Tailgaters, what to do with them...

[jhart]

I guess I've mellowed a lot as I've gotten older. Now I just move over if at all possible, or as soon as possible. Too many crazy people out there these days. You never know what they have in the car with them, especially a gun.

Use to always be driving over the speed limit and probably did my share of tailgating, but now seem to go with the flow and laugh when I catch up with the guy in such a hurry. Hmmm, guess it's not just the guys anymore. See a lot of younger women tailgating now also.

[ErikS]

My .02 -

As mentioned if you're in the left lane & you're not passing someone you're wrong, period end of statement. I don't give a tinkers .... how fast you're going you are in the wrong. You are not the arbiter of speed unless your a law enforcement officer.

Doing anything other than getting out of the jerk's way is dumb & I hope they aren't showing up to inform your family one day. Think for a minute - is that person armed? Are they willing to run you off the road? Who else is going to get involved in this if it goes bad?

Just not worth the time IMHO - why risk it? Try to remember this saying:

Never argue with an idiot, they just bring you down to their level & beat you with experience.

[Knottscott]

I usually slow down or tap the brake a bit like most people, but several years ago I did something really stupid....and fortunately got away with it. I was going 51 in a 45 zone, there was traffic in front of me so the idiot was going nowhere, but he was still motivated to flip me the bird when I tapped the brakes. I didn't think I deserved that, and I pulled over to let him by, then proceeded to follow him home and demanded an apology. He was surprised and ticked off, but I was fortunate to get the apology and went on my merry way with no further escalation, but the ramifications of that move are obvious....definitely not recommended and definitely not repeated since... just a true confession of stupidity.

[tfischer]

My .02 -

As mentioned if you're in the left lane & you're not passing someone you're wrong, period end of statement.

Actually that's not quite true (although a good general policy). In many areas, such as the Twin Cities -- we need every inch of every traffic lane during rush hour. Each lane will move independently (usually really slowly) during rush hour.

A few years back, a state legislator wanted to pass a law basically coding into law what you said above. It was struck down when the transportation commissioner said that it just wouldn't work with our scarce freeway space...

-Tim

[JR]

As mentioned if you're in the left lane & you're not passing someone you're wrong, period end of statement

I spent a good portion of my late teens and early 20's driving in Germany. If you get rear-ended in the fast lane there, it may legally be your fault. That fact colors a lot of the driving etiquette there. Also they are well-trained drivers with wonderful habits. Oh, they'll tailgate like crazy! They actually will stagger cars leaning to the left and to the right in the fast lane to facilitate safe tailgaiting. But I digress...

When I returned to the 'States I'd get really angry at people who wouldn't pull over. I finally realized that, for whatever reason, people here just don't think they have to get out of the fast lane. No matter how obvious this simple act of driving kindness should be, people in America just don't seem to think it's worth doing.

Ok, so I got over getting angry about this stupidity. It's just the way it is. Then a new breed of road owners appeared. Those who not only have rights to determine fast-lane speed, but are determined that if you go around them (on the right-hand unsafe side where the blind spot is), they'll speed up to keep you from usurping their ownership privileges.

Now this makes my blood boil, because I can't figure out which agency licenses the fast-lane onwership rights. DMV won't do it. CalTrans doesn't know what I'm talking about (they're still busily making freeways with the on/off ramps on the right where the slower traffic is supposed to be). The CHP seem to be in the know; they're happy to let the owners occupy their property.

I want my own lane! JR's lane! I want to go how fast I want to go, when I want to go that fast! I don't want to have to learn how to change lanes! I want to disregard safety and courtesy norms as I see fit!

JR

[tfischer]

When I returned to the 'States I'd get really angry at people who wouldn't pull over. I finally realized that, for whatever reason, people here just don't think they have to get out of the fast lane. No matter how obvious this simple act of driving kindness should be, people in America just don't seem to think it's worth doing.

