Tailgating is simply driving too close to the car in front of you. Tailgating is following too close to another car with the intention to punish the other driver when you think they have wronged you. Anything closer than about one second can reasonably be described as tailgating.

Tailgating is the second leading factor in accidents. It is a discourteous and disrespectful act. Stalking increases the probability of auto accidents, raises the issue of harassment and infringes upon a person’s privacy due to the personal space factor.

There are three domains that are present in tailgating behavior. They involve: the affective domain: a person's feelings, the cognitive domain: a person's thoughts, and the sensorimotor domain: a person's actions.

Tailgating contributes to more than a third of all motorway accidents. Leading causes of tailgating are ignorant, aggressive, impatient, momentary, and deliberate drivers. Some drivers almost ask to be tailgated. This behavior does not excuse the tailgater. They tend to impede others, tensions rise and tailgating results.

Ignorant tailgater in unaware of the danger he is causing and fails to properly understand the need for safe gaps between automobiles. Aggressive tailgater on the other hand uses his vehicle to intimidate. An impatient tailgater simply wants to get ahead of you. It is possible that he has a genuine emergency need. The momentary tailgater is usually a heavy goods vehicle trying to preserve hard won speed. A deliberate tailgater may be an advanced motorist occupying the overtaking position. It is possible for some advanced drivers under some circumstance to close follow with proper awareness of the road ahead of both vehicles.

When you are a victim of tailgating do not in any circumstances try to teach the tailgater a lesson so you will not increase the stress of the situation. Do not gradually slow and accelerate to annoy him into leaving a larger gap. Do not try to slow him down and do not flash your brake lights. Most importantly do not make it difficult for him to overtake and do not drive irregularly in the belief that doing so might persuade him to leave a larger gap.

If you still fail to dislodge a persistent tailgater you must stop or turn off at the next opportunity. In short drive sensibly and dump the tailgater as soon as possible. Do not do anything that you do not fully understand and do not do anything that you are not completely sure about.