What the hell are you tailgating me for? I’m in the middle of three lanes, going with the flow of traffic, keeping a sensible distance between my wee Saturn and the car in front of me. You’re right on my tail, looming over me, heck, I can practically feel your hot impatient breath on the back of my neck.
Why? Why do this when the left lane – you know, the one that’s for passing – is wide open for dozens, nay, scores of yards behind and before us? If I’m going too slow for you, why don’t you just pull left and pass me?
And it’s not like you’re camped here in the middle lane because you’re going to be pulling off the highway soon and need to be in position, oh, no. You could pass me on the right, too, if you wanted to. But no, there you sit, inches from my car, mile after mile.
Heck, when I finally pull over into the right lane to get ready for my own turnoff, you roar past so fast, so close, you almost clip my bumper. The last I see of you, you’re zooming up to tailgate the next car ahead of you in the middle lane.
Ahh yes, Mr.-I’m-too-important-to-change-lanes. He’s always in a big hurry.
This is the same guy in the mall who will walk right towards and walk right into you rather than move the slightest bit to the side.
My plan is always to stop walking and stiff arm the SOB. I never do. I always see the guy at the last second and step aside instinctively. I don’t think about stiff arming him until he walks past.
Mess with his mind. Slow down, inperceptively slowly, then speed up to catch the traffic in front allowing safe distance but not enough to encourage him to pass.
Repeat till he gets the message, or slow down to 45 or minimum allowed on the freeway or interstate so he’ll move on to harras another car, hopefully an unmarked patrol car with two plain clothes officers of the law.
Damn Scylla, I never figured you for a wimp. I tend to come to a dead halt and watch their last minute evasive manuevers. You almost never get hit, and it fucks with the bastard’s heads quite nicely.
I was being tail-gated rather egregiously once, but in my case, traffic was heavy enough so that passing was not an option. Also, it wouldn’t have helped, since both lanes were moving at the same speed. So there was nowhere to go, and riding my ass couldn’t possibly make me move any faster. This guy and (apparently) his wife were about 3 feet from my bumper for miles in very heavy traffic moving around 45 mph. Tapping my brakes a few times had no effect, so I turned around in my seat and just stared directly at him for about 5 seconds (while still driving*). It worked perfectly. He immediately backed off and I could see the wife giving him hell for his driving.
*I know, never take your eyes off the road. It was stupid. Stupid enough to work, though.
Why are you in the middle lane if you are not passing anybody in the righthand lane? Ever heard of “keep right except to pass” That’s no reason for some idiot to tailgate but still…
If we all followed the rules of the road, everything would move much better and safer.
People do that to me all the time, when I’m on the highway and my engine is still cold. I turn on my rear foglight - especially at night, it’s so bright they have to back off or change lanes just to avoid being blinded.
When my engine is warm, I’m usually going fast enough to avoid this problem.
PLease, let’s NOT turn this into a five-page debate on whether we can drive in the MIDDLE lane now. I drive in the middle lane all the time, too - when there’s three lanes, the righthand lane is always merging on and off, and I like to stay out of the way of those people if I’m going multiple exits.
I get tailgated all the time too, EFT. I’m trying to look at it as other people helping me become more enlightened by giving me opportunities to work on not letting things I can’t change bother me.
Rhubarb, my husband was taught in Defensive Driving that when you’re being tailgated like that, you should make sure that you have a really good cushion of space in front of you, should the hemorrhoid behind you do something even stupider than tailgating. If that means slowing down to make space, that’s what ya gotta do.
I forgot to mention that I was maintaining a (somewhat) reasonable distance (a couple of car lengths). This idiot was close enough that I could read his lips, if he was saying anything and I knew how to read lips.
BTW, the middle lane is for normal traffic. The left lane is for passing/faster traffic. The right lane is for slower or merging/exiting traffic. Assuming ETF was going at about the same speed as the rest of the traffic, she was in the right place. The self-important idiot in the SUV (an all too common breed) was just being a jerk.
OTOH, had ETF been in the left lane and someone came up behind her, she SHOULD move over and allow them to pass (as I am sure she would). Very few drivers understand this law either.
