Drivers who stick to the speed limit are nearly twice as likely to be followed too closely as those who flout the Highway Code, according to a study seen by The Times.

Tailgating – driving closer than the two-second gap advised in the Highway Code – was responsible for 10,000 road accidents in Britain in 2006, but research by the Transport Research Laboratory, in partnership with the insurance company Direct Line, has found that drivers’ impatience is still putting lives at risk.

The study found that more than 90 per cent of motorists were followed too closely when they observed the Highway Code, compared with fewer than 50 per cent when they drove the same route in their usual style.

Maggie Game, head of car insurance at Direct Line, said: "The increased stress caused as result of tailgating can lead to volatile situations on the road, and tailgating is responsible for approximately 7 per cent of road traffic accidents in the UK. By driving less erratically, with fewer gear changes, rapid accelerations and decelerations, the average journey time is 8 per cent faster overall. So improving driving habits could actually save time and money as well as lives."

Of most concern was the conclusion that motorists who stick to the speed limits, such as novice drivers and parents with small children, were most vulnerable to bullying that often forced them into speeding themselves.

Bob Smalley, chief driving examiner at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "Our advice to people who feel threatened by a driver behaving in an aggressive way is to pull over and let them pass."

When asked to rank the most annoying habits of other road users, drivers taking part in the study said that tailgating was the worst.