Queensland police are considering implementing tailgating cameras in a bid to slash the state's growing death toll on the roads.

More than 1600 crashes a year are caused by drivers not keeping a safe distance from the car in front.

Main Roads Department figures show there were 8000 tailgating-related crashes between 2003 and 2008.

More than 6500 hundred people were injured and at least five were killed as a result

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25966063-3102,00.html

Well it is about time. Given that this technology has been available and used successfully in America and Europe for some time, why the hell hasn’t it been brought in here, and nationally not just in one state??

There really is a scant lack of will from the police and federal and state governments when it comes to properly addressing the issue of road safety.

This is reinforced by the fact that the police just do bloody nothing about tailgating, unless perhaps really blatant aggressive tailgating occurs right in front of them. Then they might act one time in a hundred!

They don’t deal with complaints. I’ve made about ten complaints in as many years to the police, regarding the most serious incidents of aggressive and dangerous driving.

One was acted on. The rest went nowhere!! The one that was pursued happened after I submitted the complaint in writing, having initially been very strongly discouraged from lodging a complaint when I went into the Ingham police station straight after the event!

Tailgating cameras sound like a damn good idea to me. They can directly target a prolific dangerous driving practice, compared to speed cameras that target drivers who exceed the limit whether or not it is dangerous to do so in the given circumstances.

So what do others think about the widespread use of cameras in order to greatly reduce the tailgating menace? Or alternatively (or in addition) should there be more police on our roads, in unmarked cars rather than ‘dog’s ballsly’ obvious police cars, a better facilitation of complaints made to police and just an overall much better policing regime when it comes to road safety?

Good thread Ludwig and what a good idea.
You would be aware I share your concerns with road safety.
And specially at road work sites.
If you could spend just a few hours on such a site, observe the speed always averaging 50% over posted limits you would see why I am convinced you have got an answer, one at least that will work.
Consider a truck mounted camera, one that starts taking photos as the right hand indicator is turned on.
At such times you can bet, a last second overtaking maneuver will see cars cross the centerer line.
Cameras in reduced speed zones should not be sign posted, hide them, a life is worth far more than money, use hundreds of them.
Remember those blokes working on road repairs are on their factory floor.
foolish people say why are they always standing on the roadside.
well maybe if they jumped in front of moving cars their IQ would be even lower than those asking the question.
Freedom is one thing bad behavior on the roads can be murder.

You raise some interesting issues, not just driving-related, with this topic, Ludwig.

I have read the news article to which you linked, but it remains unclear to me exactly what you mean by a 'tailgating camera'. Is it intended to be road-side mounted similarly to a speed camera? Or is it something intended to be mounted on all vehicles, as is seemingly suggested in the comments panel to the Courier Mail article by David Plummer of Warwick?

If it is suggested that it be a camera mounted on all vehicles, then an enormous number of 'big brother' issues will be raised with respect to its administration, use and abuse, quite apart from the economic and IT industry implications. Could you be a bit more specific as to how you see such a system being used, Ludwig?

While awaiting a little clarification upon this proposal, I would observe that while I have seen many instances of tailgating by impatient drivers, I have also seen instances of drivers 'tailgating themselves', that is, driving seemingly obliviously to the obstruction they are causing while the obstructed traffic banks up behind them with a concomitant contraction in vehicle separation distances. The latter is particularly common on heavily trafficked multi-lane roads. How do you properly distinguish the real cause of the problem in any specific instance? I grant that some sort of photographic record might help in this respect, if only to get some sort of a handle on who the serial offenders may be with this behaviour, but more details or suggestions please.

Belly rightly mentions the issue of roadworks speed limits being widely ignored. Perhaps the reason for this is that they are seemingly so infrequently policed. Another could be that roadworks speed limit restrictions are left in place at times when absolutely no work is going on at the site in question. A bit like the boy who cried 'wolf', this cavalier use of the restrictions tends to encourage non-observance of the speed restrictions.

I feel removing serial offenders from driving may be the key to resolving this issue.

Blame the politicians, not the Police. If they had the funding they deserve you'd get all your little complaints over your word against another lacking any evidence other than perception handled appropriately. Probably, they already were.

it cant be that hard to make active signs
that record our distance to the lead car...in real time
in colour code...

green if fine

yellow if too close

red if danger...

saying warning
tyr-000...your number has been noticed
your ignition has been disabled
your vehicle moves not one inch till

you either
give me cash/cheque or money-order/securitised asset..or we waste your tuime with beurocratic process and law...under threat of force and or incarceration

1 go directly to distance school
2..do not pass go
or we auto debit as much as we need

because we states need to fundraise..to pay the govt special service govt pension..underwriting sceme..by a factor of 5...for our lord masters...sorry public servants

While tailgating is undoubtedly a dangerous practice, I suspect that it's often a stupid response to someone else's stupid driving. I drive far too many kilometers every year, mostly on secondary "highways" that traverse inland eastern Australia, and I never get tailgated (except at roadworks when I just ignore them) - nor do I taligate anybody else. I don't have accidents or get speeding tickets either.

I usually sit just above the official speed limit, which compensates for speedometer error and takes care of the trucks and B-Doubles. If anybody wants to overtake me, I make it easy for them by staying to the left and even slowing down temporarily when it's safe for them to do so. If I come up behind a slower vehicle, I stay well back and wait until a safe opportunity or overtaking lane arises.

When I'm towing my boat I tend to drive more slowly, and I take care to make it easy for faster drivers to get past me. If I notice that I'm causing traffic to bank up, I'll sometimes pull over and stop for 5 minutes to let them by.

Frequently I encounter some twat who wants to sit 5-10 km/h below the speed limit, but will speed up when an overtaking opportunity or lane presents itself. These seem to fall into two kinds - the grey nomad towing a caravan or the wannabe policeman who thinks it's their civic duty to slow everybody down. There's also the d!ckheads who want to potter along in the right hand lane on motorways, forcing others to overtake on their left. While I wouldn't tailgate such drivers, I bet they are the types who experience tailgating and other road rage behaviour.

Rather than introducing more 'big brother' surveillance and revenue-raising technology, I think that there needs to be greater emphasis on encouraging drivers to be courteous to each other and other road users. I disagree with those who advocate covert policing - I think that nothing is more effective in improving driving behaviour than having lots of brightly coloured police cars on the road.