Tailgating

SonOfPerdition

vshastak wrote:

Sometimes I just keep accelerating as normal and use my left foot to press brakes just a small bit. 2 times to "brake" like that is enough to teach smbd to keep the distance. That works 100%.

IMO thats incredibly dangerous. your left foor is not as sensitive to the braking pressure as your right foot is, and you could easily brake alot more severely than you intended and cause an accident . .especially if someone is tailgaitng you.

mrbungle

Isn't the onus on the person following you, not to be too close and to keep a safe distance from the car in front.

Savman

Zascar wrote:

I really hate this so I took my foot off the accellerator and let the car gently slow down, he got closer and closer, so I accellerated hard and left him miles behind me. However he then proceeded to do the same again. I repeated, to let him know i don't want anyone on my ass, but he would not let up. I even tried treid givng the brake a tiny tap, not to slow down, but to flash my brake lights to hopefully make him stop. No use.

So he was Tailgating, but your response of aggressive driving just means you sank to his level. There is absolutely NO way to stop someone tailgating you, as you have no control over other vehicles on the road (thats the risk of driving anywhere).

Not to be preachy but in those circumstances I usually do one of 3 things:
1-pull into left lane or hard shoulder to encourage tailgater to "go for it" but only where there's a broken white line that permits overtaking

2-accelerate to increase the gap between me and asshole behind (usually misconstrued as a "catch me if you can" gesture)

3-slow right down gradually while keeping eyes fixed on road ahead (the 'aul "fook him he can wait" approach)

Either way there's sweet FA you can do but the hazard lights are your friend. Hard braking should be avoided unless you want him coming thru your back seat :rolleyes:

Stark

Fog lights worked a treat for me the other day

ninty9er

optiplexgx270 wrote:

LOL i just drive well under the limits to piss them off naughty i know but makes me feel good

People who do that really really p1ss me off. even at traffic lights i think someone should have their clutch at biting point waiting for lights to go green. It's why traffic moves smothly in mainland europe, no slacking.

I floor it to the limit then stick on it and if somebody wants to tailgate me thats their problem. They hit me they're the one gonna get ****ed over on insurance aftter my car is fixed and my bills paid.

Stark

ninty9er wrote:

It's why traffic moves smothly in mainland europe, no slacking.

And how people get rear-ended while pulling off at traffic lights.

optiplexgx270

ninty9er wrote:

People who do that really really p1ss me off. even at traffic lights i think someone should have their clutch at biting point waiting for lights to go green. It's why traffic moves smothly in mainland europe, no slacking.

I floor it to the limit then stick on it and if somebody wants to tailgate me thats their problem. They hit me they're the one gonna get ****ed over on insurance aftter my car is fixed and my bills paid.

Well arnt you just great :rolleyes:

ninty9er

optiplexgx270 wrote:

Well arnt you just great :rolleyes:

My driving tester seemed to think so!!

AMurphy

Zascar wrote:

Is it just me or are irish driving habbits, especially tailgating, getting worse. I don;t know what it is, but recently I need to have people driving right up my ass everywhwere I go, its really annoying, but moreso extremely dangerous.
......
So after todays experiance I don't think I will be repeating that technique, but what is the best advise to try to get someone to stop tailgating you?

You're absolutely correct. Tailgaiting is a national passtime.

However, you may not have coped with the "intimidation" in the best possible manner.

Given the driving conditions, there are few options either. 2 lanes is not enough.

It seems if you are in a string of cars passing the usual string of trucks, transporters, etc you really have no room to slot in between the transporters in teh "slow" lane, so you are stuck in teh "fast" lane for the duration. and even if you did pull in and let the tailer pass, s/he is simply replaced with a new tailer, it's that bad.

So given the conditions, do not try any "tricks", simply INCREASE the distance between you and the car in front, cause if an emergency occurs, you need to consider the delay of the driver behind you, not your own latent deay. So you have to add his/her time delay on top of yours.

Otherwise, if conditions permit and you are not in too much of a hurry, let them past to annoy someone else.

Otherwise, good luck and happy miles. Stay cool. :cool:

curiosity

Where theres hard shoulder to pull over onto and let them pass, I take that option. However, seeing as the gist of the thread is more about what you do when you don't have that option, this is my approach.

Let me say first, I hate tailgaters with a passion. They're either stupid, arrogant or both. How anyone can drive with such a small margin of error is beyond me. I would no longer try the whole "brake/fog lights" approach. I wouldn't fancy explaining to a gardá/ my insurance company why I braked at 90 km/hour on a national road, causing accident and injury. Also, doing this usually gets the person behind you hopping mad etc.

So when the front numberplate of the car behind me disappears below my rear window, i just slow down a few kms gradually. I then accelerate back up to a speed I feel comfortable at. I repeat this until I'm given enough room to drive safely. No hand gestures, no swerving etc. I like to think the presence of a towbar on my car concentrates the mind of those following.

Zascar

Sometimes I feel like welding a large battering ram to the back of my car, and if anyone is tailgating me, slam on hard to avoid hitting a fly or something...

AMurphy

Hi tech solution;
A rear facing strobe lamp, that begins to flash when the object comes inside a certain range, speed dependant. And increases in frequency as the distance decreases.