Tailgating and Road Rage

RustyNut

Chuck Stone wrote: »

I'm not big on authority but when it comes to the roads rigorous policing is the only solution imo. There are too many useless drivers out there getting away with being dicks every day who are blissfully unaware of their lack of competence.

I would like to see a far larger police traffic corps with real teeth (being able to seize vehicles for dangerous driving, removing dangerous drivers licences and making them sit an advanced driving courseetc). Traffic cameras are a cost effective way of policing the roads too (not speed cameras mind).

+100

The main problem here is lack of enforcement. With the new speed vans if you speed regularly you will most likley get caught sooner or later and most people have coped on to this and slowed down but everything else is a free for all.

If people stood a good chance of getting caught breaking red lights, using indicators arseways or not at all, getting all creative on roundabouts etc etc, it would encourage a much more disciplined attitude towards road use. Small fines handed out on a regular bases would help people focus on getting it right.

In the UK, Germany, Holland if you regularly break the rules you will get caught so the vast majority just don't do it.

I'd have cameras on junction boxe,s red lights, bus lanes and anywhere else they would make a differance, break the rules= ticket in the post.

jackal

RustyNut wrote: »

Ok so just for argument sake say you have Damo and Jacinta sitting on your ass and you decide to show them the error of their ways. Just as you "break test" him he looks down to check the text that just came in. That's one bad to you ie. breaking for no good reason and two to Damo tailgating and texting so you are less wrong.
What happens next? Damo has hit the back of you causing you to spin out of control into the tree at the side of the road, at the same time Damo has gone over the ditch on the far side of the road rolled the car throwing Jacinta out the windscreen and getting killed him self by a fence post in the face, but it is ok because you were less wrong and you can tell the judge as much at your compo hearing.
You will probably get a nice few bob but you will need it to pay the carrer who will have to change your nappy and feed you three times a day but at least you will have Jacinta in the wheelchair next to you to talk to.

All a bit far fetched I know but sh1t happens every day.

Driving on the road is not a combat sport.

Wow, you should make adverts for the TV licence inspectors.

I said "gently", I am not for a second advising anyone to slam on and intentionally try to "teach someone a lesson" by having them actually crash into them. You failed to address the point: What happens if you DO need to slam on for a legitimate reason? Who's fault is it then?

Your example of someone checking a text message while tail-gating is unfortunately probably not that far-fetched though.

The whole "braking for no good reason" argument is a complete fallacy. You don't need a reason that's obvious to the driver who is driving too close to you and cannot see past you, to brake. If I want or need to brake, in my car, while I am driving it, I will. Damo drives his car, I will drive mine. Its up to Damo to not slam into cars that he is behind.

Sunnyisland

Slow drivers may unknowingly contribute to other motorists making sometimes fatal overtaking manoeuvres. We are asking drivers to regularly check mirrors and be aware of what is behind your vehicle.
"What they should endeavour to do is drive at the speed appropriate to the conditions. If they're not comfortable in doing that, we're not asking them to speed up, we're asking them to give way to following vehicles.

"They must be aware of the tail of vehicles behind them and by ignoring that, they're actually driving without due care and attention. The premise is simple: reduce the need to overtake, and it follows there would be less overtaking collisions."

http://www.google.ie/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=slow%20drivers&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja ved=0CGsQFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.ie%2Fnational-news%2Fslow-drivers-urged-let-other-cars-pass-3175702.html&ei=Nlk2UM6RFsOJhQfW74HwDg&usg=AFQjCNGMeBqUhudv9mMdxwPSQE7V_Mi_nQ


That's from july 2012 in mayo Irish Independent The whole nature of driving has speeded up with faster & better cars and roads,Drivers who don't drive at a sensible speed shouldn't drive and I mean slow drivers in this

RustyNut

realies wrote: »

The report is from the UK Department for Transport,The daily mail was one of many that printed it.

Peter Rodger, chief examiner from the Institute of Advanced of Motorists (IAM), said: "All forms of inconsiderate driving need to be tackled. Drivers who are unnecessarily excessively slow lead others to make rash moves."

