Holy shit :eek:
This is what I would do:
*Grabs State of CA’s (or appropriate one) Driver’s Handbook and hands it to Officer as exhibit #1."
Me: "Officer, please turn to page #. Do you see the highlighted passage under the "Know What Is Behind You " section?
Officer: “Yes.”
Me: “Can you read what is highlighted?”
Officer: “Check traffic behind you often to know if you are being tailgated (another driver is following too closely). If you are being tailgated, be careful! Brake slowly before stopping. Tap your brakes lightly a few times to warn the tailgater you are slowing down.”
Me: “Officer, how could I possibly be guilty of this infraction if I was following EXACTLY what it says to do in the State’s own Drivers handbook? Is it my fault that the other driver didn’t even bother to pay attention to where they are driving or how?”
Officer: “Ummm, yes, it is your fault.”
Me: “How is that so when the state’s own publication from the DMV - the ones that set the rules that you are to uphold - says to do what I did make me at fault?”
I would love to hear THAT answer!
Link to CA’s Driver’s Handbook: https://apps.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/scanning.htm
Relevant section is the one cited above.
CA’s Driver’s Handbook is not a legal document.
Legal advice is best suited to IMHO. Please note that this thread was started in 2009.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Someone has been tailgating you for 5 years! :eek:
Te last time somebody was tailgating me, i was in the right land, crossing a bridge (2 lanes each way) and we were the only 2 cars on the road. I know he didn’t want to turn right unless he was planning on driving into the creek, so no reason to be tailing me in the right lane. He was so close that all I could see was his windshield and I was already speeding myself.
No excuse for him to be tailing me.
I looked in my rear view mirror and said ‘Go ahead and hit me, I need money, a new car, and a vacation and you can pay for it’.
I don’t know if he could read my lips but
he backed off in a hurry and went around me.
You must read this in context. The driver’s manual is not instructing you on how to annoy the tailgater by braking. It is instructing you that if you have a tailgater and you need to brake, brake with great caution, so that you do not cause an accident.
Note further that the next sentence is: “Lose” the tailgater as soon as you can. Change lanes and allow the tailgater to pass you, or slow down to allow enough “cushion” between you and the car in front of you. If this does not work, pull off the road when it is safe and let the tailgater pass.
It does not say: “Hit your brakes to scare the shit out of the asshole.”
You all don’t seem to ride motorcycles.
A lot more times that you might think, normal good citizens will ease up and tap you from behind just for the fun of it. The real asshats will actually try to kill you.
God forbid you are on a bicycle. IMO, over 50% of drivers never even see you and when they do, it does not register.
Some years ago, I had an 1980 RAM Charger 4X4. Huge black brush rack on the front. Nasty hitch ball on a custom 6"x6" box steel rear bumper. I said bumper snerk It had different color body parts, some cracked windows & I’m big & ugly with a beard.
I was never challenged by anyone from any direction no matter what stupid thing I did or didn’t do.
So the SO from that time was driving along and ‘sweet pee’ was ripping along in her late model Chevy Silverado and gave the ‘WarWagon’ which is what I called that set of wheels, a good whack & totaled her truck. She had some black & blue from the airbag, a few little bloody places. The SO said she had hit the tree backing up in the yard harder it seems to her.
You could see the imprint of ‘CHEVY’ in the tailgate from then on. Gate still worked fine.
I bet she did not learn her lesson.
I loved that truck. Taught many a person that “In the Right” can also mean “Dead Right.”
I never saw any road rage directed towards that RAM no matter who was driving or what they were doing.
Of course no one I would let drive it would be so stupid as to go start a road fight with an 18 wheeler either.
Scariest time was when my brother was 19 & I was about 24, I was home on leave and we were going some place on a Sunday. Up the on ramp we went, they only car there would not move over, was going tp make my brother brake out from under. Bawahahha, er… no, my brother just floored it and moved right in with no hesitation. He took the right lane from the guy and was in front. I was going ‘Rut Row’ under my breath. Now the race was on to see if he could block us from moving to the left lane before we would get to the box truck about a mile up.
I was spiritedly telling my brother that this might not end well and looking around for an escape route. The other driver started shaking his fist at us so my brother flipped him off. The other driver went for his glove box.
