Tailgaters are the UK’s most irritating road users and more needs to be done to tackle the menace of ‘close following’, according to a new campaign.

The habit of driving too close to the car in front was voted as the most irritating behaviour of other drivers by 36% of road users in an AA/Populus survey of over 14,500 AA members.

“Survey respondents were spot on to highlight their irritation with tailgaters,” explained Edmund King, AA president.

“Data reveals that leaving pure human error aside, tailgaters fall just behind ‘loss of control’ as the major cause of crashes.”