Watch: How tailgating has caused severe accidents in Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi: Motorists must avoid tailgating, and maintain a safe following distance from the vehicle ahead of them in order to avoid severe accidents, the Abu Dhabi Police has warned motorists.

The authority released a video clip to demonstrate the hazards of tailgating. The clip shows a dark-coloured sedan closely following a silver sedan on the leftmost lane of the road. The vehicle then collides with the silver sedan, and the force of the impact causes both cars to skid across three lanes to the median. The vehicles crash into the median railing, causing other vehicles to slow down to avoid the wreckage.

Penalties

The police released the clip as part of its Your Comment programme, which releases regular clips of actual accidents to discourage reckless driving behaviours.

In Abu Dhabi, tailgating is penalised with a Dh400 fine, and four traffic black points. The vehicle is also impounded, and motorists must pay a Dh5,000 release fee within three months of the offence.

The penalties for tailgating are detailed in Abu Dhabi’s Law No. 5 of 2020 regarding vehicle impoundment.

Severe accidents

The Abu Dhabi Police has previously said that it has imposed the stiff penalty because tailgating is one of the major contributors to severe traffic accidents in the emirate.

Motorists often engage in the practice to induce vehicles ahead to clear the path. Some motorists also adopt other reckless behaviours while tailgating that can be seen as harassment, such as honking repeatedly or flashing full beam headlights in a distracting manner.