On Oct 13, 12:57*am, John Williamson
wrote:

Tailgating is *always* the fault of the driver in the rear. As is a
shunt caused by it. Where I work, if you shunt into another vehicle from
its rear, it's an automatic disciplinary hearing, and, very likely, the
sack, or at the very least, a session with a very annoyed driving intructor.

I'd agree with tailgating (as a continuous verb), however there are
plenty of ways to get caught from the front on a motorway with heavy
traffic. If another driver cuts in ahead, you're in a position where
you are now "tailgating" unwittingly. The action to take next is
generally agreed to be to slow down and allow the appropriate gap to
re-open. However that itself takes time. You can't do this by heavy
braking, because the likelihood is that there's another idiot right
behind and tailgating you. It's considered as impolite to slam into
their front bumper as it is to go into the rear of the one ahead. If
(as is not entirely unlikely) this takes place in several lanes of
heavy traffic, all far too close together, then a shunt ahead can take
all four of you in one go, even after one driver in the middle driving
pretty much blamelessly.