Your safety depends on which state you reside in

The phrase that is being used for research purposes is called “following too closely”. This is a desription of a careless driver that intentionally follows another driver too close and absolutely ignores the consequences of his/her doing so. There is one reason that drivers in certain states in America do it – they are legally permitted to hover right behind you. The law does not prevent them.

This generally isn’t considered a traffic violation in most states. While you have taken every precaution to be a safe, law-abiding, caring citizen behind the wheel, more frequently agressive drivers are driving in a wreckless manner. Sometimes a driver in addition will honk the horn as if they have every right to do so. Is this behavior acceptable?

My question is this. Isn’t this a major form of harassment? If it is not, why is it not? Following too closely behind another vehicle is by any standards of driving considered to be unsafe, while endangering the safety of your own passengers as well as of those in the other vehicle. It can be determined to be wreckless driving and is as dangerous as someone speeding. Because you are distracting the driver(s) near you.

So what are your legal rights as a driver when being harassed as such by a bully following you? Well, that depends on the state that you live in. Some states have Agressive Driving Laws which protect innocent drivers, while the other states literally turn a blind eye.

In the meantime, an officer can write you up for speeding even though you have harmed no other soul. It has become politically expedient for them to do so and politically popular. But if their job is truly to protect the public from harm, then that duty is not being fulfilled.

States that have such laws against agressive drivers are: Arizonia, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, and Virginia.

If you live in the other states you are basically on your own. The state cop has to witness the agressive driver in action in order to prosecute. Good luck with that one.