to their ability to accelerate faster and therefore can make up the ground more quickly. However that flies in the face of ALL teaching of advanced riding. That if a momentum overtake is not on to fall back into the following position and then to move closer to what can be described as the overtaking position before commencing any overtake. The instructors that I know of deem that overtaking position to be about 1 second behInd the vehicle to be overtaken.
So we now by Advanced training throw out all the guff and pretence of any safe 2 second distance for the sake of an overtake and a following distance of only 1 second. Do you think that is right cos I don't. I believe as you have said that we must maintain at LEAST A 2 SECOND GAP AT ALL TIMES and that distance should increase as we ride or drive faster, That is how we were trained in the police service.
If one looks at the table of speeds and stopping distances in the Highway Code S 126 it talks about allowing at least 2 seconds and one will see from the Table that at speeds over 40 mph one gives more than a 2 second rule and at 70 mph its increased to a minimum of 3 seconds.
Anything less than those distances can make one liable to prosecution for tailgating, one of driving without due care and attention or of inconsiderate driving. One does't need to be right up the backside of the car in front a some drivers appear to do and think that its ok to do so. To commit the offence one only has to be considered unable to stop in the distance that one gives ie. anything less than the 2 second rule or the distance tables in the H.C. One can be prosecuted for being say 50 or 60 ft or even 100 ft. behind a car in front if doing 50 mph as one should be driving at least 175 ft or more in terms of the overall stopping distances.
Exactly. And it all depends on the size of the gap to oncoming traffic you are comfortable to execute an overtake. If I stayed back 2 seconds all the time, I;d rarely get to overtake when I know I can. But I agree, when there's no opportunity (or need) to overtake, then its good to drop back to the 2 second distance.
So much enjoy your videos PWR, On this subject, I think you would agree that whenever you stick to the legal speed limit or the two-second rule just about everybody usually ends up overtaking you! (Yes, I've come to terms with this over the years and let them get on with it), I couldn't agree more with the 20mph comment, with today's technology in regards to braking I think 30 is more than safe?
Its easy to judge distances on a video if you can see the vehicle in front passing something and stop the video at that point, note the time in seconds. and then start it again and when we are a passing the same object stop the video again and look to see how many seconds have elapsed between the two stoppages that gives us an idea of the 2 second rule. whether we are obeying it or not. Also if one looks at many central lines on a fast country road over 40 mph which most country roads are they may have hazard lines and they are approximately some 30 ft from one to another. the line pus the gap = 30 ft. . If you stop any video you can count back how many hazards lines there are between the car in front and us. then multiply that by 30 and you will end up with a good distance ie.. 6 hazard lines a t30 ft = 180 ft. and we are doing 50 mph. That' s good as we are recommended to be some 175 ft. behind at that speed by the H.C. but only 3 hazards lines behind at that speed and we are only some 90 ft. behind and we should be double that. If that car brakes unexpectedly and suddenly then we are in the proverbial sh*t so always keep good safe distances. .
@ r craven thank you for your advice here, most helpful. Most people watching videos wont do these calculations, but you are right, if done they can give us the facts as regards speed and distance to put the ting in perspective. All the best
50 MPH and above I prefer to use 3 seconds in place of the 2 second rule. Just with the distance you travel within the thinking distance makes it more sensible at those higher speeds let alone the actual braking distance.
@madcockney thanks for your comment, sensible advice
What should you do if you're stopped at a set of lights and the car behind doesn't look like it's going to stop?
A few times I've flashed my brake lights and considered rolling forward a bit to create some space. But I wonder if rolling forward might look to a distracted driver like you're about to move off and make the situation worse?
@AyseRides Hi, I hope you are still enjoying your biking?
