Column: Spare a thought for others - and leave some space

My personal number one is being forced to spend an unreasonable amount of time staring at the rearview mirror due to another road user being within what seems a matter of inches away from my bumper.

Before passing my test I thought this type of behaviour was strictly limited to boy racers who sped around in souped-up cars.

While that is regularly the case, it’s by no means a hard and fast rule.

From my experience, anyone from a van driver to a parent running late for an early morning school run can be guilty of it.

The most infuriating thing for me is how little consideration these people have for the rest of us on the road.

All it takes is for one vehicle ahead to brake sharply and the wacky racer behind me will be getting a much closer inspection of my rear registration plate than they would like.

Unfortunately that has happened to me in the past — on a motorway — when the driver behind seemed so intent on intimidating others out of ‘their’ lane that they weren’t paying attention to what other motorists in front were doing.

I can still hear the sound the crash made and vividly recall the moment I looked in the mirror and realised the car was going way too fast to slow down in time.

Bracing myself for impact just before the collision was one of the most terrifing things I’ve experienced.

Recent tailgating episodes have brought the same shiver down my spine once again.

Please, take care and give others space on the road.