OK, so here's my beef. Lets say I'm driving on a freeway posted 60mph, and I'm doing about 66. I'm passing cars doing about 60mph, when some redneck comes up doing about 80 comes up behind me, flashing his lights and beating on his wheel. Is it really his God-given right to force me to slow down, pull behind the traffic I was attempting to pass (lets say the entire right lane is doing about 60mph for the forseeable distance ahead) and continue driving at the slower speed until such time he's by and I can get back into the fast lane? All so he can drive 20mph over the limit? And then repeat this proceedure every time another speed deamon comes along? I think not, but he evidently thinks so...

-Tim

[sacherjj]

First I hate tailgaters!!!! I'm from the tap the breaks and then coast school. But 1 thing I never do this if I'm in the left lane. The left lane is for passing and if someone can get up close enough to be a tailgater then you don't belong in the left lane.

Actually, when you are doing faster than the right lane, and you are doing over the speed limit, and someone is ahead of you (a safe distance) and holding you up. Then someone getting close enough to tailgaite you in the left lane is just a road rage'ing driver who needs to learn that being aggressive with a lethal weapon is wrong.

Some people just completely lose their heads when they get behind the wheel of a car. It is worth gambling everyone's lives around them so they get there 2 minutes earlier. I actually travel with a little foresight. If the light 1000 feet ahead of me just turned red, I let off the gas. Boy does this irritate those tailgaters. They whip around me and jam on the gas. Go 1/8 mile and jam on the brake. I go through the intersection, just after it turned green, accelerating from 20 mph, back up to the speed limit. They eventually catch up with me and run past me again, only to slam on the brakes for the red. Again I go through just as it turns green.

Not only is driving that way more dangerous, it uses more gas and more brake pad.

[JR]

Is it really his God-given right to force me to slow down, pull behind the traffic I was attempting to pass (lets say the entire right lane is doing about 60mph for the forseeable distance ahead) and continue driving at the slower speed until such time he's by and I can get back into the fast lane?

Yes. Well, sort of. If you're passing you don't have to pull over. If you can find a gap you should pull over. He's going fast, it won't take long before he's gone by.

Of course, implied in this is that he will pass expeditiously. Another pet peeve of mine is the driver who comes up from behind, I pull over, then he/she just sort of mosies past. Hey, I pulled over for you, get with the program!

JR

[scorrpio]

I remember reading that article in Guns'n'Ammo about a guy who built a functioning black powder cannon, and often takes it to a range, it is on a two-wheel trailer, muzzle pointing back when it's hitched to his car. Says it REALLY discourages tailgaters.

For those of us with no cannons...

I usually just shift lanes. I normally drive about 10mph over limit, conditions allowing. However, shifting is not always an option - like when I am in left lane passing a bunch of cars.

Tapping brakes rarely works - some of those people don't know squat about inertia, reaction times etc - they totally believe they can stop in time. I recall seeing this feature on TV where they offered a dare to random tailgaters: Studio's car was going down one lane, with a plastic pole tied horizontally to its rear bumper , extending across neighboring lane - and the other guy 'tailgating' that pole. Every single one believed they could stop before touching the pole. Every single one was surprised to break the pole when studio car would brake.
Some people, especially those in large cars, are just plain not afraid of rearending you - the worst are the kiddies in fully insured cars (paid for by parents). A kid who rams into you will fancy himself a 'road warrior' and boast his 'battle scars' to his friends as some achievement.
I once thought about installing a heavy gauge diamond steel plate with some spikes on my rear bumper, but some might actually take it as challenge. (I've seen some idiots tailgating 18-wheeler trucks) You don't want to scare them - you want to humiliate them or gross them out.

Fling a good-sized dollop of manure on their windshield. Or spray them with skunk secretion - in the macho mind of a tailgater, a wrecked car is a lot worse than stinking car.

