Idiots who tailgate
- Thread starter brucey034
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Aug 2003
- Posts
- 24,291
So we go from this:
To this:
So which is it?
Is it fine for someone to drive too close, because braking distances are much shorter than people say, and they're probably further away than you think...
Or is lighting up your brake lights risking your own life and the life of the person in the other car?
It can only be one or the other...
To this:
So which is it?
Is it fine for someone to drive too close, because braking distances are much shorter than people say, and they're probably further away than you think...
Or is lighting up your brake lights risking your own life and the life of the person in the other car?
It can only be one or the other...
On the bike (it's a lot more risky if someone is on your arse on a bike) I tend to increase the gap infront of the me, and find every rubbley/stoney part of the road i can and open it up 
the amount of stones that flick up from a sticky rear tyre on a bike is hilarious
the amount of stones that flick up from a sticky rear tyre on a bike is hilarious
I'm going to have to wriggle out of that by saying that I've said earlier that there is a point where it is dangerous, scroll back and you'll find it. Bullying people out of the way by driving as close as I interpreted that post to mean would definitely be dangerous. I have to say though that I've been around the houses in this thread and without running back up I can't be sure contextually about the two quotes that you've used - I was spending a while bitter about people that block overtakes or who slam on their anchors rather than merely illuminating their brake lights.
Before he edited that post I'd written mine thinking he was brake testing people cruising in the middle lane and only went back to make minor adjustments to make it make sense, left too much vitriol in there but at that point I was fairly "into" this thread
Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Aug 2003
- Posts
- 24,291
On the bike (it's a lot more risky if someone is on your arse on a bike) I tend to increase the gap infront of the me, and find every rubbley/stoney part of the road i can and open it up
I do similar... slow them down to the point where they can't not notice you've done it, then give it a squirt to open up the gap, which takes no time at all on a bike. I reckon half of them get the message and only close the gap partly (which is fine, everyone tailgates without realising it sometimes), and half of them either don't realise, or don't care :/
Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Aug 2003
- Posts
- 24,291
I'm going to have to wriggle out of that by saying that I've said earlier that there is a point where it is dangerous, scroll back and you'll find it. Bullying people out of the way by driving as close as I interpreted that post to mean would definitely be dangerous.
Before he edited that post I'd written mine thinking he was brake testing people cruising in the middle lane and only went back to make minor adjustments to make it make sense, left too much vitriol in there but at that point I was fairly "into" this thread
I'll let you off, this once
I've had somebody do both of the above, and then perform an emergency stop (yes, whilst still straddling the white line)
Not what I'd have done with a non ABS equipped Mk2 Golf GTI behind me but there you do.
I'd love to see people like that hauled before the courts and be held bang to rights.
Out of interest, how did you escape from that probably quite imminent collision?
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Sep 2008
- Posts
- 10,139
- Location
- Burscough
Just give a sharp tap of the brake
I tend to tap the brake pedal just enough for the brake lights to come on, just so it sends a message that they need to watch out. It usually does the trick.
These days I'm too busy wafting around to care about tailgaters I'm not in a hurry to get to destination xyz so I'll shift smoothly and drive smoothly and if someone behind doesn't like it then stuff them.
Motorway though is just one constant 85 wherever possible.
I'm not in a hurry to get to destination xyz so I'll shift smoothly and drive smoothly and if someone behind doesn't like it then stuff them.Motorway though is just one constant 85 wherever possible.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 26 Aug 2003
- Posts
- 24,291
With his arse chewing up all the cloth from his seat if I remember rightly from a previous retelling
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Sep 2008
- Posts
- 10,139
- Location
- Burscough
I just overtake them and then cut straight back across all 3 lanes to the left hand lane when I am past them. I like to think it sends a clear message, but often it falls on deaf ears, or should I say, blind eyes.
My old bubble shape Rover 220 was awesome for tailgaters, just leave the nozzle off the rear washer, when activated it would then spray allover their windscreen if they were close enough. They always got the message eventually.
Brilliant for the summer when it's a nice clean car behind.
Brilliant for the summer when it's a nice clean car behind.
I'll quote the post I made at the time, with a little (EDIT - a lot actually!) added to give the full details of the story so I don't look like a totally innocent bystander - I no doubt riled the guy but it wasn't intentional.
