Tailgaters

[spoonza6]

After watching and dissecting the item on the Australian road rager it makes me angry that people out there BELIEVE that tapping your brakes is what you do to get them to back off...

Sorry, i confess i road rage alot (can you blame me, i live in auckland ffs), verbally and mentally but that method really hacks me off to the point where i wish i had a truck n nice big bullbars for a friendly nudge!

i sat my 3 licenses well over 10 years ago and to this day i remember that if someone followed you too close, you were to pull over to the side of the road if it was safe and allow them to pass

where the hell did the brake tapping rule come from?

by the way i do not condone what that guy did at all...js

whats your thoughts on this?

[Shrike]

Dangerous driving course did the whole allow more space in front of you so if they do plow into you that you don't hit the guy your following, and then when safe pull over to let them pass

Guess it depends where you are however

[Akane]

The tapping on the brakes or slowing down thing makes my blood boil and vapourize as well.

Obviously I'm tailgating you because you're driving too slow for the condition / in the fast lane.

People here have such a high sense of entitlement. "oh that's the limit not the target".

Makes me want to ram them.

Everytime I tell people that they can actually get ticketed for driving too slow, I get a shocked / horror / what a fusking idiot look on their face.

I also had a few kids / losers tried to tail me, made them ate dust.

[Crucible]

Assholes that are on the horn behind you a second after the lights change green is the one that gets me going.. $&#$% I hate that!

[1I1]

The tapping on the brakes or slowing down thing makes my blood boil and vapourize as well.

Best not follow me then! If i get someone tailgating me and i know I'm doing the speed limit (or more), speed intantly drops to at or just below the limit

[Grrrrrrr!]

After watching and dissecting the item on the Australian road rager it makes me angry that people out there BELIEVE that tapping your brakes is what you do to get them to back off...

Sorry, i confess i road rage alot (can you blame me, i live in auckland ffs), verbally and mentally but that method really hacks me off to the point where i wish i had a truck n nice big bullbars for a friendly nudge!

i sat my 3 licenses well over 10 years ago and to this day i remember that if someone followed you too close, you were to pull over to the side of the road if it was safe and allow them to pass

where the hell did the brake tapping rule come from?

by the way i do not condone what that guy did at all...js

whats your thoughts on this?

Haven't seen the news item, but depending on the mood and the level off tailgating I'll just take my foot off the gas or brake lightly till my speed drops to a level where their following distance is appropriate. If that means a total standstill its fine by me.

I've also had the situation where i had a woman sitting on my arse on the motorway, i was in the middle lane, with a clear lane either side of me, and still she insisted on sitting 6 feet off my bumper at 100ish. Solution was to blip throttle, slip into 2nd gear, hold clutch in till engine idling, pop clutch. She got the message... and flat spotted her tyres.

[duddley]

I have noticed that I often get people tailgating me when I'm driving the mrs's vitz but barely ever in my work car with ladders etc on the roof. I quite enjoy cruising at 40k instead of the usual 58k as soon as a douchebag starts tailgating me

[siren676]

I get tailgated so much in the mx5 no matter what speed im going. I guess people dont like sitting behind a car half the height of theirs

Worst ones for it are people in suv's who think they own the road.

[Bling]

Tailgating is stupid. If you do it, expect the car in front to go full retard in return.

i sat my 3 licenses well over 10 years ago and to this day i remember that if someone followed you too close, you were to pull over to the side of the road if it was safe and allow them to pass

If I pulled over everytime a hero tailgated me i'd never get anywhere. Too many idiots on the road, many seem to be posting in this thread. I'm with Mark, I don't sit below the limit, but if someone decides to follow me at an unsafe distance, I will slow down to the limit or slightly below. Which is perfectly legal. If you want to ride my bumper, i'll slow down to reduce the damage you do when someone pulls out in front of me.

[RomanV]

Pull over when someone wants to go past you, simple.

People who drive intentionally slow to irritate the person behind them, and people who drive on someone's bumper because they're too slow, are both groups of $&#$% who make the roads worse to drive on for everybody.

