Tailgating – or following the car in front of you too closely – is one of the leading causes of car accidents in the United States. Most of us have experienced someone tailgating us at some point in time. When you look in your mirror and you feel like the car behind you is too close for comfort then they are probably guilty of tailgating. Sometimes people tailgate because they are simply not paying attention to how closely they are following you. Other times people do it intentionally because they are in a hurry and they think they can speed you up by riding your bumper. Either way, it is a very dangerous practice and can be the cause of a catastrophic car accident –especially if you are traveling at a high rate of speed, says car accident attorney Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates.

Studies tell us that the average car can slow down or stop at the rate of about 15 feet per second if traveling at 60 m.p.h. Obviously the velocity slows as the car slows so the bottom line is that it takes the average car about six seconds to come to a complete stop if it started out traveling at 60 m.p.h. If you stop and count out six seconds, that is a long time if you are trying to react to a potential accident. Most people also need a full second to react to the fact that an accident is about to happen. What this means is that if someone is following right behind you on the highway, then there is no way that they can stop in time to prevent hitting you if you are forced to slam on your brakes. Even in slower moving city traffic, the reaction and stopping time needed to prevent an accident can be much longer than most people realize, says Santa Barbara car accident attorney Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates. In city traffic, people tend to think that they will notice a potential danger ahead of them and have plenty of time to stop even if they are right behind the car in front of them. Accident statistics, however, tell us otherwise. Rear-end collisions accounted for almost 30% of all collisions in the United States for the year 2006. That means that almost one-third of all collisions were a result of a rear-end collision!

The best way to prevent rear-end collisions is to make sure that you keep plenty of room between you and the car in front of you. If you feel that someone is tailgating you, then make every effort to get out of their way and let them pass you. If you have been the victim of a tailgating accident, then you may be entitled to compensation for any injuries that you received as a result of the accident. A driver that was tailgating is a negligent driver and will be responsible for any injuries caused by that negligence.

If you would like a free detailed evaluation of your potential car accident case you must see an experienced car accident attorney. There are various car accident attorneys around California, feel free to drop by and seek for a legal advice.