How do you deal with 'Tailgaters' ?

MarkAnthony

The thing that always makes me laugh is ask anyone about tailgaters, go on ask 100 people over the next few weeks. The answers range from ignore them to 'jam on the brakes let them crash into the back of you, soak their car in petrol and laugh as they die a fiery death'.

No one ever says 'oh why I speed up as the tailgater has reminded me I was not going fast enough and perhaps I missed a speed limit change or their tailgating suddenly changed the dynamics of my car and my skill level or the conditions on a given stretch of road. Thank you Mr. (Cos lets be honest it almost always is Mr.) Tailgater.'

So why do it in the first place?

whomitconcerns

Because you are in the right hand lane of the m50 going 80kph with nothing to your left maybe?

to be clear I mean flashing from a safe distance. But what some would call tailgating....

FullblownRose

MarkAnthony wrote: »

The thing that always makes me laugh is ask anyone about tailgaters, go on ask 100 people over the next few weeks. The answers range from ignore them to 'jam on the brakes let them crash into the back of you, soak their car in petrol and laugh as they die a fiery death'.

No one ever says 'oh why I speed up as the tailgater has reminded me I was not going fast enough and perhaps I missed a speed limit change or their tailgating suddenly changed the dynamics of my car and my skill level or the conditions on a given stretch of road. Thank you Mr. (Cos lets be honest it almost always is Mr.) Tailgater.'

So why do it in the first place?

Thats because it's not the case.
No one ever says 'thank you driver in front of me for flashing your hazard lights, it made me take note of my behaviour and adjust it, minimising the chance of me causing an accident by tailgating.
They wont say it because theyre deluded about their own abilities and sadly might not even realise their own ineptitude if they did cause a crash.

MarkAnthony

FullblownRose wrote: »

Thats because it's not the case.
No one ever says 'thank you driver in front of me for flashing your hazard lights, it made me take note of my behaviour and adjust it, minimising the chance of me causing an accident by tailgating.
They wont say it because theyre deluded about their own abilities and sadly might not even realise their own ineptitude if they did cause a crash.

Flashing your hazards/brake lights isn't the same as being tailgated. The person going at the slow speed is doing so for a reason. Different drivers have different levels of skill. While there is a certain point that it becomes lack of progress and therefore the person shouldn't be driving that's a hell of a lot slower than people think, especially in built up areas.

People doing 55/60 in 50 zones are the ones without the requisite skill to be driving I include the ability to control one's self in that statement.

FullblownRose

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Flashing your hazards/brake lights isn't the same as being tailgated. The person going at the slow speed is doing so for a reason. Different drivers have different levels of skill. While there is a certain point that it becomes lack of progress and therefore the person shouldn't be driving that's a hell of a lot slower than people think, especially in built up areas.

People doing 55/60 in 50 zones are the ones without the requisite skill to be driving I include the ability to control one's self in that statement.

Misunderstanding I think
People flash hazard lights to warn tailgaters that they are too close and request that they allow more space between the cars.
It actually works sometimes and people back off a bit.
The tailgaters on this thread are a different breed altogether. They tailgate on urpose and blame other drivers for 'making' them 'have to' tailgate, theyseem to think they are highly skilled and dont realise that others choose not to tailgate, not because of lack of driving ability but because they know better.

I agree with you actually and dont have a huge problem with slow drivers. They're more of a nuisance than a danger as long as people don't get hotheaded and try to overtake them when it's not safe to.

Caliden

Slowing 10-15km/h sorts it and if not, I slow to a crawl so they can overtake me on the solid white if they want.

95% don't and just back off. Bit strange that they see nothing with breaking the speed limit to catch up to me and then aren't prepared to overtake a car going 40kmh in an 80 zone.

Flem31

In my experience the majority of tailgaters I have the misfortune to end up in front of, are driving above the speed limit.
And they expect me to break the speed limit to suit their reckless driving.

I just slow down gradually and they get the hint........eventually.

ghogie91

Definitely would get one of those signs to say 'Is the road the only place your good at chasing tail bud?'

Esterhase

I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would tailgate. It's safest to just hang back and overtake when you can. If you can't overtake and you're 2 feet behind them you're still not getting to your destination any faster than if you're 20 feet behind. Yeah you'll be delayed for a while due to slowpoke, but how much longer would the delay be if they had to slam on the brakes and you went into the back of them?

People who potter along at 50 in an 80 zone holding up other drivers in good weather conditions because they're not in a rush, old, forgot their glasses, don't feel confident etc. aren't the type of drivers I'd like to put under pressure. Ideally they wouldn't be out on the road at all, but there's no excuse to bully them out of the way.

If someone's trying to drive into my back seat I'll slow down a little and move to the left so they have some more room to overtake. The very slight possibility that they might have someone in labour or bleeding to death in the car isn't enough to make me speed or drive in a hard shoulder to facilitate them.

Flem31

ghogie91 wrote: »

Definitely would get one of those signs to say 'Is the road the only place your good at chasing tail bud?'