Yes all bad driving should be tackled but slow drivers cause a tiny minority of accidents.
I would much prefare to get into a shunt with someone going 20 K's under the limit than 20 K's over it.

Sunnyisland

Sorry have to go I am in a hurry ;)

Abi

RustyNut wrote: »

I would much prefare to get into a shunt with someone going 20 K's under the limit than 20 K's over it.

Neither extreme is acceptable, they both cause accidents. Theres enough driver stupidity / ignorance / inexperience on the road to keep us on our toes, let alone the road bullies and the far below the limit antagonisers.

On a day to day basis, I see so many drivers that do not know what lane to be in a roundabout, cúnts that break lights and a bevy of other arseholery on the road. Most of these fúckers won't indicate on a turn, but they'll indicate around a fúcking bend.

RustyNut

jackal wrote: »

Wow, you should make adverts for the TV licence inspectors.

I said "gently", I am not for a second advising anyone to slam on and intentionally try to "teach someone a lesson" by having them actually crash into them. You failed to address the point: What happens if you DO need to slam on for a legitimate reason? Who's fault is it then?

Your example of someone checking a text message while tail-gating is unfortunately probably not that far-fetched though.

The whole "braking for no good reason" argument is a complete fallacy. You don't need a reason that's obvious to the driver who is driving too close to you and cannot see past you, to brake. If I want or need to brake, in my car, while I am driving it, I will. Damo drives his car, I will drive mine. Its up to Damo to not slam into cars that he is behind.

I think you missed my point. It is to late when when you are trying to decide whose fault it was, if you let Damo passed no mater who was right or wrong the crash would have been avoided. Breaking because you need to to avoid something is not the same as breaking just to have an affect on those around you.
In my humble opinion if someone is tailgating just give yourself a bigger gap and do your best to avoid sharp breaking,let the dick who's tailgating passed as soon as its safe and get on with your life.

You are not going to change damos behaviour so the best you can do is minimise your intreraction with him and stay out of the wheelchair.

ahnowbrowncow

Shenshen wrote: »

If someone doing 5kph under the speed limit causes you to tailgate them, you need your head examined.

Where did I say I tailgate? I didn't. I just said that speedometers are rarely 100%. I use my satnav and speedometer to check my speed on the motorway.

Lollers

Jesus, If you are an intelligent skilled driver, you don't drive up someone's bumper. You wait till you have a clear road, overtake, and go for it.

Muir

I don't think the problem is slow drivers. I drive at the speed limit, but you always have people who're pissed off behind you for driving at the limit & will overtake. I just leave them to it, if someone is pissed off behind me & wants to speed or whatever then they can go ahead, I'm not going to risk my safety for anyone else.

Also, anyone else think the 100kmh limit on the Blessington Road is too high? It's a pretty dangerous road, and also there tend to be quite a few cyclists up there.

hoochis

Few weeks ago I had a tailgater right up my ass. I was doing about 120kph in a 100kph zone. Anyway came on to a long straight with no cars in sight and expected the bit*h behind me to overtake seeing as she was only about 5 feet from my bumper but she was happy enough to stay in my slipstream. I pulled into hard shoulder to give her a chance and she went for it. Must have taken her about a minute to pass me. I didn't change my speed btw. When she got in front of me it turned out that she was not happy driving at that speed and decided to slow down to 95kph!

I find that tailgaters are some of the worst and most dangerous drivers on the road. It takes a massive amount of concentration to drive feet away from a car in front doing the speed limit and the person being tailgated wont be able to pay full attention to the road in front. That's two drivers feet away not concentrating on driving. It then just takes something very small to cause a big accident. Its easy to say pull over but most roads in the country don't even have a hard shoulder!

SocSocPol

Abi wrote: »

Neither extreme is acceptable, they both cause accidents. Theres enough driver stupidity / ignorance / inexperience on the road to keep us on our toes, let alone the road bullies and the far below the limit antagonisers.

