If someone is tailgating me, then slowing down to give myself more time/space for emergency braking is a reasonable course of action.
I actually just came in to complain about “break peddle”. Ouch. Seriously?
But while I am here, I admit I despise people who regularly go ten miles below the limit and slow down for a green light. This happens all the time on our 40 mph road and they are a problem!
Tailgaters are assholes, absolutely. But if you can’t handle normal driving speeds maybe you need to not be on the roads at rush hour. The fault is on both sides.
I don’t see how it’s even an issue. They still sell Yosemite Sam “BACK OFF” mud flaps, right?
My beef is a faster car in the left lane, while I’m in the right lane coming up behind a car going significantly slower than either of us. Being polite, I let the left-land car pass me and when it’s even with the slow car, I pull into the left lane to also pass.
Too many times the person in the left lane thinks I’m getting too close so they slow down so that I’ll slow down and increase the distance between us. However, if they kept going their original speed there would be plenty of distance between us in a second or two.
The other beef is after the other car passes both of us, sometimes they move into the right hand lane (in front of the slower car) and then slow down, so either I pass them, or more strangely, they slow down just enough so we now end up going the same speed and because they’re next to me I can’t pull over either.
Pick one speed and stick with it!
I’m a mild-mannered driver but tailgaters make me irrationally angry. I usually slow down, tap my brakes, and act like I’m adjusting my rear view mirror to let them know I’m watching them. If it’s bad enough I’ll just pull over and let them speed off to their death.
To paraphrase Office Space, why do I have to pull over if he’s the one who sucks?
I guess I don’t get the requirement to pull over if you have five cars behind you on a two-lane road. If I’m at or above the speed limit, what is the issue beyond that the road is busy enough to have that many people on it? And won’t they all just speed up and still be on each other’s butts?
Genius!
Ditto to above!
THIS! 
Sorry, I have to call you on a false assumption.
You don’t need to be on any drug to show this kind of immature attitude.
Although it helps.
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Its the law.
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It prevents road rage.
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Your speedometer is likely incorrect
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Someone in that line may have a very real emergency.
So- why be a dick? Follow the law, and use the turn-out.
Oh, is that one of their excuses?! My speedometer must be wrong?!! Right. If the limit is 40 and I’m going 50 (give or take, I guess), is road rage really an appropriate response?
Anyhoo, if anyone besides the first car has a “real emergency”, they’re still going to be waiting in line.
That’s what your horn is for.
Wait, that’s a totally different ticket. 
What I hate almost as much as someone tailgating me is someone in front of me tailgating the car in front of him and constantly tapping or riding his brakes. So I’m seeing his taillights go blink blink blink like morse code, which forces me to be hyper vigilant because I don’t know if I have to prepare for a traffic slowdown of if he’s just backing off an inch from the guy in front of him. If you have to constantly hit your brakes, you’re too damn close!
Or the ones who go charging up on the car in front like that, only slamming on the brakes right at the last second as if to say, “Gadzooks! There’s a car ahead of me!”
You don’t fucking say. I swear some people can’t see more than 5 feet down the highway…
The turn-outs effectively add a (temporary) extra lane, so you aren’t really “pulling over” (as in, off the road onto the shoulder) so much as moving to the right lane to allow others to pass on the left.
Particularly as I’ve gotten older and ostensibly wiser, I’m much happier to let the other assholes get around me and out of my life forever if there’s a safe opportunity to do so, rather than play passive-aggressive “let’s teach them a lesson” games or feel like I’ve lost my manhood if I allow someone to drive 5 mph faster than me.
Agreed, this is nerve-wracking. Even worse are the idiots who do this when there’s nobody in front of them. Are they watching a DVD on their dashboard console? Braking for the ghosts of dead deer? Afraid that the brake pedal will become jealous of the accelerator if it doesn’t get equal attention? Practicing tap dancing as they drive?
To me, this is more amusing than annoying. Hypervigilance is not required if you are following at a safe distance; just drop back a bit and snicker at what an idiot this guy is for not being able to use his accelerator pedal in moderation.
If you’re not sure whether you need to prep for a traffic slowdown, then I suggest watching further up the road to see what the cars up there are doing. If you don’t feel you can spare the attention to achieve this, then guess what - you are following too close.
Is an ordinary safe following distance, and ordinary vigilance, sufficient when someone directly in front of you is doing something that makes an accident more likely?
If the tailgater is obscuring your view of the preceding vehicle’s brake lights, you’ll have even a moment’s less warning of an abrupt brake.
It’s a simple rule:
If a following distance of X (where X is the current distance between you and the vehicle in front of you) demands hypervigilance on your part to avoid causing an accident, then increasing your following distance to some value greater than X should allow you to return to ordinary levels of vigilance.
I do watch further up the road when I’m able, and I don’t tailgate, thank you very much. But I’ve had traffic come to a sudden catastrophic stop in front of me many times over the years, to the point where I’ve had a close call stopping in time, even allowing proper distance in front. I’ve never rear-ended anybody, but I’ve been rear-ended because somebody 3 cars behind me wasn’t paying attention.
People familiar with a road are going to go faster than those not. I’ve seen turnouts mostly on two lane winding roads - and I am happy to use them. Why do you want five cars piled up behind you? They will, almost by definition, be zipping off faster than you, so you won’t be slowed down at all.
I always liked the bumper sticker that said:
If you can read this, you’re too fucking close. Back off!