Thank you for your question, its a good one. You are right, if you roll forward a driver might get closer still and put you in a difficult position or keep moving as you say thinking you are moving away. You certainly wouldnt want to get too close to the vehicle in front and be boxed in. Its a bit of a judgement call really, its about assessing the approach speed of the vehicle behind and deciding if he is actually going to stop. If you feel it really is going to hit you try to move somewhere to avoid this. By regularly checking, observing and noting vehicle/driver behaviour you will likely get a feel for what is good, not so good, and what needs your action to stay safe. Im sorry I cant be completely definitive. But, if the vehicle really doesnt look like its is going to stop, move out of his way in any safe way that you can. Ride safe
@Ayserides ..Hi....Good to see you posting on here 👍.
I respect that out host Motorcycle PWR has given best reply. Just some additional thoughts......
I believe your Kawasaki may have Hazard Lights.....
Technically we must only use hazard lights....
(i) When vehicle is stationary, to warn that it is temporarily obstructing traffic or
(ii) On a "motorway or unrestricted dual carriageway" to warn drivers behind you of a hazard or obstruction ahead.
I would rather risk a legal challenge for use of hazards than get hit from behind.....I would be gobsmacked if rearward warning use of hazard lights on a single carrageway road resulted in a prosecution... I would only use them this way in absolute need. (some use them when filtering - genuinely NOT something I would do).
We can also consider a right arm slow signal, (albeit this normally means "I am slowing - you should too) .
As said..Best advice already been given.....if able...Just get the hell out of there !
I would happily jump off the bike if zero escape routes & time allowed for this.
Easier to give advice than it is to act "in the moment" . Rear enders often occur quickly...even with good rear ob's...I have been rear ended in a car....Not much fun... On 2 wheels, likely less fun !
Feel free to consider or disregard my ramblings as you wish.
Ride Safe 👍
@AW8 some great extra advice there, very valuable. Thanks for sharing
@@MotorcyclePWR Tbanks... Glad you ok with same👍
@@AW8UK Given that some cars automatically flash their hazards when braking hard now I'd assume prosecution is not an issue.
Turning right Keep your bike straight
Yes about the 2 second rule if one looks closely at S. 126 of the H.C. you will find words like ALLOW AT LEAST A TWO SECOND GAP between you and the vehicle in front. That means to me that there should be a minimum of 2 seconds and at times it should be MORE THAN TWO SECONDS. If we look at the table of speeds and Stopping Distances we see that it is 2 seconds at 40 mph ie. 120 ft.or thereabouts but at higher speeds its more than two seconds and at 70 mph its a THREE SECOND GAP,. So it should be more than 2 seconds at speeds in excess of 40 mph and the Police have to train to speeds that we should never contemplate doing those higher speeds and thus giving more than a 2 second gap up through 3 to 4 and even 5 seconds sometimes.
I have an issue with the distances given in the H.C for speeds of 20 and 30 mph as at 20 mph with a 2 second gap it should be about 60 ft and not the 40 ft shown and at 30 mph it should be some 90 ft approx. and not the mere 75 ft that is shown. If the Highway Code can't get it right what chance have we?????
Further to complicate matters the DVSA in their Essential Skills always tells us to be that 2 seconds behind and not any more than that 2 seconds. So at faster speeds over 40 mph it means that at 50 mph we should be 50 metres behind which is only 164 ft and not the 175 ft in the H.C. At 60 mph its 60 metres or only 196 ft whereas the H.C recommends some 240 ft.and that's a difference of some 44 ft. or 14 metres approx. and at 70 mph the DVSA recommend a distance of some 70 metres and that is only 230 ft. whereas the H. C. recommend a distance of 315 ft. Now that is a vast difference of some 85 ft. in stopping distance.
All these different stopping distances are just adding further confusion to what we should be doing and the distances that we should give to other vehicles that we are behind. It leads to a situation of disbelief, not knowing what to believe and then apathy an complacency sets in. The stupid thing is that all these contradictions come from the same department dealing in matters of road safety.
I have not mentioned the DVSA 's recommendation that one should at times be only the THINKING DISTANCES behind the vehicle in front as that blows my mind and leads to Tailgating which is one of the most serious and persistent dangers on our roads today.