On a day to day basis, I see so many drivers that do not know what lane to be in a roundabout, cúnts that break lights and a bevy of other arseholery on the road. Most of these fúckers won't indicate on a turn, but they'll indicate around a fúcking bend.

Well said, just about describes the average Irish driver

Galwayguy35

qwert2 wrote: »

A fair few country drivers (Yes, people outside of Dublin) are bloody wreckles on the road. Tailgating you, going mad to pass you out, passing you out on a continous line, not ****ing indicating.

Works both ways, every year during the Galway Races the D regs are knocking sparks off the roads as well and overtaking everything in sight.

SocSocPol

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Works both ways, every year during the Galway Races the D regs are knocking sparks off the roads as well and overtaking everything in sight.

Well since Dublin taxes paid for them and most else wesht id da shannon....:D

Galwayguy35

SocSocPol wrote: »

Well since Dublin taxes paid for them and most else wesht id da shannon....:D

Yeah whatever.

christmas2012

tailgaiting is the most stupidest thing anybody could do as you have no room for yourself to react to the driver ahead of you breaking or encountering a situation a car ahead which you cannot see..

Odysseus

Try having tailgaters when you only have two wheels. Even on a bike you can have the fcukers at it. I was on the 200cc today and there was this **** behind me, only a few feet and I'm looking to slow down to change into a slower moving lane!!

Most of the time I'm on much bigger bikes so I have the power to leave the behind in a flash. Stiil you think people would cop on and not be on top of bikes at speed, you don't stand a chance if you get hit from behind on a bike.

Motorist

Tailgating is acceptable in some circumstances though .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnYp4srEooI&feature=related

guppy

geneyuss wrote: »

i was referring to another poster,,, and how is it silly,,,the fact ive never had somebody crash into the back of me has nothing to do with driving skills ? idiotic statement,,
ive had many a driver almost rear-end me and have took evasive action, learn how to drive, its not just passing a silly test ya know

I'm way behind in my reading of this, but I wanted to say that I was in the car with my mother once in stop-start traffic and she was rear ended as the girl behind her was not paying attention (she admitted as much). I was also rear ended at traffic lights (at really slow speed) by a guy who couldn't seem to judge distance.

In neither of those scenarios could myself or my mother's skill have avoided the collision.

Motorist

guppy wrote: »

I'm way behind in my reading of this, but I wanted to say that I was in the car with my mother once in stop-start traffic and she was rear ended as the girl behind her was not paying attention (she admitted as much). I was also rear ended at traffic lights (at really slow speed) by a guy who couldn't seem to judge distance.

In neither of those scenarios could myself or my mother's skill have avoided the collision.

Learn to drive expecting people to hit you. It will help you avoid being hit.

Leave space in front of you to give yourself room to move if you see someone coming up too fast behind you.

Always scope an escape route such as the hard shoulder of a road.

If you have time, tap your brakes before your braking point to alert drivers behind you.

Always leave a space in front of you so you can slow down gradually, thus minimising risk of tailgater hitting you.

Use your hazards if stopping suddenly.

Dont slam on the brakes especially not for an orange light

Chuck Stone

Check out the guy at 0:10 getting away from this nasty crash. (Robbed from Cool vids, pics & links)

daithi09

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

If you are being tailgated, don't brake suddenly or reduce speed, or even brake enough to turn your brake lights on. Move over when it's safe to do so or if you can't, use your hazard lights to indicate that you're uncomfortable with how close the car behind is travelling with you.s.

Oh I hate it when someone doing 100km/h in the overtaking lane puts their hazard lights on, especially when you've just given them a nice reminder that they are in the wrong lane by flashing the lights once or twice.. Why do people feel the need to be in the overtaking lane at all when the other one is free, regardless of what speed they're doing (120, 130,140km/h), it's not for them to enforce the law.

Is it an offence to be blocking the overtaking lane if you are not overtaking? Because it should be.

mauzo

LordChessington wrote: »

Do you drive a nissan tiida or note? If you do, I wouldn't let you out, because tiida and note drivers are by far the slowest drivers to ever drive our roads.

