But is it illegal?
A car is not typically viewed a “deadly weapon.”
I’ve flashed brights at left-lane hoggers (no more than that) - would you regard that as a threat, or as a friendly reminder to move over (which is how I’ve intended it.)?
In that case - or the case of the asshole tailgater (or to be fair, the asshole brights-flasher like me) - you’re assuming the threat as something deadly.
Chances are, the person behind, while undoubtedly acting like an asshole for ten-plus miles, may simply be communicating “hey dude, please move over because you have two dozen people crawling along behind you.”
No judgement on the OP here but obstructing or impeding traffic are also chargeable offenses depending on the state.
The “what you should have done” question could be quite relevant to your chances in a civil action, I’d think. Suppose the other guy argues that even if he was tailgating you, you could have mitigated the danger by slowing down, so that his stopping distance matched the distance between your cars, instead of exceeding it. In that case a jury might be convinced the risk was partially your doing, and not award any money.
So the question of whether you have a chance of prevailing seems like it could be linked to the question of whether you did the right thing.
It may not be commonly considered as such, but it does fit the legal definition of (an object “that when used as an instrument of offense is capable of causing death or sometimes serious bodily harm”.
As for your other point, flashing your lights, or otherwise signaling to another driver is not a direct threat. You are not creating a dangerous situation, and there’s no implication of attack.
On the other hand, if you crowd close to somebody (whether in a vehicle or in person), that is instinctively perceived as a threat. That threat is nullified with a simple “Sorry”, “excuse me”, similar polite phrase or by the context of being in a space where crowding is unavoidable.
If such a stretch of road actually existed, you would probably have just as much luck (i.e., none) suing the government body that built/maintains such a danger.
You might be surprised. Every state has a statute that waives its sovereign immunity from suit under specified conditions.
In some instances, as state will permit suits for emergent road conditions if the appropriate administrative body can be shown to have had actual notice of the condition.
For example if there is run off that creates a dangerous ice patch that has caused repeated accidents, a suit interpleading the appropriate govt body for permitting that condition to persist may well be successful.
The last time I had his issue, also on a mountain road with no passing zones, I put on my left turn signal, slowed and crossed the double yellow lines when I knew no one was approaching from ahead, and moved over and placed my high beams on for spite and let him pass on the right. I think he got that he was being an ass, and I was also for doing what I did, but he sped on and dissapeared from sight. I got back in my lane and moved on.
Again, can we keep this thread on topic? It’s not about what to do, not do or what “you” did about tailgating. It’s about taking hypothetical legal action against the tailgater and how that might resolve in the courts.
Not that anyone would probably notice, but I misused interpleader in my last post. I was thinking of joining a necessary party, but it works just as well if you make the state a co-defendant. Mea culpa.
It is indeed a problem…but when you have two vehicles speeding towards each other, it’s a bigger problem than when you have one vehicle at a standstill and one which is in motion.
I’m having a hard time imagining a 10-mile stretch of road without one single place to pull over. With that many deer, surely car-deer accidents aren’t uncommon. Getting a tow truck on scene must create a real hazard.
Depends on the time of year. Yesterday I had a tailgater follow me for almost but not quite 10 miles where I couldn’t find a place to pull over because they were all snow-covered. Despite having ample room to pass. And also despite there being a car in front of me, which in a semi-blizzard condition is not the safest situation. (Semi-blizzard: heavy wind but no snow, and there were places where the drifts created whiteout conditions.)
I’m in western PA. I’ve hit three or four deer over the years, but never required a tow.
ETA: When I lived in Philly, there was massive work being done on the Schuylkill Expressway. For miles, Jersey Barriers restricted traffic to a (barely) single lane. Breakdowns involved a tow truck backing miles up the highway to the dead car.
I’d like to know where it is where the highway engineers laid a ten-mile, shoulderless stretch of road.
ETA: Oh, I see that you are insisting that we take this unrealistic hypothetical as you’ve put it to us. Well, in that case, why not hypothesize that there is a statute awarding the tailgatee a million dollars for his suffering.
That said, you have no cause of action. There was no harm, and the conduct was not so outrageous as to rise to intentional infliction of emotional distress. The courts are not in the business of guaranteeing a life of skittles and beer. Dismissed with prejudice.
