It depends on the road. In the Napa Valley there’s an abundance of two-lane windy, hilly roads. Fortunately, we’ve got lots of turnouts, even though it appears that few tourists actually know what they’re for.
Anyhoo: around here, if you’re on one of the two lane windy, hilly roads you really do need to drive slower when it’s dark. In the daylight, it’s easy to see that sharp turn coming up and slow down accordingly. In the dark? Not so much. There are no streetlights on these roads and when it’s dark it’s dark. Not to mention the assholes who drive in the opposite lanes with their brights on (which is fine, after all it is dark) and fail to turn them down when they see you coming. So on top of a bunch of sharp turns that appear to pop out of nowhere, you’re blinded by oncoming traffic half the time.
Also, please note: If you drive an SUV, do not tailgate, you are BLINDING the person you’re tailgating! I think a lot of SUV drivers don’t realize that their headlights go right into the back window of smaller cars. Good luck trying to make a car go faster via tailgating, you’ve now blinded the driver!
It depends on the road. In the Napa Valley there’s an abundance of two-lane windy, hilly roads. Fortunately, we’ve got lots of turnouts, even though it appears that few tourists actually know what they’re for.
Anyhoo: around here, if you’re on one of the two lane windy, hilly roads you really do need to drive slower when it’s dark. In the daylight, it’s easy to see that sharp turn coming up and slow down accordingly. In the dark? Not so much. There are no streetlights on these roads and when it’s dark it’s dark. Not to mention the assholes who drive in the opposite lanes with their brights on (which is fine, after all it is dark) and fail to turn them down when they see you coming. So on top of a bunch of sharp turns that appear to pop out of nowhere, you’re blinded by oncoming traffic half the time.
Also, please note: If you drive an SUV, do not tailgate, you are BLINDING the person you’re tailgating! I think a lot of SUV drivers don’t realize that their headlights go right into the back window of smaller cars. Good luck trying to make a car go faster via tailgating, you’ve now blinded the driver!
Mama Tiger, about your “enjoying the scenery” comment. Too many drivers up here drive slow enough in daylight to “enjoy the scenery” and it drives me nuts. Yes, it’s beautiful. If you want to enjoy the scenery pull over and enjoy it to your little heart’s content. I live here, I need to get places, not everyone up here is here on vacation. Granted, Yosemite is a bit different as it’s predominantly tourists, but please keep in mind that not everyone is on vacation.
A relative of mine (who will not be named here) will tailgate the offending slow driver, speed up and pass ASAP, then cut in front of the slow car and brake. This is intended to “teach him a lesson.” IMHO this is stupid & dangerous. The only thing it causes is for the slow driver to (justifiably) think the faster driver is an a$$ and for the passenger to get a stomach ache. I keep waiting for this person to be ticketed and fined for overly-aggressive driving, but so far this has not happened.
So let’s get this straight, some asshole tailgates, gets pissed off because they can’t pass, get all road raged out, but you’re not calling for their head?
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No only assholes tailgate you and almost run you off the road.
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Sure, because them being a bad driver could be the only possible reason they are driving at 35 at that exact moment in time you happen to be behind them. :rolleyes:
World Eater, we’re not talking about some random hypothetical situation wherein someone drives 35 in a 55 because they are bleeding profusely from the spleen or something. We’re discussing this situation, where the OP drove 35 in a 55 because he did not have the requisite skill set to drive near the posted speed limit for the road. :rolleyes: yourself.
As far as people who tailgate, of course they’re rude fucks. I’m not disagreeing with that. Running people off the road isn’t good. What I’m referring to is the attitude of many in this thread that slowing down in a passive-agressive maner in response to tailgating is the correct and appropriate thing to do. Do you believe that it is?
badmana, I think lezlers stated what I was thinking more clearly by saying:
Also, the OP stated that the limit was 55 on straightaways and down to 30 in curving areas. So 35 could have been quite reasonable for the location. As for me, I refuse to let any idiot behind me force me to speed or drive faster than I think is safe. I stay to the right and drive at a speed that is appropriate for the conditions and my vehicle. I’m not going to get my feelings hurt if you pass me, but I’m not going to change the way I drive because someone else has a need for speed.
IIRC from driver’s ed class, we were instructed that the speed limits were the maximum safe speeds under ideal conditions - and night time (limited visibility) is not ** ideal **.
If I were (was???) driving on an unfamiliar, winding, hilly road with little to no shoulder and no streetlights at dark, I would certainly drive less than the speed limit. Only seems prudent to me. I’m not sure I would’ve tried to tick off the driver behind me, but it’s happened before.
I was going to cut the OP some slack when you said that (and recheck my eyes) but no, the OP clearly states he was doing about 35 at the start with no mention of how slow they were taking the turns. On a straight road, at night, he was doing 35 in a 55 zone. If you don’t feel safe to do 55 in a 55 zone then your car isn’t going to pass it’s safety inspection. Sheesh, it’s not like indy car racing!
And slowing to 20 mph? WTF is up with that? Idiot is right. I’d probably start to be concerned the driver was having a heart attack and call the police. But the OP was just being dumb. If you’re going to go through the trouble of slowing down further, at least pull over!
