Person B is tailgating and is in violation. Once alerted the officer on the scene should have issued a ticket for that offence yo...

Person B. He did not leave a safe distance between the cars.

Legally it would be they were both at fault... just depends on the cop/judge. Each would pay their own damages. Obviously B is at fault for being too close... but A is at fault for being stupid... or just and ass trying to prove B was too close. The have a hand brake for that very reason. Pull hand brake up, it "locks" into place, you put car in 1st gear, then as you let off the clutch and you feel the car starting to pull, you let the brake down. So A should have been ticketed for rechless driving because he/she didn't know how to properly operate a motor vehicle. -MD Police Dept.

Florida's a no-fault state. everyone pays for themselves.

One inch apart and they are stopped for a red light? There shouldnt be any damage worth mentioning.

Person A would be the one who is at fault because A did not have their vehicle under control in order to avoid an accident. If A had applied either the hand or foot break, and gradually released them while gradually accelerating, the accident would not have happened.

I say person B, but someone did make a great point about the e-brake. I know I've had to use it before just to keep from rolling into someone behind me on a hill.

Person B is clearly at fault and to blame under the common, almost universal, "failure to maintain safe distance" law. Some might argue driver A's failure to maintain control, however, there has been no failure in said scenario, due to the fact that vehicle speed and direction were pre-determined before the collision on driver A's part. Driver A can not be held responsible for other drivers actions, only their own reaction to other drivers actions. Even if driver A had been aware that vehicle B was at an unsafe distance to vehicle A, driver A, unless having intentionally caused collision, could not have controlled the situation by actions of driver B. Collision could not have been predicted before vehicle A came to a complete stop, making it impossible for driver A to control the causing of unsafe vehicle operation. Driver A's only option, other than putting him or her self into danger by exiting the vehicle, was to attempt to increase the unsafe distance between the two vehicles to a safe distance. Since vehicle A collided with vehicle B upon attempting to increase distance to a safe amount, collision became unavoidable the moment driver B closed the space between the two vehicles to an unsafe distance, placing responsibility on driver B. Driver A did not make a mistake in his or her operation of said vehicle, since collision was unavoidable due to the failure of driver B to allow driver A sufficient space between vehicles (1" constitutes negligent and unsafe vehicle operation) so as to allow driver A to avoid collision. If I am not mistaken, every State in the Union has a law on the books which states that all drivers must always maintain safety in all of their operating of motor vehicles. Giving another motorist only 1" of space is not safe, so no matter what the circumstances were, as long as driver A had come to a complete stop before the distance between vehicles was closed, then driver B was responsible for approaching vehicle A to an unsafe distance, which by its very description, is proven to be unsafe. So, the fact that a collision occurred, and occurred under said circumstances, driver B's fault is proven. (I'm good, haha jk)

It doesn't matter how far apart the vehicles were, "A" would be the person at fault as they didn't have control of their vehicle. Had they had control of their vehicle, they would have used the emergency brake or kept their foot on the brake and released it slowly. Since neither vehicle was moving, the "maintaining a safe distance" doesn't apply. Both vehicles were stopped - like at a stop sign, signal light, waiting for somebody to turn, etc. "A" is the one who struck "B".

In a "rear-end" accident the person behind is at fault by definition. Person A needs to learn how to heel and toe, but that's moot. Person B should never be only an inch away from the car in front. Period.