I used to have a sign on my back window ......"A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine"

Only problem was, it was never really big enough to see properly from distance

MarkAnthony

Flem31 wrote: »

I used to have a sign on my back window ......"A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine"

Only problem was, it was never really big enough to see properly from distance

Thus creating the irony of people driving up your arse to read it! :pac:

blackbird98

I just dip my mirror and ignore them. If they want to suffer the consequences of rear-ending a car then that's their stupidity!!

thadg

Sam Kade wrote: »

Maybe you should go to bed half an hour earlier and leave half an hour earlier in the morning then.

life is too short for spending it on the road mister

Alun

allibastor wrote: »

Jam on the brakes as if a I saw something on the road. let them go into the back of me.

They wont do that again

.. and you might not either. Sounds like a win win lose lose situation.

Banjoxed

MarkAnthony wrote: »

The thing that always makes me laugh is ask anyone about tailgaters, go on ask 100 people over the next few weeks. The answers range from ignore them to 'jam on the brakes let them crash into the back of you, soak their car in petrol and laugh as they die a fiery death'.

No one ever says 'oh why I speed up as the tailgater has reminded me I was not going fast enough and perhaps I missed a speed limit change or their tailgating suddenly changed the dynamics of my car and my skill level or the conditions on a given stretch of road. Thank you Mr. (Cos lets be honest it almost always is Mr.) Tailgater.'

So why do it in the first place?

Tailgaters like bum. Car bum at that. If they really like a tailpipe why should it be held against them?

gene_slackman

some people drive like old ladies , i could count on one hand the number of times ive been tailgated in my life and ive been driving twenty years

blindside88

I only generally tailgate people that dawdle in the fast lane of the motorway. Coming home this evening and a car in the overtaking lane slowed to about 60mph to look at a crash on the far side of the road. Absolute moron

The Adversary

Read the thread title wrong and thought it read "How do you deal with 'Transgenders'?" :O

Gone Drinking

I don't agree with people tail gating when there's nowhere for the driver in front to go. I'll always give the driver in front of me time to overtake and or move into space. Most people do this, they see you're going a bit faster and they move in at the safest available chance. Perfect for everyone.

I have to admit though there has been occasions when I've tailgated drivers who's were in the furthest lane but being undertaken. Or had space to move into another lane but refused to do so. I've only done this in good clear weather conditions during daylight hours on the m50, no where else. (I'm not saying its right though :pac:).

Andy From Sligo

cannot believe the amount of people on here ADMITTING to tailgating ... for whatever reason - potentially putting other road users lives at risk ... whatever the reason!

Kevin McCloud

Life is short Andy, people always in a hurry to make up time. The clock stops for no one and if your not living life on the edge your taking up too much room.

Andy From Sligo

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

Life is short Andy, people always in a hurry to make up time. The clock stops for no one and if your not living life on the edge your taking up too much room.

so ireland has finally caught up with the rat race then - i remember one of the quaint attractions and what made Ireland different from other countries was that everyone took it easy , no rushing here there and everywhere, a laid back kind of life and this (used to be) reflected on the roads as well - not these days now it seems

Elana_29

Pull to the side, so they can just overtake, I don't wanna risk my life or anyone else's.

Zonda999

A situation I often seem to come across is when I'm being tailgated in the right (overtaking) lane of a 2 lane dual-carriageway. What I do in these situations, if possible, is pull back into the left lane and speed up a bit (If the way is clear) and see how committed the tailgater is to their cause. They end up having to go WAY faster to try and pass me out, and often they can't if their car/van isn't up to the job. I like to think it puts them back in their box

blindside88

Zonda999 wrote: »

A situation I often seem to come across is when I'm being tailgated in the right (overtaking) lane of a 2 lane dual-carriageway. What I do in these situations, if possible, is pull back into the left lane and speed up a bit (If the way is clear) and see how committed the tailgater is to their cause. They end up having to go WAY faster to try and pass me out, and often they can't if their car/van isn't up to the job. I like to think it puts them back in their box

Why are you in the overtaking lane if the left lane is free?

Zonda999

blindside88 wrote: »

Why are you in the overtaking lane if the left lane is free?

Passing out other slower moving cars

thadg

Zonda999 wrote: »

Passing out other slower moving cars

taepot

Andy From Sligo

Zonda999 wrote: »

A situation I often seem to come across is when I'm being tailgated in the right (overtaking) lane of a 2 lane dual-carriageway. What I do in these situations, if possible, is pull back into the left lane and speed up a bit (If the way is clear) and see how committed the tailgater is to their cause. They end up having to go WAY faster to try and pass me out, and often they can't if their car/van isn't up to the job. I like to think it puts them back in their box

... and potentially cause a accident/collision - its not a game, its not about winning or loosing or taking the opponent out of the picture or putting them in their place - if you get a buzz out of doing that then it sounds like your a dangerous driver just as much as them and their tailgating, two wrongs dont make a right ...

candytog

Cars are like the internet.

When there is a little anonymity we all turn into aholes to each other. :pac:

Rubberchikken

just ignore tailgaters. if they choose to drive right up behindyou, their responsibility if you had to brake suddently.
maybe owning certain types of cars precludes them from being able to read/understand/retain the rules of the road.