[ErikS]

Actually that's not quite true (although a good general policy). In many areas, such as the Twin Cities -- we need every inch of every traffic lane during rush hour. Each lane will move independently (usually really slowly) during rush hour.
-Tim

LOL - I guess I was thinking more about normal driving, but it still happens in rush hour. In DC, where traffic is horrible (we're at something like #3 nationwide) even in rush hour it happens. Traffic eases up & there's "tweedle McDuh" moseying along in the left hand lane - won't pass traffic & won't get out of the left lane.........which leads to another unsafe situation -

People are forced to pass Tweedle McDuh on the right - which can be viewed as aggresive driving....the cause of which is really??

OK, so here's my beef. Lets say I'm driving on a freeway posted 60mph, and I'm doing about 66. I'm passing cars doing about 60mph..............

No, you're passing...but if a space opens up then you should - an easy way to get away from "Mr. Richard Head".

Note folks - I am not condoning tailgating, one of the worst things you can do IMHO.

[Stick]

Where I live we don't have divided highways, and I don't speed, so I'm constantly dealing with this problem. I wait until there's 3 behind me then pull over and let them pass. Lots of places that's law anyway. Years of underpowered semi's and farm trucks taught me patience. I fail to see the need to ecxeed posted speed limits. EVER!

[Russianwolf]

white lights on the back of a vehicle that turn on when you are not in reverse are illegal in all states. If a cop is behind that tailgater and see you do it, you will be going to jail (or ticketed).

My dream is an air gun with a small rock or chunck of ice. Shot straight through their grill and into the radiator. $100+ might teach them to back off. I'm still working on the targeting system though.

[Scottydont]

Washington State has some very strict road rage laws now. An intentional stab of the brakes causing an accident can be big trouble even though you got rear eneded. I have the Washington State Patrol on speed dial on my cell and call them pretty frequently since I travel for my job and there are plenty of idiots on the road.

In my younger days I would flip someone the bird or confront someone at a light but at 44 married with a kid I have no interest in doing that.

[gjat]

I do ITS (intelligent transportation systems) and traffic signals. I spend alot of time building things to help control traffic and alot of time observing driver behavior.
If somebody is going 66 in a 60 mph zone, he IS expected to yeild right of way to somebody going 67 or 97. That is the design of the US roadways and laws. If you are in a 6 lane highway, 65mph zone, going 70 in the center lane, you ARE supposed to be in the right-most lane and only change lanes to pass slower vehicles. It's about yeilding the righ-of-way. The default lane is the right-most lane, whether it's 2 lanes or 22 lanes.
I cruise at 79mph in a 70 zone. I travel in the rightmost lane possible and pass on the left. I rarely have a problem with 'speeders' and I'd rather slow a little and let them pass because that's what I want the guy going 71 in the left lane to do for me.
Again. Basic design rules of our roadways and our laws.
SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP TO THE RIGHT NO MATTER WHAT YOUR SPEED IS.
PASS ON THE LEFT.
I've witnessed more accidents and read more accident studies than an ambulance chasing lawyer. There are lot's of dead people who had the right right of way and felt they had the right to stay in 'their' lane, but there are more dead people who were killed as a result of others choice to not yeild "their RIGHT of way".
For all you brake tappers and/or immobile objects in the left lane, SHAME on you! The person that will probably get hurt when you cause the jerk tailgating you is their passenger, the family 3 cars behind that will get t-boned after the jerk swerves off then back on the road, or the older couple on vacation traveling the other way getting smashed by a tumbling, out-of-control jerk vehicle who 'lost it' in the ditch as he tried to get around you.

Does being in the RIGHT have to be that important to you? (But it IS good for my business.)

[Russianwolf]

Okay, I will put this forward and would like to see what people think is the proper thing to do. I will post tomorrow what I did, and the other driver's reaction.

I was going South on I-81 from Hagerstown in our eep Wrangler. I drive fast, I was doing 79ish in a 65. I was passing everyone so I was in the left lane. We get to the bridge across the Potomac and a guy comes flying up behind me in his Ford Expedition and starts tailgating me. At this time I was just starting to pass a Semi. The speed limit changes on the other side of the bridge to 70.

So how would you handle this?