Being a good driver is 10% technique 90% not acting like a $&#$% spastic child.

[Bling]

Pull over when someone wants to go past you, simple.

Why should you have to pull over though if you're doing the limit? Speed (10%) isn't usually the issue (as you put it) 90% will be down to the following driver being a $&#$%.

[STR]

I hate tail-gaters with an absolute vengeance, but equally I hate slow drivers. In fact, I'd say they are as dangerous as speeders, 'cos they make people frustrated enough to do stupid things around them.

Nothing more annoying than following someone at +/- 80 in a 100km/hr area, then getting to a passing lane and the douche speeds up to 100!

[blindnz]

Depends on the situation tail gaiting on a one lane highway angers me. If you want to pass do so. Otherwise follow a safe following distance.

I do however hate people driving slow in outside lanes.

[20v_rollaboy]

Get tailgated all the time in my van yet hardly ever in the starlet. If I'm doing ~100km/h and you want to go faster, find your own way around me...

[BattleSnayke]

Pull over when someone wants to go past you, simple.

Why should you have to pull over though if you're doing the limit? Speed (10%) isn't usually the issue (as you put it) 90% will be down to the following driver being a $&#$%.

Agreed, why the hell would you pull over? Unless you're driving under the speed limit, every other driver should observe safe following distances. The time you save by sitting 6 feet off my ass is only a matter of seconds.

[RomanV]

Funnily enough I've never had an issue with people tailgating me...

Pull over when someone wants to go past you, simple.

Why should you have to pull over though if you're doing the limit? Speed (10%) isn't usually the issue (as you put it) 90% will be down to the following driver being a $&#$%.

Because I'm not the passive aggressive highway police, I'm just trying to get where I'm going... As are other people.
Not every road is a straight piece of 100kph highway and not every vehicle on it is identical.

A lot of the dickheadery I see is on windy backroads, out west to the beaches etc.

Sometimes I'm driving something horribly slow, and pull over as frequently as I can to let others past. Sometimes its just not safe or practical to drive any faster than you are, this is no reason to make a concious effort to impede the path of others who arent in the same boat.

Alternatively, sometimes if driving something with good handling etc, sometimes you get courteous drivers who will recognise this and pull over where safe to let you past.

Its seems the locals have pretty good idea about this, but people coming for a day of littering at the beach seem to be equally self centred on the way there and back.

On the flip side to this, you get a lot of muppets driving super slow, then gunning it on the straights where it would have otherwise been safe to overtake them... This causes a lot of frustration and I've seen some completely stupid overtaking somewhat on account of that.

Not that anyone's to blame for poor judgement of someone's overtaking decision, but conciously aggrivating the situation because you think everyone else should drive the same speed as you is hopelessly arrogant.

[rollaholic]

tailgating achieves nothing, apart from possibly causing anger (as if we need more on our roads)

like wise punitive measures to try and put off said tail gaters.

keep a safe following distance and pass when applicable.

take a breath and carry on, as the saying goes.

do like -

Being a good driver is 10% technique 90% not acting like a $&#$% spastic child.

also helps to remember that most tailgaters are not malicious, just underinformed / poorly trained.

[2jayzgte]

Can't stand people who can't manage to do the speed limit of 100 kph on the open road and act as though there only people using it then all of a sudden they hit over taking lanes and there speed goes from 90 to 110 and slow back to 90 after the over taking lanes and then back traffic up 5 or 6 cars deep.

PS not that I worry though I don't really wait for these types of drivers but I have to say it is a pet peeve.

[Mr Revhead]

If I'm going slower than traffic flow due to towing or what ever I pull over.
If I'm flowing along nicely at my usual pace around town and I get tailgated, they get a flash of the brake lights. Its to let them know they are too close. Suprisingly most actually back off.

[duddley]

When I'm behind someone doing 85-90kph in the outside lane on the Motorway quite often I will give them a quick flash of the headlights to let them know I want them to get past and most people will let you past as soon as they can. When Im towing I will pull over as often as possible if I am holding up traffic.