You're over thinking this. At the end of the day it's about common sense and experience. Ride safe.
@@MGman100 A general response and not of much value. Common sense is an understanding common to most and one has to learn just how to have co and use common sense Its not an ability that one is born with at all. . Just to say that its common sense is nothing like an answer. . Unfortunately there are an awful lot of people out there on our roads that do not have experience or common sense and certainly lack experience particularly when it comes to matters of road safety. They just see and do and that's it to them . That's the reason why we have the Highways Code and laws to help people to understand their responsibilities and motorcycle training to point them into the right direction as to what is right and what is wrong. Of what is safe and of what is dangerous. To have the correct state of mind and to not abuse a system designed not only for their benefit but for the benefit of all.
@ r craven @MGman100 Some interesting comments here, thank you. Stopping distances will always lead to confusion, simply because of the variables and the human ability to assess distance accurately and to add the adjustments of variable data.
To get an exact stopping distance for a given scenario, it would be necessary to know many factors such as the coefficient of friction for grip of the road, the temperatures, the type, temperature, pressures and compound of the tyre, the braking efficiency of the vehicle in question.
Then we add the human element; ability, expected vs unexpected event, driver fatigue or distraction.
So unfortunately, the reality is that we cannot be 100% accurate. I would always regard stopping distances as "best guesstimates", not ideal, but sadly reality. hence why erring on the side of caution is favourable.
All the best
@@MotorcyclePWR Forget all about other to numerous and unquantifiable considerations for a moment First stopping distances were published in the H.C for in 1946, just the year after the end of WW2 and using cars of the 1930.s That said they did not include motorcycles or lorries in that table of stopping distances so it only applied to cars and light vans. The H.C does go on to say that motorcycles do not brake as well as cars do, so that implies that we should give more and not less distances than those shown in their table. As far as i am aware some examinations have been made over the years by ourselves and other countries but niot one has come uo with a different outcome than that of the original.
All I can say is disregard whatever you may think about these historic distances at your peril and just accept them as they will help you protect yourself from danger as and when it appears its ugly head and you need to brake hard to avoid a collision, death or injury. It matters not if you know that your machine will actually brake in less distance than that in the H.C its there for use in the worse case scenario. Until then accept them, learn them, adopt them as they will work well for you. I would ask you adopted them rather than speculate on your bikes ability and also that of your own ability to stop in the event of an emergency. To find out that you were wrong and that they would have been right. Its too late from a hospital bed. or dead.
@@rcraven1013 Crikey....Somebody need a " happy meal" I understand the safety concerns but I feel you are shouting in the wrong arena. Personally I don't ride with a calculator a tape measure or a chart of distances taped to my fuel tank. There are riders out there barrelling into blind corners at max lean...By all means try to catch them on the roads or on youtube albeit I suspect they might not warm to your tone or sentiment.
Ride Safe 🏍
Great videos thanks for posting them. In some when you are on your r1200rt it looks like you have a forward facing videocam/dash cam. Do you? And if so can you tell me what make model it is. I am looking for some forward and rear video on my r1200rt just for insurance purposes etc. Thanks
@Colin Johnston hi colin, thank you for your comments. Yes i do, but its old any always been unreliable. It only had 720p resolution too.
I believe Innov cameras might be worth a look but have no personal experience. All the best
Most instructors will tell you that if you are being tailgated then don't annoy the driver behind but slow a little and give more room to the vehicle in front. That as said allows you more time to see the hazards in front and enables one to brake or slow or avoid accordingly and that is of benefit to the driver behind,.
Its not, its a presumption. I would say that if the driver behind has no knowledge of the danger that he is placing himself and you in then he has little or no knowledge of road safety and of safe stopping distances. If he sees that the vehicles ahead is going away from you he might wonder why you are not going with it. He might overtake and cause you danger or he might even drive closer to you, pushing you to speed up etc. You place yourself now in his hands believing that if we just give more distance to stop or slow in and showing brake lights that he will see us braking but that is abdicating our responsibility. To ourselves and others by putting our safety in the hands of one of the most dangerous drivers on our roads today.
