'Irritating, intimidating and dangerous': New campaign as tailgating fatalities revealed
Tailgating is when a driver does not leave the proper space between themselves and the vehicle in front of them if it were to suddenly break.
It is a factor in at least one in eight collisions on England's motorways and major A-roads, according to National Highways.
The agency has launched a campaign aimed at tackling the dangerous behaviour.
It highlighted that while 43% of drivers admit to tailgating, 60% say they are anxious when it is done to them.
1:29
The discomfort and anxiety caused by tailgating were also reflected in other common, everyday scenarios - with more than half of respondents saying they felt uncomfortable with people walking behind them on the street or on public transport, or standing directly behind them in a lift.
Sheena Hague, director of road safety at National Highways, said keeping a small distance could save lives.
"Tailgating isn't just irritating; it's intimidating and dangerous," she said.
"Most people wouldn't dream of standing right behind someone in a queue or walking on their heels down the street, yet this is exactly what we see on our roads."
1:56
National Highways says motorists should keep a two-second gap between their car and the vehicle in front of them on dry roads, and four seconds in wet weather.
Drivers caught tailgating in England face a £100 fine and three penalty points.
In the event of a serious collision, they face more serious punishments, such as a driving ban or imprisonment.
Shaun Helmen, chief scientist at the Transport Research Laboratory, said rethinking tailgating as an invasion of personal space might help shift "deeply ingrained driving habits".
"By tapping into the universal discomfort many of us feel around an invasion of our personal space, we're not just advising drivers what to do," he said.
"We're giving them a relatable life experience to help understand the impact of their actions and encouraging a lasting shift towards more mindful and safer driving behaviours."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Escapade Silverstone hotel review: a modern trackside stay
Waking up to the sound of the revving engines of F1 cars just outside the door of your hotel, then sipping your morning coffee while drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris whizz past just metres away from your balcony is the stuff of dreams for motorsport fans. That's the reality of a stay at ultra-modern Escapade Silverstone. Opened in March, the 14-acre Escapade complex sits trackside overlooking a 550-metre stretch of Silverstone Circuit, home of the British Grand Prix, which straddles Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. The hotel comprises a clubhouse with a roof terrace bar, fine-dining restaurant and 60 one- to four-bedroom apartments, many of which offer unparalleled views of the world-famous Maggotts and Becketts corners — some of the fastest and most exciting in the world. If you're a motorsport fan, this is one of the most thrilling hotel experiences out there. This article contains affiliate links that can earn us revenue Score 8/10Guests can choose from three types of modular 'residence', which can be booked as an entire apartment or individual lockable rooms. The Trackside residences come at a premium because they offer sensational views of the circuit from their cantilevered balconies, some of which are as little as 12 metres from the crash barrier. Countryside residences are further away from the track and have calming views across the fields behind; while Dual-Aspect are sited between the Trackside and Countryside residences, and are the only type to have rooftop terraces with panoramic views. But for those guests without Trackside properties, the best views of any circuit action are from the restaurant and rooftop champagne bar, which is open exclusively to hotel guests. • London's top serviced apartments Each apartment is owned by a private landlord, but managed and maintained by the hotel; owners are able to use their property for up to 100 days but many visit less frequently than that. Each comes with its own open-plan kitchen area, lounge, terrace and parking in an air-conditioned garage or car port; bedrooms have an en suite bathroom. In terms of decor, all residences are light-filled, modern and comfortable. They also benefit from wooden floors with underfloor heating and air conditioning. Accessible residences, called Liberty, have lifts from the ground floor and the apartments are suitable for wheelchair users, with lowered kitchen facilities and accessible bathrooms. Cots are available for babies, and games consoles are on hand for older children. • 100 of the Best Places to Stay in the UK Score 8/10During dinner in the Gallery restaurant you will find yourself surrounded by a collection of motor sport-related artworks, with a number of TV screens showing round-the-clock Sky Sports F1. The large dining room has an impressive full-length window offering superb views of the circuit. The chef, Matt Tsistrakis, is an alumnus of London's Savoy hotel, and that expertise was apparent in the modern French menu. Starters include smoked aubergine soup or shellfish bisque; mains include duck and monkfish; while vegetarians have mushroom risotto or beetroot burgers. Kids are well catered for with their own menu that includes the usual bangers and mash and pasta, but also breaded lemon sole or grilled chicken. I chose crispy pork belly with sweet sauce and plum ketchup to start, followed by a beef cheek main that disintegrated under the weight of a fork and melted in the mouth. For dessert, the sticky toffee pudding was delicious but sweet enough to make the head swim; the maitre d' suggested the blood orange soufflé next time, and brought