[Alan Herod]

Originally Posted by roundel

Can we see some stats on all the tailgate related incidents? I can't think of a single impact at a DE that was caused by tailgating. Most are due to car control issues or vision issues if I had to guess.

Probably too serious a post follows: We won't be posting statistics here; but, if the question was, did we have impacts where the tailgating car ran into the tailgatee, that could be up for interpretation. On the other hand there have been several incidents in the lower run groups, generally caused by the student in the lead car driving the mirrors. At least one resulted in serious injury. To that end we do not want students to be focused on their mirrors through technical sections. If you are faster then a leading car through twisty parts and you tailgate to the passing zone, you have lost all your momentum and if you are in a horsepower challenged car, you will loose the ensuing drag race. Instructors need to be watching their mirror/mirrors to ensure that they do not contribute to future problems. I have ridden with students where students have relayed that some instructors are encouraging their student to tailgate through twisty parts.

Procedure - present yourself, back off a respectable distance, and prepare to maintain your momentum when the next passing opportunity presents itself. Repeat as necessary. Why risk being part of someone else's mistake?