Actually, come to think of it, I have never seen anyone under the age of 60 drive a tiida. It's like pensioners who buy them are making an erroneous statement about their driving skill. The car just screams "I had no idea what to spend my retirement money on so I bought this heap of crap". They drive like they are bored of their retirement and try to savour their car journey from shop to house by driving as slowly as possible just to pass the time.

/rant

I laughed so hard at that. Damn you, my sunburn is stinging

My parents have a tiida. Takes 10 minutes to get from my parents to my apartment, takes my dad 20. He goes the long way everywhere.

He beeps the horn if the car in front doesn't pull off as soon as the light goes green, then proceeds to drive at walking pace. He uses the horn at least twice every trip.

My mum says she wishes he was as horny in bed as he is in the car....ugh

haminka

I commute every day from Navan to Dublin and either take the old N3 /think it's R147/ or the M3 - depends on how much time I have and how I feel. The M3 is obviously when I'm in a hurry or in a mood for a faster driving and if it's relatively empty I don't mind driving really fast. When I just want to enjoy the drive and a nice morning, I take the regular road and drive just on the speed limit, which is 80 km/h. As a result, I get tailgated regularly by muppets who will not take the M3 because they want to save the money on the toll, yet they drive like it's a motorway.
Now, I always stick to the speed limits in towns and villages. If it's 50 km/h, I drive that - it's not about being caught, it's about safety for pedestrians. You never know who can enter the road, be it a small child, pupils fooling around /and I had a little idiot pushing his pal right onto the road while I was driving by/.
When being tailgated, I would either flash the hazard lights and if that doesn't work, slow down. I don't care. You want to have a nice discussion with the Guards and the insurance on why you banged into my backside, knock yourself out.
Overtaking is a learned skill and it's not about being aggressive. Hard shoulder is not for driving so don't expect me to pull over there when you want to overtake me. Hard shoulders are full of gravel, spilled oil, surface water and get regularly destroyed by heavy machinery driving on it. They are for emergency stops only, not for slower drivers to drive in.
In order to perform an overtaking maneuver you must have a clear stretch of road ahead and you can't expect the people you are overtaking to have to pull into a hard shoulder or brake hard because you are putting them in danger. That doesn't make you a good driver, it only shows that you are a bully and dangerous to others. You are no better than the old Paddy the Farmer who uses his car once a week to drive his missus to the shops and church and will not drive faster than 60 km/h, in fact you are even worse, because you believe you are the king of the road because you can drive fast. Well, everyone can.
A good driver must think for himself/herself and others and anticipate that there will be drivers with various driving skill levels on the road. Just like you wouldn't walk on a footpath and kick and hit others who are walking slower than you are and expect people with small kids or older people to step aside and wait till you pass, you shouldn't be doing the same while driving. It's about courtesy and respect to others.

TonyStark

qwert2 wrote: »

No one is saying that driving too slow isn't dangerous, of course it can be. The problem is the impatience of drivers tailgating and desperately trying to overtake drivers going at a more than adequate speed

A lot of slow drivers actually don't notice tailgaters. They are generally oblivious to other road users. They are the same slow drivers that have can have up to 10 cars behind them and be unaware that they are unable to make progress to a competent level on the the public highway. It's all right to spout on about tailgaters forcing you to drive at a speed you are uncomfortable to drive but what about the people that force you to drive at a speed where 'general' progress is impeded. I know it's a seperate issue.

The best thing is to let them go when its safe to do so. Report them to traffic watch. I just make the point that if I have to stop my vehicle to get rid of a nuisance driver behind me, you will be guaranteed a phone call to traffic watch about your behaviour on the road. As others say it's not the motorists duty to police the roads. You meet bullies in every corner of life

cyrusdvirus

haminka wrote: »

