Where exactly is tailgating involved? I see a Peugeot stopping in the middle of the road for no reason causing a major hazard whilst another car (not watching the road) smashed into the back of the recording car.

Edit: Guy is definitely not tailgating the Peugeot. Firstly the guy is easily able to see the brake lights (and he can see over the Peugeot from his cabin) and slows down safely when the Peugeot stops. There's more than a car's distance between them, from the start right down to the impact. I have a 40 min drive to university every day and you'd be lucky to get that much room behind you from someone with a baby on board. That's not counting the fact that the Puegeot is abusing the overtaking lane from the outset.

Guy was tailgating, the Pugeot got tired of it and stopped in protest.

And in the end, caused a 3 car accident and was blamed. Smooth.

I want to see the rest of the video where the back 2 drivers get out and beat the guy who stopped in the fast lane senseless. ;-)
I understand the frustration of having a dickhead tailgate you, but I also understand the frustration of driving in the fast lane only to find someone not even going near the speed limit thinking they own the road and should impede your travel simply because they can. The Pugeot was not passing in the passing lane, he was being passed, so he should have gotten out of the way. That makes HIM the one who is 100% in the wrong from the start, good thing he ended up with the £45k bill, but he should also get a number of tickets if not permanent removal of his license for being so inconsiderately, selfishly dangerous. I wonder if anyone was hurt...if so he should be charged with assault or attempted manslaughter.
"Slower traffic keep right" is a law, not just a suggestion people. They should ticket people for that more often.
EDIT: perhaps it's time to buy a dash cam...it sure paid for itself this time!

There was, and maybe still is, an insurance scam in the US where two cars would surround one (front and back). Guy in back would tailgate and do whatever to distract the mark in the middle, then guy in the front would slam on his brakes.

I'd look at this video and say it was a failed attempt....because the guy in the front claiming the dude with the camera is at fault is sketchy.

They ask, did you feel one bump or two....IE two = guy in middle hits you, then gets hit from behind....clearly a one bump situation there heh.

There's nothing like doing something insanely dangerous to prove a point to other drivers about road safety.

I don't see this video in terms of good or bad guys, more like multiple shades of idiot.

Tail-gating, vigilante justice as a result (though it's totally possible there was a legitimate reason for breaking that fast that we don't know of), and more tail-gating/inattention from behind.

Though my definition of tail-gating is more along the lines of not providing yourself sufficient space to break and avoid a split-second collision rather than "he can see my headlights so I'm good".

Old truck driving high five! Love my 20 year old hilux.

Top gear proved that it is unkillable!

Title is meh. As if tailgating was the issue. What about not pulling to the slow lane when faster traffic is approaching. In the states its been my observation that many drivers dont have a clue about doing this. It hurts my head that anyone would think the issue here is tailgating.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tailgating Tailgating #1 Drinking lots of beer or makin' food in the parking lot before a sports or other large event, (usually football or a concert.)

Are you kidding me? That was massive tail gating. Just because hecould stop in time (because the Peugeot braked very slowly), doesnt mean it wasnt. Check the road markers. Normally at those speeds you need to be able to completely count 22, 23 (say it out loud) from when one marker passes the car in front of you until it arrives at your car. Here you cant even complete 22 half way before the marker reached his car.

The dickhead in the Peugeot is entirely, 100% at fault. I don't give two shits if some arsehole is tailgating you. Here's how you deal with it: change lanes and let the idiot pass you. You don't fucking stop on a highway like that to "teach someone a lesson". What a fucking tool

That isn't tailgating, there is clearly enough space for someone who can and will pull into!

The fisheye camera makes it look like he's got any room, but he's about one car length away from the Peugeot, at freeway speed. That's tailgating.

Correct. Tailgating combined with an inordinate amount of meatbots on their cellular devices divided by an inordinate and ever-increasing amount of people who should not be driving given their lack of ability to do so without endangering lives anyhow because of the fact that THEY NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO FUCKING DRIVE ANYHOW given their lack of awareness/motor skills/etc., makes city roadways of today a very annoying place.

Incorrect, that's not a fish eye camera.
He's more than one car length behind, but not much more than 2, granted, until the Peugeot stops, then he gets closer. At the beginning, he's more than one full road marker behind. Technically perhaps that's still tailgating, but it's considered perfectly normal driving in traffic (in the US anyway)...if you leave that much room in a city, you'll be cut off constantly and never move.
Even if he was tailgating, the proper course of action is to get out of the fast lane if you are slower traffic, not have a tantrum and stop on the freeway in the fast lane causing a likely deadly accident...and you get what you get when you take the law into your own hands. I hope the passenger also sues the Peugeot driver....and he lost his license for at least an extended period if not permanantly.