Precisely. The highway I was on (Route 1 in Lynnfield heading into Saugus, Massachusetts) has a lot of traffic constantly entering and exiting, and you don’t drive in the far right lane unless you’re planning to take an exit or enjoy creeping along and frequently braking to avoid hitting merging traffic. I was going at the same speed as all the other traffic in the middle lane, the de facto travel lane on that road.
I really wish the jerk had just pulled out and passed me. I always feel safer when people like that are ahead of me and I can leave a respectable amount of space between my car and theirs.
I hate being tail-gated. My usual responses are to either a) speed up enough that they have room to pass, or b) slow down until they finally get out from behind me. However, when option (a) fails and they just keep riding my tail, I have been known to move over and let them pass, then speed up enough that I can keep them from going around an even slower car ahead. I know this is childish and immature, but it does make me feel better.
What I have never done, but fantasize about, is to just lock up my brakes. They’re so fond of my bumper, let 'em see it up close and personal. Not only does their insurance company get to buy me a new bumper, they get a ticket for following too close. Again, I’ve never done it, but the tempation is there.
I don’t really see how this same guy could have been behind ETF’s Saturn today on Rt. 1 when he was behind my Saturn on I-25 on Saturday!
But what really infuriated me was that, after I’d pulled in to the (slower, but not too crowded since it was a weekend) right-hand lane so the SUV could pass, it did not pass but slowed down and pulled back. When I pulled back into the middle lane, it moved back up.
Maybe its driver was trying to read my bumper stickers?
No rear foglamps, but in my “young but still old enough to know better” days I kept a six “D” cell Maglite in the car to show the hibeam club the error of their ways. Rest the business end on your shoulder (pseudo-bench seat made this possible) and let your arm aim. I’d imagine it works fine for the rest of the Room Temperature IQ Club as well.
Of course, I also had those two stickers that everyone wanted to see for themselves: the classic “How’s my driving? Dial 1-800-EAT-SHIT” and my personal favorite “Dial 911: Make a Cop Come” so I’m guessing a few tailgaters just had to verify that they actually saw what they saw.
Slamming on the brakes isn’t advisable, but a quick brake check can show you just how likely those SUVs are to roll over.
And I just love the assholes who will ride your rear bumper, frantically honking at you and flashing their headlights in your mirror to get the hell out of their way. And then an opening appears in the right lane, but before you can move over, Mr. Jackass has zoomed over into that spot, cruised past you and then cut over in front of you.
And then what does he do? He either 1) slows down and does the speed limit or 2) gets off at the next exit. WTF? If you were getting off at the next exit, why the hell did you just pull the stunt you did? :wally
You’re joking, right? It’s a 3-lane road. If you can provide a cite that says the MIDDLE LANE is for passing only, I’ll retract the following comment: You’re a moron.
So get out of the damn right lane when I’m trying to merge from the on-ramp!
This happened to me a few years ago, but rather than an SUV it was a tractor-trailor (a lorry I think, in the UK) It was night and there was NO ONE in the other two lanes. He could have easily passed. Of course, I got stupid and stuborn too, and so rather than change lanes, I just eased off the gas petal. (I like to believe that I am more grown-up now, but I’m full of shit :)) Soon we were both going about 35 miles per hour in a 65. Then, since I can accelerate much more quickly than he, I punched it and soon he was a small speck in my rear-view.
A brief note to speed demons who find themselves behind MY saturn: if you are so close to me that I worry that fumes from your engine will singe my tailfeathers, I’m going to have a really hard time taking my eyes off your bumper long enough to figure out whether I can move right and get out of your way. (This usually happens when I am in the left lane, having moved over to avoid merging traffic. About the time traffic clears but before I decide to move right again, someone who is apparently incapable of determining that my saturn is not going ten or more miles above the speed limit without being on my bumper shows up on my bumper and starts flashing headlights at me. Actually, half the time, they flash the lights, the other half they just drive around me on the right. Either way, they don’t help much with the "I’d move right but I’m scared of the driver behind me
" problem I tend to have. Oddly enough, I don’t recall any white SUVs doing this to me lately.
Yeah, but by the time I remember I’m supposed to be a tough guy and not back down, I’ve already stepped aside. The moment is lost, and I’m left to confront my inner pussyhood.