out the accompanying negroni sorbet to try: it was sharp, cleansing stuff. Ask for a red wine recommendation and you may be steered towards the house red, a Baccolo Rosso Corvina, although the wide selection of wines also includes Whispering Angel and Dom Perignon. • Best boutique hotels in the UK Breakfast includes an excellent hot buffet, selection of cold meats, cereals and juices are available, as is filter coffee (£18pp); à la carte dishes and barista-made coffees are extra. Track walks are possible during scheduled slots and the concierge can help to arrange them, as well as booking driving experiences within Silverstone, from doughnutting open-wheeled Caterham roadsters to going flat-out with McLaren supercars on track (from £139; Most guests, though, will make use of the more traditional facilities, including the wellness centre with a 15m indoor swimming pool, which is heated year-round but can feel busy at times, a sauna and a gym, which has a range of Matrix cardio machines, adjustable pulleys and free weights. Spa treatments can also be arranged in advance. • Discover our full guide to the UK Score 7/10Escapade is within the Silverstone Circuit between Towcester and Brackley, officially within Northamptonshire but spilling over into north Buckinghamshire. Milton Keynes Central is the closest station, from where it is a 25-minute taxi ride to the hotel. Better to drive (90 minutes from central London), because each residence has its own garage. You will find upmarket shopping at Bicester Village (30 minutes away by car) and stunning Georgian landscaping at Stowe Gardens (20 minutes away). Price B&B doubles from £250Restaurant mains from £22Accessible YFamily-friendly NDog-friendly N Will Dron was a guest of Escapade Silverstone (
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The next Chinese car giant to break the UK market this year
Another Chinese car maker that you've probably never heard of is bringing its first car to the UK – and it's an electric model. Geely Auto Group, the seventh-largest automaker in China, will debut its brand under its own name on our shores with the arrival of its EX5 SUV towards the end of the year. As Geely Group owns Volvo, Polestar and Lotus, it's no stranger to the British market, but this is the first time it will have its own Geely passenger cars on sale - and marks a significant move in the Chinese powerhouse's rapid global expansion plans. The Zhejiang-based firm says that 'the move begins Geely Auto's commitment to delivering a diverse range of high-quality, accessible vehicles tailored for the UK'. Geely is the latest in a line of Chinese brands that have recently started sales in the UK, including BYD, Omoda and Jaecoo and Xpeng. But for people left confused by the sheer amount of new Chinese cars being launched and how to tell Geely apart from the rest, then here's everything you need to know about Geely and the new EX5 SUV. From fridge parts to EVs... Founded in Taizhou City, in the Zhejiang Province of China, Geely started as a refrigerator parts manufacturer. That was 1986. It was 1997 when Geely joined the automotive sector, wanting to produce affordable cars for those on tight budgets. And in doing so it became China's first privately-owned auto manufacturer. In 2002, Geely entered into China's top 10 automakers, and by 2010 was in a position to acquire Volvo. Taking 100 per cent of the shares of Volvo Car Corporation from Ford, Geely started its Western expansion and quickly snapped up 51 per cent of Lotus in 2017, and 9.69 per cent of Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz owner) in 2018. Thanks to these acquisitions Geely Auto was the first Chinese car brand to sell one million vehicles. In 2024, Geely achieved record-breaking sales of almost 2.2 million vehicles – a 34 per cent year-on-year increase. Sales outside China increased 21 per cent year-on-year, to almost 1.22 million units. And electrified sales grew over 52 per cent to almost 45 per cent of aggregate sales. What we know about EX5 The EX5 is an all-electric C-Segment SUV. In terms of dimensions, it's similar in size to a Nissan Qashqai. It will be sold with the choice of 49.5kWh or 60.2kWh battery. Customers can expect a range of 264 miles from the larger of the two batteries, and 30 to 80 per cent recharge in 20 minutes. It is said to accelerate from 0 to 62mph in 6.6 seconds and produces 215bhp from its single, front-mounted e-motor. Targeting the more affordable end of the market, the EX5 is a rival for the Skoda Elroq and Kia EV3. But it offers - as has become the broader tactic deployed by Chinese car brands - a lot of comfort and tech features for the price, including heated and ventilated massage seats, voice control and a 15.4-inch Tesla-style screen with 13.4-inch head-up display. With 410 litres of boot space and five seats that fold completely flat, the EX5 is a practical and cheap family buy. We don't know pricing yet, but it costs the equivalent of £19,500 in Australia ($40,990) so it's likely to cost between £25,000 and £30,000 here, undercutting the Skoda Elroq (£32k) and the Kia EV3 (around £33k). Geely hasn't confirmed UK specifications yet but has said EX5 will meet regulatory requirements for the UK and 88 other countries, and there are left-hand and right-hand drive versions already on roads across the global market. And Lotus Engineering has been used to assess the chassis and dynamics for the EX5 to tune it for European roads and customer driving styles, so it should drive well. Geely plans for the UK and the rest of the world Sales will start anytime from October to the end of the year (Q4). After that expect a multitude of models to arrive from 2026. Geely is focusing on 'strengthening market share in over 80 countries' which the Chinese maker will do by increasing exports; in 2024 Geely exports rose 53 per cent. Already Geely exceeded its annual export target of 380,000 units last year when it hit 414,552 units. It also promises to 'enhance its channel and aftersales coverage' by opening 300 overseas sales and service outlets. By the end of the year, it's expected to have more than 1,100 outlets worldwide – but the UK is 'one of the key regions for the marque's globalisations plans'.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Citroen owners left stranded over airbag safety risk