Let me get this straight: Someone behind you communicates to you in one of the only two ways possible, you clearly receive the message, and in response you deliberately try to frusterate her in the most inconvenient way you can think of. You are a Grade-A asshat. You are so blindly selfish that you refuse to acknowledge that the driver behind you has no choice but to tolerate your rudeness, not letting her pass, or communicating with you as politely as possible, giving the lights a quick flash or the horn a quick beep.
You must be great on the golf course. When somebody asks to play through you respond by ignoring them and playing even more slowly until they are forced to skip a hole to get ahead of you.
Or in the grocery store, when a person with one item asks to go ahead of you and your full cart, you respond by ignoring them and then putting point of purchase items on the conveyor just so that your transaction will take longer.
You really are a wonderful person. You should be proud that you have successfully become the rudest person on the road. That is no small accomplishment!
I run into this all the time during my AM and PM commutes. I drive along this road that has two lanes each way that are completely full. There is almost always somebody tailgating along way too close behind me, and I just don’t understand it. It’s usually an SUV, so they can see very well that the road is full and I can’t possibly speed up for them. I’ve come to the conclusion that they are such bad drivers that they don’t actually understand why tailigating is dangerous, and have no idea they’re driving badly.
Wow. I never knew that being a good driver meant balancing your speedometer needle on the speed limit at all times. Nor was I ever aware that the speed limit on a road relieved you of the burden of judging the prevailing conditions and deciding for yourself that a slower speed may be safer. And I never suspected that only the very best drivers are permitted out on the open road.
I guess some people deserve to be forced off the road and into a ditch. That way the roads will clear for the good drivers and we’ll all be safer.
Didn’t see this before; my husband tells me that he was trained in the Defensive Driving course he took as a teenager that the proper response to tailgaters is indeed to make a larger space in front of you. The rationale here is that if you are being followed too closely in the rear, you want to minimize the severity of the accident that could happen by making sure you won’t be pushed into the car in front of you.
Of course, this doesn’t apply on deserted roads. In that situation, I would try to let Mr. Speedy get on by so he doesn’t involve me in a dangerous situation any longer.
What the fuck was the OP supposed to do, speed up and feel even more unsure about their driving? Boo hoo, the guy had to wait 2 minutes before an opportunity to pass arose.
My driving mantra is “Let the assholes go.” They want to pass me? Fine. I’ll let them pass me. Then I can call them assholes as they zip away. I really love when they get to a red light before I do, and it turns so that I end up driving by them because I didn’t even have to stop. Way to save yourself 10 seconds, asshole!
I learned to drive in LA and just don’t want to risk pissing off the wrong tailgater. The ARMED one.
I guess, in the same way that slapping people in the head is more appropriate than peeing on them. Speeding up may not be an option for someone who’s simply freaked out even being on a road in the dark, but that doesn’t mean that being passive aggressive is the correct option. There are more than those two options here, you know.
Slowing down for a tailgater isn’t a matter of passive-aggressiveness; it’s a matter of safety. The OP was driving under the speed limit (UPPER limit) because conditions were less than optimal. By tailgating, flashing his lights to blind the driver in front, and honking his horn (a distraction), the tailgater added more difficulty to the driving situation. Slowing down is a good idea when you have someone riding your ass because it reduces the likelihood of them rear-ending you when you have to hit the brakes for the deer that just jumped out in front of you – or reduces the impact if they hit you. It also encourages them to pass you and eliminate the dangerous situation when an opportunity does arise.
Chill out. It won’t kill somebody to get there a minute later because they had to slow down for a few miles. And tailgaters get NO sympathy from me.
Rrriiiiight. I’m sure no one in this thread who suggesting slowing down in response to a tailgater was doing it for any reason other than safety. That’s a rather disingenuous interpretation of the statements made in this thread, don’t you think?
And finally, in my opinion, the right thing to do would have been to proceed normally until an opportunity to pass presented itself. Slow down, with the right turn signal on, and signal the other driver to pass you, perhaps by waving them on. Proceed on your way, with less stress in your life, in the other driver’s life, and to the World Karmic Force in general.
Further analysis of exactly WHY you can’t handle normal driving tasks as well as other people is an optional exercise to be pursued at another time.
My sister’s best friend was guilty of this very behavior. She was driving in her truck with her husband in the passenger seat, on a windy two-lane, she got stuck behind some guy doing half the speed limit, she flashed her lights and honked at him, and – sure enough – he slowed down, way down. Because of course, in his mind, she was being an asshole and so by God he was going to be an asshole as well. Except what he didn’t know was that her husband was having a heart attack, and half the speed limit all the way into town was not going to work well for him.
If someone indicates a great anxiety to get around you, slow down or stop and let them around. There is always the chance – remote, I admit it, but still there – that they have a legitimate need to go faster than whatever speed you’ve decided to go. Moreover, it these days of road rage, it is always safer to let an aggressive driver get past you and away from you than to intentionally antagonize him and goad him into doing something reckless or stupid.
So I vote for “You were an idiot.” Note that this judgment is independent of the actions of the dickhead behind you, who was a bigger idiot. But I would have immediately slowed way down, and pulled over as far as I could to the right, and waited for the guy to pass me. Then he can hurry on to his appointment to careen off a cliff because he’s going too fast, and I can continue my drive without being harassed or pissed off.