Out came the Colt 1911 .45. I looked to see if the floor was clear because I was going to go there. Rut Row, I had forgotten that my side had no floor, just a view of the road flashing past.
Yeah, a rusted out 1961 Chevy 4 door plain jane. Neck & neck we kept going faster & faster. At about 2 inches from thew back of the truck with about a 50 MPH overtake we beat the other guy by 1 inch so over my brother pulled.
Our exit was about ½ mile further & the other guy could not get clear of the truck in time to make the ramp. This was about 46 years ago.
I honestly don’t think I ever rode with my brother driving again until my Mom died a couple of years ago. He did much better that time.
I won’t get nasty with more than just a male driver in the other car or truck & I am by myself. Then he will be drawn to an empty road and the games will begin. IMO, they have given up any rights as a human being…
I don’t have any ‘good’ cars. I don’t have to worry about that. Bawahahha
How did you like this BS story? 
You’ve actually had a car make contact with your bike while riding at speed? :eek: I’ve been riding for over 40 years and have never heard of such a thing. Is this a common occurrence in your world?
I never understood the brake-tapping thing. So you’re upset that someone is driving in a way that is unsafe for both of you, so you react by…making it MORE likely that you’ll both crash?
Why does it hurt people in the left lane so much to let others pass? Even when I myself am exceeding the speed limit by a considerable margin, if someone’s going even faster than me, I always move over. Why not?
Oh, here’s how the “3 Second Rule” mentioned up thread is supposed to work. Leave yourself one second’s separation from the vehicle in front of you for every 10 mph you’re driving. If you’re going faster than 40 mph, throw in another second. When I was driving an 18 wheeler, at 60 mph I preferred 12 seconds or more.
Why don’t drivers let other drivers pass? I think most drivers think if they let someone pass them or if they slow down to change lanes behind someone instead of in front of them, their dicks will shrink or fall off.
Been hit or attempted to be hit in OK, TX, AR, MO, & KS. Although in KS it was our fault because our fearless leader got lost and we ended up going through a part of KCK that we were told to stay out of.
I had just finished a road guard position so was in back of the pack so it was not really personal so to speak. Bawahahaha 
What part of KCK was it, so I’ll know next time I visit my old home town?
I’ve always assumed that if the tailgater is going to set the following distance, then I can set the corresponding safe speed… eventually they will pass.
I’m always happy to let people pass me, as long as they’re not the kind of assholes who ride your ass and then, once having passed you, decide they really want to drive 3 mph slower than you had been driving.
Then of course there’s the people who will refuse to pass you under any circumstances. As I told my nephew when he was learning to drive; If someone is tailgating you when they have every opportunity to pass you, then simply ignore them. It’s their problem, not yours, and if they hit you, it’s automatically their fault. That being said, I will often slow down and attempt to wave them past me. If they still won’t do it, fuck 'em.
Don’t brake or brake tap. Use four-way hazard flashers until they get the message (good luck on that!) and either back off or pass you.
On one occasion when I was driving the speed limit with my flashers on while a transport sniffed up my asshole, a cop coming the other turned around, caught up with us, and pulled the transport over. There is a god, and he/she drives and Ontario Provincial Police cruiser on Highway 17.
Our last car would spray the windshield without the wipers going. Build up a good puddle and then flick on the wipers.
Worked every time.
I just try to make life as easy as possible for all the drivers on the road that I may encounter. If someone is in a hurry and there’s nowhere to pass safely, I pull over. If someone is tailgating in the fast lane of a multi-lane freeway, I move over. If someone is tailgating even though they could pass me by changing lanes, I pretend they aren’t there, since most likely they just haven’t noticed what they’re doing. I just set my cruise control and turn on the radio.
I don’t understand why so many drivers, especially male drivers, feel that driving is some sort of war game, instead of what it actually is, a cooperative venture in getting from one place to another safely.
I could have swore I answered this:
It was about 20 years ago and we were supposed to stay on the loop or outside of it. We were just passing through.
You don’t seem to be an patch holder type so it won’t make any difference for you anyway.
My point is / was that there are many people who think bumping a bike is great fun.
Maybe they just do not like the way I look.