What's even more alarming is when you go to overtake someone on an A road and they think it would be really clever to move into the centre of the road and perform an emergency stop in an effort to block you as some absolute lunatic did to me last weekend. I'm still not entirely sure how I kept it out of his back bumper and out of the scenery.
The "incident" began on a short section of dual carriageway between here and the M1, which has a roundabout (2 lanes for straight on) in the middle of it. It's a pretty quiet roundabout with little traffic coming from the right and visibility is good, so if you are on the main route you can carry a decent speed over it if you have a car with half decent grip levels.
The Golf has coilovers so I can carry a lot of speed through roundabouts. An MG ZT estate was in the left lane, moving quickly up the D/C but it slowed down significantly for the roundabout. I didn't - and in the process overtook the ZT on the roundabout itself. Conservation of momentum meant that I passed the ZT very quickly - he slowed down a lot, I didn't have to.
Obviously an MGZT is a fair bit faster than a Mk2 Golf GTI, so about 100 metres up the D/C he catches and passes me like I'm standing still (I'd maintained a speed of around 75mph) By the time I got to my turn off for Loughborough approx 800m further down the road, he was out of sight and out of mind.
The road to Loughborough is a single carriageway NSL road. It's fairly straight, good surface, a couple of junctions to be aware of, and has a set of traffic lights at one point. When I came up to the traffic lights the MGZT was sat on red waiting to pull away.
He pulled away, very slowly and didn't get much over 30mph so I decided to overtake him from a fair distance back (like in those old motorbike safety adverts, remember them?) as soon as he saw me closing on him he accelerated too and outdragged me easily - so I didn't bother taking to the other side of the road and eased off instead. He did the same, and slowed down to around 35 again.
I thought sod this, not playing games all the way to Loughborough so took a good run and indicated and moved out to pass him on a straight stretch.
He accelerated, moved to the middle of the road and then performed a full emergency stop. I braked hard, locked up, swerved, and came to a halt diagonally across the road with my nose pointing towards the left verge and alongside his rear wheel. I opened the door, jumped out (at this point I had absolutely *no* idea how I was going to handle the impending confrontation) and the MGZT took off like a scalded cat.
I took a deep breath and decided the best thing to do was to remove myself from the situation. I wanted to go after him but really, what would I have done, rammed him? Kept trying to overtake him until one of us went off?
There was no winning solution for me so I parked the car on the verge, took another deep breath, called 999 and reported the incident as best I could. When that was done I carried on my journey.
That's the first time I've typed that up properly, I can still remember that feeling down my spine when his brake lights came on and his car squirmed as they do under serious braking, the smell of my tyres as I locked up, the subconscious realisation that braking alone was not going to prevent a collision and then the wave of "WTF!?" that hit me as soon as I came to an actual stop.
tl;dr - I avoided a collision by being alert and having half decent control over an old shed.
Last edited:
I must have upset you when i made that post. Like most people i dont like being tailgated by other people. There is no need for it. It's idiotic. I should be able to drive on any roads without hassle.
Don't need someone behind me tailgating me. Doing what they want because they have a better/faster car or in a rush. Don't give a monkeys.
As for tapping the breaks? Exactly what is wrong with that? Yea i do it, it works. I've never had to slamed the breaks. As for not letting them overtaking me, i only speed up, i don't go on the other side of the road or central reservation.
Last edited:
"Only" speeding up is just as reckless? You've got a car on the other side of the road trying to pass you because they want to make progress. They aren't approaching at speed and simply switching sides, they are behind you at the same speed as you. Speeding up once they are committed to passing is putting you, them and any oncoming traffic at massive risk.
All to keep them behind you, exactly where you don't want them to be as they were driving too close for your comfort?
Pro-tip: Lift off, let them pass and go about your day in stress-free comfort. Your masculinity will not be damaged by this.
All to keep them behind you, exactly where you don't want them to be as they were driving too close for your comfort?
Pro-tip: Lift off, let them pass and go about your day in stress-free comfort. Your masculinity will not be damaged by this.
, but on town roads I will do the speed limit 30/40 and I hate when people tailgate me there