If he is a nuisance and a danger he is that to himself and to all other road users and you should do whatever you can to allow him to overtake you and he will go and you can watch him tailgate someone else. and not you.
@r craven good points, the slowing routine when tailgated really is about creating a lower impact speed if it goes wrong. In reality, it can as you say bring additional hazards. I agree, pull over and get rid of them.
@@MotorcyclePWR It may alleviate one possible danger from the car far out in front of you and the ability to slow more gently and progressively but it still remains that they are a danger behind you and if, no matter how far a car is in the distance its always the surprise that awaits one closer to the front of your vehicle. It could be a car driving out of a nearside junction and just about within your stopping distance [ or not as the case may be ] . You obviously see it and take avoiding action but the moron behind you sees nothing of it and doesn't react to your brake lights as if its an emergency cos he hasn't seen any justification for you braking and he then ploughs into the rear of you.
Another scenario that was not covered in your video is on duel carriageways or motorways where you are driving along with all due care and attention, giving good safe space in front to other vehicles but the problem is the lane next to you where or the next lane the outside one where drivers are travelling faster and definitely closer together and in that lies the problem.
Something un towards could happen in any lane that you are not in and then because of the closeness of traffic and drivers tailgating one another the carnage and domino effect takes over and down they go one after the other, colliding with each other and spreading their carnage all over all three lanes and involving you who was driving as I said with all due care an attention. The initial incident or collision was not you fault, it was something that happened well in front of you and not in you lane but you have now become victim of tailgating and a motorway pile up.
It’s important to remember to start from zero when counting the two seconds!! 😜
Don't forget to say " One...thousand, Two...thousand" 🤪
@@arniet1 Just say this 'Only a fool forgets the two second rule ] That takes two seconds then you have it in one statement. Another simple thing if around town is to be one lamp post behind the vehicle in front. That is sufficient safe distance to stop in at speeds 30 and 40 mph.
Given that car designers seem to be paid by the beep emitted to the driver, you'd think they'd have added a 2 second gap beep by now.
My car does not beep, but does have a visual warning, it screams if too close and will apply the brakes... Quite handy when a cyclist came out between parked cars, the system beat me to the brakes.
I do love your videos on safety but I mostly ride in rush hour traffic all year round and to ride like this your a sitting duck,the builders vans are the worst.Unfortunately on my my ride to and from work I’ll be very aggressive maybe to my detriment.The tailgating is definitely the most scary with no where to go if anything did happen
There are also just Way too many signs on roads which in of themselves create dangerous situations and hazards as drivers try to navigate their brains about those things instead of the road and traffic around them. Our LA's must all just sit on google maps and decide from that how best to make the roads, signs and rules better!
oh how true, my Distractions video mentions this too! Thanks for your comments
I share your dislike for inappropriate speed limits ( as discussed here & elsewhere on this channel).
I have also noticed an increase in excessive placement of solid white lines.
Questionable lower limits & excessive placement of solid lines can increase likelihood of being tailgated.
Less respect or limits & lines may also result in an increase of non-compliance...That arguably becomes more of an issue if the knock on effect is non-compliance of genuinely appropriate restrictions etc.
Thanks for sharing
@AW8 thank you for your comments AW8, yes, i too note your observation about excessive solid whites. I agree that this overuse of limits and lines can breed non compliance, as the motoring public decide that local authorities are attempting road safety on the cheap. This attitude from road authorities does nothing to help road safety as the true causes of road casualties still go unaddressed.... All the best
@@MotorcyclePWR Thanks . We are both on the same page on such matters for sure. Take care.