I commute every day from Navan to Dublin and either take the old N3 /think it's R147/ or the M3 - depends on how much time I have and how I feel. The M3 is obviously when I'm in a hurry or in a mood for a faster driving and if it's relatively empty I don't mind driving really fast. When I just want to enjoy the drive and a nice morning, I take the regular road and drive just on the speed limit, which is 80 km/h. As a result, I get tailgated regularly by muppets who will not take the M3 because they want to save the money on the toll, yet they drive like it's a motorway.
Now, I always stick to the speed limits in towns and villages. If it's 50 km/h, I drive that - it's not about being caught, it's about safety for pedestrians. You never know who can enter the road, be it a small child, pupils fooling around /and I had a little idiot pushing his pal right onto the road while I was driving by/.
When being tailgated, I would either flash the hazard lights and if that doesn't work, slow down. I don't care. You want to have a nice discussion with the Guards and the insurance on why you banged into my backside, knock yourself out.
Overtaking is a learned skill and it's not about being aggressive. Hard shoulder is not for driving so don't expect me to pull over there when you want to overtake me. Hard shoulders are full of gravel, spilled oil, surface water and get regularly destroyed by heavy machinery driving on it. They are for emergency stops only, not for slower drivers to drive in.
In order to perform an overtaking maneuver you must have a clear stretch of road ahead and you can't expect the people you are overtaking to have to pull into a hard shoulder or brake hard because you are putting them in danger. That doesn't make you a good driver, it only shows that you are a bully and dangerous to others. You are no better than the old Paddy the Farmer who uses his car once a week to drive his missus to the shops and church and will not drive faster than 60 km/h, in fact you are even worse, because you believe you are the king of the road because you can drive fast. Well, everyone can.
A good driver must think for himself/herself and others and anticipate that there will be drivers with various driving skill levels on the road. Just like you wouldn't walk on a footpath and kick and hit others who are walking slower than you are and expect people with small kids or older people to step aside and wait till you pass, you shouldn't be doing the same while driving. It's about courtesy and respect to others.

The fact that you would deliberately slow down to further antagonise someone behind you gives the lie to that statement.

haminka

gatecrash wrote: »

The fact that you would deliberately slow down to further antagonise someone behind you gives the lie to that statement.

A statement on what? I flash the hazard lights and still have a muppet driving literally one meter behind me so that I can see the hair in his nose. He won't overtake, he won't keep safe distance. I don't brake hard, I just slowly slow down. How else am I supposed to get rid of him?

qwert2

Personally I'd like if the speed limit on national roads was 80km, instead of 100km. The only people this speed really suits are people who are familiar with the road. Also these roads can be twisty and without hard sholders

westendgirlie

I drive the majority of my journey to and from work at 100kph. I get so many people driving right up my arse. So, I move in to let let them pass but they just stay where they are!

I'm not gonna slow down just so I can end up sitting behind them. Cop on and realise that if I have to brake suddenly, you will not be a safe stopping distance behind.

Some drivers really get on my t1ts :mad:

jackal

RustyNut wrote: »

I think you missed my point. It is to late when when you are trying to decide whose fault it was, if you let Damo passed no mater who was right or wrong the crash would have been avoided. Breaking because you need to to avoid something is not the same as breaking just to have an affect on those around you.
In my humble opinion if someone is tailgating just give yourself a bigger gap and do your best to avoid sharp breaking,let the dick who's tailgating passed as soon as its safe and get on with your life.

You are not going to change damos behaviour so the best you can do is minimise your intreraction with him and stay out of the wheelchair.

How do you let someone past on a 1 lane road? Your suggestions all seem to be to do everything possible to accommodate this bad driver. You suggest giving yourself a bigger gap? How can you do that with a car behind you, you do not control the gap, they do. You speed up until you reach a speed that the guy tailgating you is happy with? Not only would the lead driver be putting themselves in a position they are not happy with to suit someone else, they are re-inforcing the idea that bullying in the car will work.

RustyNut

jackal wrote: »

How do you let someone past on a 1 lane road? Your suggestions all seem to be to do everything possible to accommodate this bad driver. You suggest giving yourself a bigger gap? How can you do that with a car behind you, you do not control the gap, they do. You speed up until you reach a speed that the guy tailgating you is happy with? Not only would the lead driver be putting themselves in a position they are not happy with to suit someone else, they are re-inforcing the idea that bullying in the car will work.

