Targeting Idiots

Betsy Russell warns us that Idaho law enforcement is going to start targeting aggressive driving. She says

Officers will be going after drivers who speed, drive too fast for conditions, follow too closely, fail to yield right-of-way, pass stop signs and disregard signals. They’ll also target seat belt violators. Now you know.

To which I reply, great idea, but I'm deeply skeptical. I commute from Kuna into Boise daily, and I frequently see Boise and Idaho State Police working the area. Of course, I can't tell what a driver is being stopped for, but usually the police officer has been radar-gunning motorists, so it's probably for speeding.

What I see ALL THE TIME are cops ignoring following too closely, tailgating. I see cops being tailgated, I see cops tailgating, I see cops driving in traffic with cars tailgating other cars all around them.

I follow the 2 second rule. Pick a point. When the car ahead of you passes it, start counting, one thousand one, one thousand two. If you pass the point before you get to two, you're too close. It also works on other cars. Thus, I can say with conviction that I see cops ignore tailgating ALL THE TIME. When cars are zipping along at 65 mph and not separated by even one car length, that's following too closely. I see it ALL THE TIME. I'm guessing that around 50% of cars are following too closely in my daily commute.

Tailgating is a problem because it leads to wrecks. If the person ahead slows down suddenly, for whatever reason, a tailgater won't have time to slow and an accident happens, blocking traffic for hours. Or, a person being tailgated can get angry and a road rage incident occurs. I see that frequently as well.

I drive a sedan in a sea of SUVs and pickups. These vehicles, the pickups especially, are tall, and that puts their headlights pretty much shining directly into my rear view mirror, and of course then into my eyes. When they're 5 feet behind me it is really annoying.

So targeting aggressive driving would be great; there'll be no shortage of offenders. But, I'm not sure the police can really see cars following too closely. They don't seem to. BTW, it'd also be nice if the ITD would use those huge electronic bill boards to tell people not to follow too closely, and to use the 2 second rule.