@@MotorcyclePWR I dont think so. Solid white lines are just part and parcel of the ammunition so to a speak that the L A's have decided is necessary. Looking at a junction or bend that have had some accidents in the past and we see road signage on approach then we may see a slow painted on the road.We also see hazard lines and then if that fails chevrons, recommended speeds etc. Finally after all of this and we are still seeing accidents then we may get solid white lines. So they are just another measure that the LA can use if no one or some road users are irresponsibly not taking heed of what measures have been put in place previously in order to deter road users from committing to what end up as dangerous acts.
What we are now seeing quite a lot of is reduction of speeds on some of our country roads. Down from 60 mph to 40 mph in the hope that it will deter faster speeds etc and to make those roads safer for all. Lets face it on many country roads which in general have a majority of bends and fewer straights . Yes on some straights we may be able to do 60 mph but on the more frequent curves and bends our speeds can be lowered to 40 or 30 or even sometimes 20 mph. It makes sense to reduce the speed down to 40 mph as that enables the maintenance of a more constant speed with less slowing and less acceleration that a 60 mph speed limit enables. That is more fuel efficient and puts less stress on the working parts of a bike the brakes and the chain as an example will wear a lot less with less stresses placed upon them . Plus at 40 mph the basic stopping distance is only 120 ft. compared to a 240 ft. stopping distance at 60 mph. a great difference of some 120 ft. or half the stopping distance of the higher speed.
@r craven thank you for your reply. I see from another comment you too are a retired PO. A few of us around on these biking channels! I understand what you say; indeed in the past I had made reports/recommendations to LA about the need for signage where RTCs were occurring.
The problem as I see and as one of my other retired PO commenters has said is the overuse of such ammunition/tools.
I have always been a stickler for posted limits and solid whites and was always happy in the day to enforce. This is because I could see the sense and necessity. However, these days, I see roads that I know well, have sometimes policed in the past being heavily restricted in places where such restrictions are not in my humble opinion, necessary. Whilst of course I will always comply, many road users dont because they also see them as ridiculous, and the problem with over using rules and enforcement is that reasonable people lose respect for them, whilst unreasonable people ignore them anyway. It seems to me that in the UK we have a very lazy approach to road safety, and the static trend in KSI statistics bears out that we are not improving road safety through the lazy and unimaginative measures that LA's and other agencies are taking.
Maybe this is because there is absolutely no appetite by the powers that be to improve driver training, improve roads policing and have measures in place which educate rather than punish. We have many awful drivers in the UK because there is no real system to produce decent ones or to make awful ones accountable.
All the best,
@@MotorcyclePWR Cant disagree with much of that but to put my own 2 penneth in. If we look into the past our roads structure sucks. If this were a larger country say like France we would have many more straight and long roads and villages and hamlets would be fewer and further between and roads not only longer but wider and the farmers who lose their fields would be recompensed with a new tractor and that's all. Also unlike much of France we have a lot of hills and valleys and our to general topography married with our roads that skirt round farms and uses their old farm tracks as new roads and other land holdings that our roads skirt round instead of going right through them etc. makes our roads a far cry from being safe with all the bends and tightening ones and hills and dales. ups and downs.
Sometimes a bend that tightens up is due to the topography of the land that will not allow any other form of continuous curve to be built but sometimes its due to the history of horse and carriage, of canal and railways building where a turn or bend would start slow and easy and thus allowing whatever is travelling upon it to slow progressively as it tightens up and the vehicle can slow even more. We still have them today on some of our motorway slip roads both coming on and off a motorway.
Its a Highway nightmare. so have some understanding that if many more drivers other than the few that cause trouble and danger and who have accidents,i f many more drivers drove with a greater understanding and with safety in mind and stop being so self centered and selfish then we would not be suffering as we do with too many incidents deaths and injured on our roads today.
I just wonder what the accident stats would be today with nearly 50 million vehicle on our roads and if there had not been a general speed restriction placed upon us in the 1960's.
It would be absolute carnage wouldn't it.
Excellent