My suggestions are to do with collision avoidance. If you are on a single lane road with no overtaking you give yourself a bigger gap in front allowing you time to react in such a way that the knob behind does not slam into you. I would not advise speeding up to accommodate the tailgaiter. You can only control your own car so do what is safest for yourself.

RustyNut

Motorist wrote: »

Tailgating is acceptable in some circumstances though .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnYp4srEooI&feature=related

Is that Lance after the Unipharm truck?

Shenshen

RustyNut wrote: »

My suggestions are to do with collision avoidance. If you are on a single lane road with no overtaking you give yourself a bigger gap in front allowing you time to react in such a way that the knob behind does not slam into you. I would not advise speeding up to accommodate the tailgaiter. You can only control your own car so do what is safest for yourself.

How would you suggest creating such a gap between you and the pedestrian or wobbly cyclist you cannot see until you turn the corner and find them in the road right ahead of you?
I'm honestly curious, as this is a pretty much daily occurence on the roads I'm talking about.

RustyNut

Shenshen wrote: »

How would you suggest creating such a gap between you and the pedestrian or wobbly cyclist you cannot see until you turn the corner and find them in the road right ahead of you?
I'm honestly curious, as this is a pretty much daily occurence on the roads I'm talking about.

Be able to stop within the distance you can see to be clear would be one idea, what do you do on your daily drive?
All you can do is your best, very often luck is better than skill.

Shenshen

RustyNut wrote: »

Be able to stop within the distance you can see to be clear would be one idea, what do you do on your daily drive?
All you can do is your best, very often luck is better than skill.

That would mean going around 30 along a road that allows 60.
Usually I go between 5 0and 60 on the straight bits and slow down around corners, with a cautious foot hovering over the brake in case I need it unexpectedly.
With a tailgater stuck at my back, I do tend to worry that I might find myself too scared to brake as quickly as I should and end up doing something stupid and dangerous. I hope I wouldn't, but I can feel the emotional pressure in these situations.

Was a passenger coming out of Claregalway in a 50kph zone being tailgated, flashing lights and all that.

He overtook us on a solid white line coming up to a corner.

He looked very redfaced when we caught up to him at the traffic lights in Galway and I gave him a wave.

RustyNut

Shenshen wrote: »

That would mean going around 30 along a road that allows 60.
Usually I go between 5 0and 60 on the straight bits and slow down around corners, with a cautious foot hovering over the brake in case I need it unexpectedly.
With a tailgater stuck at my back, I do tend to worry that I might find myself too scared to brake as quickly as I should and end up doing something stupid and dangerous. I hope I wouldn't, but I can feel the emotional pressure in these situations.

You have to decide what best for you but if your feeling emotionally pressured into possably doing something stupid or dangerous where there are cyclists and ped's in the road way maby 30 or 40 would be better than 50 or 60, how many minutes will it add to your journey?

Don't stress about pi55ing off the tailgaiter, let him pass first safe opportunity then the source of the pressure is gone and everybody is a little safer. Getting there safely is what's no 1 for me.




Just my opinion.

Shenshen

RustyNut wrote: »

You have to decide what best for you but if your feeling emotionally pressured into possably doing something stupid or dangerous where there are cyclists and ped's in the road way maby 30 or 40 would be better than 50 or 60, how many minutes will it add to your journey?

Don't stress about pi55ing off the tailgaiter, let him pass first safe opportunity then the source of the pressure is gone and everybody is a little safer. Getting there safely is what's no 1 for me.




Just my opinion.

I don't mind going slow, but I find that this increases the risk of them overtaking in dangerous places.
I've posted about that earlier, a while back I had someone tailgating me while I was doing the speed limit. The driver eventually decided to overtake on a corner, found himself faced with a car coming the other way and pulled back in so closely in front of me that I ended up swerving into the ditch.
Nothing serious happened, a scratch or two on the car, but I refused to get back behind the wheel for about a year or so, I was shaken up so badly.