An estimated 120,000 motorists in the UK have been left unable to drive their cars after a safety alert over a potentially lethal fault with car giant Stellantis recently said people should stop using versions of the popular Citroen C3 and the related DS3 altogether until they were "stop-drive" instruction came amid growing concerns about the safety of airbags fitted to these models, following a fatal accident in France last month.A number of owners have since told the BBC they face long waits to get their cars fixed. Stellantis said it was "inevitable" that customers would be inconvenienced. Among those affected is Lisa Shackleton from Hull who contacted the BBC via Your Voice, Your BBC News. The 69-year-old owns a 2014 Citroen DS3. She needs it to take her elderly husband to specialist medical has also booked a summer holiday in a cottage a three-hour drive away, to be close to her daughter, who is undergoing chemotherapy. But now she is unsure of how to get there."I've tried to get the car fixed, but as I didn't get to know about the recall soon enough, the earliest it can be done is the end of July," she says."It's booked in at a dealership in York, and that's an hour's drive away."Another motorist told the BBC she had not been able to book her car in for the repair until January next the multi-national firm which owns the Citroen brand, said it was "working to maximise" the number of vehicles it could repair each day, and that priority needed to be given to those with the most urgent needs. Airbag scandal Stop-drive recalls, where owners are told not to use their cars at all due to safety risks, are rare. This one affects all C3 and DS3 models built from 2009-2016, as well as a handful of DS3s produced from 2016-2019. Stellantis said they should not be driven until airbags produced by the now defunct Japanese supplier Takata have been is the latest development in a long-running saga which has led to the recall of an estimated 100 million cars worldwide over the past issue was brought back into focus last month by the death of a motorist in northern France. A 37-year-old woman driving a Citroen C3 was killed after a minor collision in Reims when she was struck by flying metal from a faulty was once one of the world's biggest suppliers of airbags, safety devices which are meant to protect people from impacts when accidents occur. But in 2013 reports began to emerge of people being killed or injured by their products. Explosive chemicals, used to inflate the bags quickly in the event of an accident, were becoming more volatile over time, especially in warm and humid could cause them to explode with too much force, fracturing their metal container, and sending shrapnel into the cabin of the vehicle.A large number of car makers were affected and rapidly responded with a swathe of recalls. However Stellantis, then known as PSA Group prior to a merger with FiatChrysler, said it had been told by Takata that airbags made in its European factories were not affected, and they continued to be fitted in new vehicles as a filed for bankruptcy in 2017, its reputation destroyed by the affair. 'Poor communication' Stellantis said it had only become aware of incidents involving European-made airbags in 2019, and initially believed only cars in hot and humid regions were affected. It began a recall campaign in those April last year the recall was extended across the whole of Europe, but people were still allowed to drive their vehicles while they awaited a C3 and DS3 were already covered by this recall, but following the incident in northern France, Stellantis went further, announcing a stop-drive action across the continent, including in the UK. This took effect on 20 June. Since then, however, dozens of car owners have complained to the BBC of poor communication from Stellantis and mixed, sometimes contradictory, messages from Citroen and DS the sometimes serious disruption caused to car owners' daily lives, Stellantis said it had no plans to provide compensation while adding that it had "mobilised the whole company" to source the number of replacement airbags required.A spokesperson said: "It is inevitable, with such a large number of vehicles affected, that customers will be inconvenienced in the short term."What is not clear is how customers should get their cars to dealerships for the repair work, as they cannot be driven. Industry experts say drivers should check with their insurers before getting behind the company said it was "investigating options of airbag replacement at other sites, in addition to our Citroen network, including at [the owner's] home". Meanwhile in France, the government has told drivers in Corsica and in the country's overseas territories, where the climate is hotter, to stop using any cars of any brand fitted with Takata same instruction applies to vehicles on the French mainland built before 2011. In total, around 2.5 million cars are the UK, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency said it supported Stellantis' decision to issue a stop-drive recall and was working with the company to raise awareness of the issue, but did not currently have any plans to order a wider can find out whether their car is included in the recall here.
