BWAHA: Driver's cooperate against tailgater!

Ok, this I can understand. You’re playing by the rules, not intending to be some Highway Desperado exerting authority over everyone else and just being frank about your emotional reaction to tailgaters.

Cool. :cool:

Clearly the British.

Mods… MODS… isn’t there a rule against sensible and inteligent posting in the pit? if there is I need to report Bear_Nenno for attempting to ruin a perfectly catastrophic train crash with an unreasonably decent and meaningful post.

A couple of points:

  1. One problem is that “tailgating” is pretty subjective. How close does a car have to get before he’s “bullying” you? Some people have a pretty low tolerance for cars coming up behind them and think anyone approaching is obviously a crazed asshole. If you are convinced that the guy approaching you is a crazed asshole and you lose your will to cooperate, you end up turning him into a crazed asshole by refusing to get out of the way. Then you’re the cause of the escalation.

  2. While I wouldn’t go so far as to claim that tailgating in the left lane is impossible, I would say that if you find a car right behind you in the left lane, either:[list=a]
    [li]there’s someone directly in front of you, in which case you’re not an asshole[/li][li]there’s someone preventing you from switching lanes, and whether or not you’re an asshole depends entirely on how long you’re taking to pass them (hint: if they’re going 60 and you’re going 60.0001, you’re an asshole)[/li][li]you’re just hanging out in the left lane, being an asshole[/li][/list]

On a motorcycle…

When the wife sitting on the “P” pad can touch your car, you are an asshole tailgater no matter what the traffic is doing and you should have your DL revoked for a year minimum.

The person who races up the closing lane to crowd into the already formed merge for construction lane should have all four of their tires shot out and the asshat that lets them crowd into line should have two tires shot out and both get $500 tickets.

Air cooled motorcycle can’t idle in traffic for 45 minutes in construction zones without major damage. They can keep moving on the shoulder or stop their engines. If you hit them with doors or crowd past them while they are restarting the engine, you should get all four tires shot out and a $500 ticket.

YMMV

Ok, just to clarify because it sounds as though some of you took me literally.
The comment about it being ‘impossible’ to tailgate in the left lane was an attempt at facetiously dry humor.
More clearly, I meant that if everyone plays by the rules there would be NO tailgating in the left lane since the people that might be in the way would have gotten out of the way for the passer. The End.

GunsNSpot, you can say the P word in the pit. :cool:

So… GusNSpot, own a motorcycle do ya’?

“P” stands for “passenger” I assume?

“P” = Passenger… yepper, that’s the ticket … :wink:

I have no idea if this is true or not but rumour has it that a guy I went to highschool with used to punish tailgaters in this manner. He would pop out the brakelight fuse from under the dash and drive as fast as he could while being tailgated and then suddenly slam on the brakes. The tailgater would ploughup the back of Nick’s car and he would replace the fuse before the police turned up and just say that an animal ran across the road and the other guy was too close. In Australia if you rear-end someone it is your fault… I have never heard of anyone getting off.

As it is here. However, drivers are also charged with the responsibilty to take all reasonable precautions to avoid an accident - no matter who might be the cause of it. Impeding traffic flow does not meet this test.

Lemme ask you left-lane obstructionists a simple question. Did you feel safer while these incidents were happening than you would have if the tailgating offender had simply sped on by? No? Didn’t think so. Thus, you were the driver committing the more dangerous act.

Okay - let’s summarize:

  1. Does everybody agree that driving at an unsafe speed is bad? Yes.

  2. Does everybody agree that tailgating is bad? Yes.

  3. Okay - if someone comes up behind you, driving at an unsafe speed and tailgating - are they bad? Yes.

  4. Now - regardless of what you were doing - EVEN if you were trying to pass someone yourself at the time - is it safer to get out of the way of that bad, unsafe tailgater and let them pass? Yes.

And, as other posters have pointed out, AAA and a major insurance company state as much.

Isn’t that the end of it?

If the store owner had just put bars on his windows, padlocked the doors and put in an alarm system, there would have been no opportunity to steal.

False analogy. Jewelry stores have bars, locks, and alarms and still get robbed in broad daylight.

After reading four pages of messages, feel I’m ready to weigh in…

First, CynicalGabe, people are wondering how you ended up in the passing lane, but were keeping pace with the Cool Blue Dude. Either you pulled up next to him, and slowed down to match his speed, or you got even with him, and he began to accelerate. Seems like the latter case is more likely, as you mention that he began pulling ahead of you, but not sure. Just trying to get everyone on the same page.

Secondly, regarding the notion that you can’t be tailgated in the left lane without doing something wrong…I call bullshit. I’ve been on many an interstate where there are 1) more cars in the chain than you can tell until you pull into the passing lane, 2) cars have pulled into right-hand lane from an on-ramp, taking the spot you were hoping to and 3) drivers getting angry that you pulled into their passing lane and accelerated up to meet you. If a person is aggressive enough to tailgate, they can be aggressive enough to accelerate up to meet you.

That having been said, different DoT’s from different states have different recommendations for how to handle tailgaters. This one, for exxample, comes from the Iowa Department of Transportation. Some examples that seem relevant to what we’ve talked about here:

  • Follow the laws of the road.
  • Be polite and courteous.
  • Stay within the speed limits.
  • Put some physical distance between you and drivers who are behaving erratically.
  • Don’t show a reaction to the aggressive driver; especially, avoid eye contact.
  • Avoid behaviors that antagonize or irritate others.
  • Learn to control your temper and keep your cool in traffic.
  • Be tolerant of those who exhibit non-conforming traffic behaviors.

So a state government recommends tolerating non-conforming traffic behaviors, rather than “teaching them a lesson.” Surprise, surprise…

Many (if not all) states have started cracking down on aggressive drivers. Get a cell phone and next time you see a driver being an idiot, dial *77 to report said idiot. There, you’ve done your part to keep highways safer without being a danger to anyone.

*77?

Might be #77, I’m not sure.

But what is it?

Oh, sorry. It’s a direct dial to the state police but according to this list, California doesn’t have one in place. Then again, Virginia’s isn’t listed on there either and I know we have one.

Exactly.

There aren’t many things that piss me off more than someone using the passing lane as a driving lane. If you aren’t actively passing (and it doesn’t appear that you were), then move your ass out of the passing lane.