So in my experience, going slower can make the situation a lot more dangerous.
If I can now, I will take the next turn to wherever and just go round a longer way in order to get rid of the a55hole. Bit of a pain, but apparently the only really safe solution when having a speed junky stuck behind you.

ScumLord

Shenshen wrote: »

That would mean going around 30 along a road that allows 60.
Usually I go between 5 0and 60 on the straight bits and slow down around corners, with a cautious foot hovering over the brake in case I need it unexpectedly.

Watching peoples terrible braking habits tends to annoy me something rotten. People don't understand how to brake and do terrible things like braking during cornering which even with todays modern ABS systems is not the way to brake. Braking should be done in a straight line. If you stamp on the brakes while cornering you could easily lose control of the car your disrupting the cars ability to actually take the corner. It is possible to brake in a corner but it's bad practice to do so and should be avoided by anyone that isn't an expert driver.

Shenshen

ScumLord wrote: »

Watching peoples terrible braking habits tends to annoy me something rotten. People don't understand how to brake and do terrible things like braking during cornering which even with todays modern ABS systems is not the way to brake. Braking should be done in a straight line. If you stamp on the brakes while cornering you could easily lose control of the car your disrupting the cars ability to actually take the corner. It is possible to brake in a corner but it's bad practice to do so and should be avoided by anyone that isn't an expert driver.

No argument there, I never said I brake going round corners, I usually simply take my foot off the accelerator a good bit in advance when approaching them.

But I would put it to you that a pedestrian or cyclist in your lane who you only spot once you're in or around the corner is an acceptable reason to brake. And as I know the roads I usually take, and know to expect these people, being prepared to brake when driving around a corner doesn't seem a "terrible braking habit" to me.

Dead Man Walking

a quick handbrake spin around and into super reverse so you are facing the the tailgater then throw the headlights on full beam, it usually sorts these wasters out

ScumLord

Shenshen wrote: »

No argument there, I never said I brake going round corners, I usually simply take my foot off the accelerator a good bit in advance when approaching them.

But I would put it to you that a pedestrian or cyclist in your lane who you only spot once you're in or around the corner is an acceptable reason to brake. And as I know the roads I usually take, and know to expect these people, being prepared to brake when driving around a corner doesn't seem a "terrible braking habit" to me.

It's best to try avoiding them, modern cars can turn pretty quickly. The problem with braking in a corner is you load the weight of the car to one of the front wheels and you unbalance the car so it could easily just spin around meaning you've no hope at all of avoiding the person on the bike.

It's instinctive habit to stamp the brakes though, it would require proper training when learning to avoid making mistakes like that.

RustyNut

Shenshen wrote: »

I don't mind going slow, but I find that this increases the risk of them overtaking in dangerous places.
I've posted about that earlier, a while back I had someone tailgating me while I was doing the speed limit. The driver eventually decided to overtake on a corner, found himself faced with a car coming the other way and pulled back in so closely in front of me that I ended up swerving into the ditch.
Nothing serious happened, a scratch or two on the car, but I refused to get back behind the wheel for about a year or so, I was shaken up so badly.

Well done for getting back in the car. You can only drive your car, you were doing the limit you could not do much more it was just unfortunate the you met such an asshat. Some of these guys are just pure bully's an if they see someone a little nervous they completely take the p1ss.

[/QUOTE]If I can now, I will take the next turn to wherever and just go round a longer way in order to get rid of the a55hole. Bit of a pain, but apparently the only really safe solution when having a speed junky stuck behind you.[/QUOTE]

^^ This is the best solution, just don't engage with them. Sooner or later they will get what they have comming hopefully with nobody else but the cops involved.

guppy

Motorist wrote: »

Learn to drive expecting people to hit you. It will help you avoid being hit.

Leave space in front of you to give yourself room to move if you see someone coming up too fast behind you.

Always scope an escape route such as the hard shoulder of a road.

If you have time, tap your brakes before your braking point to alert drivers behind you.

Always leave a space in front of you so you can slow down gradually, thus minimising risk of tailgater hitting you.

Use your hazards if stopping suddenly.

