By A.K. - 27/05/2009 12:40 - United States

Today, I was driving on the highway and a cop had his radar gun out. The woman in front of me panics and slams her brakes on, causing me to rear end her. The cop cited me for "tailgating" and I have to pay for the damages on both of our cars. FML
I agree, your life sucks 54 182
You deserved it 21 105

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Thats the technical definition of tailgating. If you're so close to the other car that in a situation in which the car in front of you suddenly breaks, and you rear end the car in front of you, that would be tailgating. Really, what do you think tailgating is if its not exactly the situation you're in now?

I cant stand people who slam on their brakes whenever they see a cop. Especially when the dudes on the other side of the highway

Comments

ringles 0

It's your fault for not keeping a safe distance.

SomeGuy1234 0

Ah yes incompetent cops suck.

thats what you get for tailgating. if you were a decent amount of space behind her, that would have never happened! ur supposed to have space between the two cars JUST IN CASE someone slams on their breaks. so YDI!

dukewellington 0

you people are all idiots. When you rear end someone, you are always the one at fault. This person should not have been following so closely, maybe now that they have a ticket, they will learn not to follow so closely, and to pay better attention to the road.

#20, actually it's one car-length for every 10mph you're going. Try not rear-ending someone at a car-length distance, while going 65 on the freeway. ;) But yeah, OP you totally deserve it.

#20, I believe, though I am not positive, it's one car length PER 10mph you are traveling. So if he's traveling 30mph, it should be 3 car lengths to the next car.

MrAdventure 1

Brake-check people really piss me off. I've heard the story before, "I'll stop short, and if they hit ME, they'll have to pay for it." While technically true, it inconveniences both people just to prove a point about following too closely. Don't get me wrong, tailgating sucks. I try to be careful, but if I do get too close and have no other options, I don't just focus on the car ahead, I focus on the several cars ahead to get a better idea about what's going on. In your case, that doesn't apply, so...back off!

If you rear end someone, no matter how quickly they stopped, you'll get the ticket. Reason being if you follow the 2 second rule and pay attention, there's NO WAY you can't stop in time unless your car is broken.

dukewellington 0

I guess you're not all idiots. Just the people who disagree with me XD

ja38685 0

Sorry man, I'm no fan of highway cops either (having been pulled over myself less than a week ago), but you were tailgating. However far behind her you were, if you didn't have enough time to avoid her bitch braking then you were tailgating. In New York at least its always the fault of the rear driver.