Uhhh, the sad state of the roads shows driving like this 'Perfectly normal' (whatever that means) and still, it's butt-fuckingly stupid not to mention inconsiderate and dangerous as hell. People that habitually drive in this manner are bags of meat locked-into a dangerous, mindless habit.
Sue,sue,sue...Let's all default continually to feeding the corrupt courts and build-up that slave-machine.

I wish everyone would learn to drive on highways like Germans drive on the Autobahn - the right lane must be used for travel, and the left lane for passing. Or vice verse in this case.

I feel like I can take a middleground on the whole tailgating issue, as a commuting biker I tend to experience both ends of the equation quite regularly and IMHO the problem lies in the extremes in attitude.

On the one hand if you drive/ride a lot and have good confidence in the vehicle and roadcraft in general (frequently the case with professional van and truck divers) it can be extremely frustrating when people don't practice good lane and speed discipline. I don't mean people maintaining a decent pace (it's your problem if you want to go faster than posted limits and they don't) I mean people either:
A. Driving below the posted limit (within reason)
B. Accelerating to speed absurdly slowly or slowing to 2mph to take a corner you could hit at 10-20 comfortably
C. Hogging the outside/passing lane because THEY are going as fast as THEY want to go so why should they speed up or slow down to get out of everybodys way? (C**TS!)

Under the above circumstances I understand why people end up tailgating, in fact I think it happens without much of a conscious effort most of the time. They are going so far below the pace the seems reasonable that you close the gap without realising. Getting to this stage is understandable/inevitable, it's what you do next that defines you as a responsible road user:

A responsible driver/rider at this point backs off, the point has already been made to the driver in front. They know they are going slower than you want to go or that you want to pass in the passing lane they are hogging. Sitting on their bumper is not only dangerous to both of you but it's obnoxious and likely to be counter productive. When you see someone driving too close your natural response is to slow down for safety or simply as a fuck you to the other guy. Even if you were about to get out of their way you might change your mind and think "screw you buddy I got the hint but now your just being rude".

When I back away I find people let me through far more often, wheras in the past when i've just tail gated them like a dick it's got me nothing but two angry motorists (and a hugely elevated chance of an incident). The lorry driver could have left a bigger gap but it didn't look that unreasonable (plus lorries have a hard time gaining speed and are naturally inclined (and taught) to preserve it where possible).

It might not be that unfair to suggest he was antagonising the car infront, but it pales into insignificance compared to...

.....the other side of the equation (which blue peugeot falls squarely into) who are generally IMHO far worse/more dangerous. The one's that adopt an imperious and selfish attitude to speed and road position. "I'm going as fast as I want to go and there's car on the inside that I'll pass in about 30seconds so I'm just going to sit in the outside lane going 2mph faster than slow lane traffic, because why should I have to go to the trouble of changing lanes to let someone else go faster than I want to go!"

Touching the brakes to give a tailgater a shock done properly is fine (I might even go so far as to recommend it) but holy shit! I think it'd be dangerous to scrub more than 1 or 2mph never mind an illegal stop on a dual carageway. Even if there was a mechanical reason for stopping it's still illegal to stop there without pulling off to the side.

Either way 45k in damages feels like pretty just deserts. I dearly hope he got at least a 12 month ban to boot. There's slipping up and then there's premeditated dangerous driving!

I usually try to see things from everybody's perspective when it comes to stuff like this but the Peugot driver is so disproportionately stupid and reckless than I can't really even try to defend him/her. I get why they might have been annoyed but that all became irrelevant the moment they tried to cause an accident!

...and more terrible English in an attempt to attack that which you admit you don't understand...or just to troll me some more. Either way, you need to preview your posts better.
That aside, read by itself there's no telling who's side you're on here, just that you're vitriolic and angry about it.
People that habitually post in this manner are bags of meat locked-into a dangerous, mindless habit.
When someone breaks the law and harms you, the proper course of action is to sue, but of course since I suggested the normal and reasonable course of action you must deride and insult it but offer no alternative suggestion.

personally I think it's the fault of the guy who rammed him in back. Clearly wasn't paying attention as the truck driver had plenty of time to stop, then so did the guy behind him...especially since the ramming occurred many seconds after the truck slowed down.

A few more tickets for failing to keep left would help the traffic no end in my city. Actually, it would probably take a whole lot of tickets...

The guy in the filming car is playing the soundtrack to Dirty Dancing. For this reason, clearly he's in the wrong.

(Seriously though, we needed to see the five or so minutes of footage before this short clip to make any sort of informed decision as to who was the bigger idiot. And it was the THIRD guy, not in the video and who rammed into the other two, who was entirely at fault.)