Not only are Irish motorists guilty of speeding, drink driving and taking to the roads when overly tired, but there is now officially another deadly sin to add to the list.
'Tailgating' - driving perilously close to the car in front - is rife on Irish roads, with almost one in five drivers found to be partaking in this dangerous habit. Uniroyal Tyres carried out a survey last week on the N7 near City West and in one 30-minute period, observed 26 motorists who risked a collision by leaving less than the recommended two-second gap between themselves and the vehicle in front.
The survey was conducted using cutting-edge laser speed guns designed by UK company Tele-Traffic. However, although tailgating became a penalty point offence in April this year, the speed guns currently used by the gardaí do not have the software capability required to measure the distance between vehicles.
A spokeswoman for the Garda traffic policy bureau said that although they were aware that the Tele-Traffic product is on the market, they haven't yet purchased or tested it, but are looking into it. According to Neil Yearsley of Tele-Traffic, this type of device is already being used by police forces in the US and Australia.
"We understand that the Garda do not have access to these special 'tailgating' speed guns yet and, anecdotally, there is a feeling that it is not being fully enforced as a penalty point offence," says Paddy Murphy, general manager of Uniroyal and Semperit Tyres in Ireland. "Tailgaters don't realise how much road it takes to bring their vehicle to an emergency stop. You have to make allowances for the speed you're travelling, the weather conditions, the quality of the road surface and the state of your tyres. You have to give yourself a chance to be able to stop suddenly."
Although it is vital that drivers check the condition of their tyres, it seems Irish motorists are slipping up on this count as well. The Irish Tyre Industry Association (ITIA) carried out a survey last year, and found that nearly half of all tyres inspected had lost up to 80 per cent of their braking efficiency.
So is tailgating just a subconscious habit or is it a deliberate tactic used to intimidate other drivers? Neil Yearsley feels that it is a mixture of both and points out that this problem is not unique to Ireland.
Former rally driver Rosemary Smith says that tailgating is caused by a combination of frustration and a lack of education. On dual carriageways and motorways, drivers use the overtaking lane (which even the gardaí and AA Roadwatch incorrectly refer to as the "fast lane", she points out) even though they're not driving up to the speed limit. They don't check their rear view mirrors correctly and refuse to move aside for cars behind them, she says, with the result that drivers trying to overtake them become intensely frustrated and resort to dangerous tailgating tactics.