Time to tackle tailgating drivers

To the Times:

I don’t seem to have a problem wrapping my mind around how road rage is so common an occurrence these days. I wanted to strangle several drivers myself last Sunday as my wife and I were making our way to Kennett Square to see our grandchildren.

Look, I drive the speed limit mostly all the time when conditions allow. I have no need to hike up my insurance bill because of traffic tickets. It seems that on this particular Sunday, I happened upon some crazy tailgaters. Of course, there had to be a hot rod kid with more horses under the hood than he could handle. We were almost bumper to bumper until he passed me on the right side of the road.

What scared me most was a young girl with a cigarette dangling from her mouth who was honking her horn, flashing her high beams, and making threatening gestures behind the wheel of a beat-up truck. There was no shoulder on the side of the road for me to ease on to so that she could pass. You’re right. No local or state cop was around as is usually the case. I asked my wife to pretend that she was calling 911 to alert authorities about this maniac trying to kill us. I pointed to my wife’s cell phone and apparently she got the message and made an unscheduled right turn onto a side road off Baltimore Pike.

I am not any old man out for a Sunday spin driving like a turtle. I obey speed limits, but there are just too many motorists who do not. Tailgating is akin to attempted bodily assault as I see it. It should become second on the list of the most egregious traffic violations, second only to driving under the influence of drugs or booze. Police should publish periodically in local newspapers the full names of motorists ticketed for tailgating. That might help to limit this most dangerous driving practice.