Dont slam on the brakes especially not for an orange light

I was stopped at traffic lights, with my handbrake on (for safety) and the guy coming to a stop behind me hit me, as I said, at slow speed. I assumed he was going to stop fully before reaching my car. I had been stopped a good 10 seconds by the time he reached me. Bar driving into traffic myself, I could not avoid being hit.

Conmaicne Mara

Deleted User wrote: »

He looked very redfaced when we caught up to him at the traffic lights in Galway and I gave him a wave.

That is often the way. The driver bursting a vein to overtake, tailgate, and break the speed limit is the one you catch up to at the lights. It's pointless, they save no time and just get stressed out.

I slow down when being tailgated, I don't brake, I just take the foot off the accelerator. I find I get tailgaited more in the city than out on the N or R roads. I don't want to get done for speeding in a 50kph zone, so I do take some amount of pleasure seeing a car weave over and back behind me.

Manners cost nothing.

Motorist

Was entering the M50 at the N3 junction this morning. A line of cars were in the merge lane all accelerating and building up speed to join the motorway, when all of a sudden the first car in line decided to slam on the brakes and wait until there was no traffic on the motorway - came to a full stop with a good 150m of merging lane left. Luckily no collisions, but just goes to show how unpredictable and poor the standard of driving is out there.

gubbie

Last time I was tailgated, it was on that bit of road towards Bray where you can go 120kph. I was overtaking a truck going 100kph, I was doing just over 110kph. When I was half way to overtaking the truck, a car came right up on my ass. Once the back of my car was past the truck, he started flashing. I moved in when I could, but only when there was a good 10m between me and the truck. It was a very uncomfortable position to be in. Giant truck beside me, twat in a car almost touching the bumper.

Motorist

gubbie wrote: »

Last time I was tailgated, it was on that bit of road towards Bray where you can go 120kph. I was overtaking a truck going 100kph, I was doing just over 110kph. When I was half way to overtaking the truck, a car came right up on my ass. Once the back of my car was past the truck, he started flashing. I moved in when I could, but only when there was a good 10m between me and the truck. It was a very uncomfortable position to be in. Giant truck beside me, twat in a car almost touching the bumper.

That's very common. You'll get driver's sitting on another driver's ass flashing and losing the head, thinking the driver in front must pull over. Not the case when the driver in front is actually overtaking traffic himself, albeit at a slower pace and when there is insufficient room to pull in between cars especially at motorway speeds.

ScumLord

gubbie wrote: »

Last time I was tailgated, it was on that bit of road towards Bray where you can go 120kph. I was overtaking a truck going 100kph, I was doing just over 110kph. When I was half way to overtaking the truck, a car came right up on my ass. Once the back of my car was past the truck, he started flashing. I moved in when I could, but only when there was a good 10m between me and the truck. It was a very uncomfortable position to be in. Giant truck beside me, twat in a car almost touching the bumper.

The tailgater are guilty of causing this scenario. It happens to me a lot, I'm well back and can see the opportunity to pass, indicate, pull out, accelerate. Then the noob in front see's me do this and pulls out in front of me at the last minute assuming it's clear because I'm overtaking (they can't actually see what's in front).

looksee

LordChessington wrote: »

Do you drive a nissan tiida or note? If you do, I wouldn't let you out, because tiida and note drivers are by far the slowest drivers to ever drive our roads.

Actually, come to think of it, I have never seen anyone under the age of 60 drive a tiida. It's like pensioners who buy them are making an erroneous statement about their driving skill. The car just screams "I had no idea what to spend my retirement money on so I bought this heap of crap". They drive like they are bored of their retirement and try to savour their car journey from shop to house by driving as slowly as possible just to pass the time.

/rant

Perhaps LordChessington, would like to offer some more evidence on the driving skills of the over 60s, beyond 'I have never seen'?

This entire post was manufactured - no one else had mentioned tiida or note until he cobbled it together to give him an excuse to rant about pensioners. Has anyone ever seen an above average number of 'pensioners' tailgating or engaging in road rage?