# What to do when someone's tailgating you **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2002, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137 "2002-08-16T02:56:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/1 "2002-08-16T02:56:47Z")
So lets say your driving down the highway minding your own bussiness going about 5 over the limit. All of a sudden you have someone driving really close to you (close to the point where you’ll be rear ended if you let up on the gas). For various reasons chaning lanes and speeding up aren’t an option. What do you do short of letting them hit you? What I’ve done in the past when a driver seems to be purposely tormenting me is to call the police and tell them there’s a drunk driver on the road driving very very close to me. But what if you don’t have a cell phone? And for a slightly different case: A few months ago I was going down the highway (From LaCrosse WI to Milwaukee) about 10 or 15 over the limit. There was no other cars within a half mile of me except for ONE person. She was driving very close to me for quite a while. I’d speed up and she’d be right there (etc…) There was no reason in the world that she couldn’t go around me. Yes, I could have moved over in the situation, but I felt that she is the one that should go around me. Anyways after throwing the car into a lower gear (to slow it down without brake lights comeing on) a few times to startle her she finnally went away. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/2 "2002-08-16T03:08:48Z")
If it’s daytime, just turn on your headlights. This will cause your taillights to brighten. Bozo will think you’re stepping on the brakes and step on his/hers. Then turn off your headlights. Once is usually enough for them to get the message. I first saw this trick used in the movie _The Eiger Sanction._ ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/3 "2002-08-16T03:26:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Every now and then, you may find yourself being followed closely or “tailgated” by another driver. If you are being followed too closely and there is a right lane, move over to the right. If there is no right lane, wait until the way ahead is clear then reduce speed slowly. This will encourage the tailgater to drive around you. Never slow down quickly to discourage a tailgater. This will only increase your risk of being hit from behind. > [http://www.dor.state.mo.us/mvdl/drivers/dlguide/chapter8.htm](http://www.dor.state.mo.us/mvdl/drivers/dlguide/chapter8.htm) This is from Missouri, but the state of Wisconsin says the same thing in exactly the same words (in a very large PDF file I don’t want to link to). ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/4 "2002-08-16T03:35:07Z")
Another reason to slow down is that if you need to make an emergency stop, it gives the tailgater time to stop without hitting you. (Or do less damage if he does hit you.) ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/5 "2002-08-16T03:49:29Z")
Turning on your headlights does not activate your ‘high eye’ tail light, however. (And the Volvo I drive has its headlights on all the time.) So I’ve perfected a method of maintaining my speed on the gas while putting just enough pressure on the brake pedal for **all** my taillights to come on, without slowing down the car. Tailgaters become _very_ small in my rear view after that… I have a friend who just takes his foot off the gas. By the time his speed has dropped from 60 to 25, the tailgating fool is wishing he was on the bus. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/6 "2002-08-16T04:09:40Z")
Turn on your hazard lights and slow down by letting off the gas or coasting the cruise control. This may convince the tailgater that you’ve got mechanical (or other) problems and go around. It can also alert other drivers that there may be an accident waiting to happen right behind you. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/7 "2002-08-16T05:00:01Z")
I normally just let off on the gas or touch the brakes, but I like the hazard light idea, I’ll have to try that. There’s so many times when I’ve wanted to ask the person behind me if they really think driving that close to me will make the person in front of me speed up. I had one incidence on the street (Actually my girlfriend was driving, I was in the passenger seat) where someone was driving very close, when we got a chance to move over we did, at the same time they did. They of course thought we were purposely doing that to keep them from getting around. They eventually made it around us, got right in front of us and slammed on their brakes hard enough to skid. We stopped luckily without hitting them, about a half a block later they did it again. We followed them about 2 miles while I was on the phone with the local police telling them exactly what this “drunk driver” did, we followed them right up until they stopped in front of a house and got out. We wanted to wait and see the police show up but I could see them reading our licensce plates so we left. I hope they got some sort of ticket, but unless they actually had some sort of drugs or alcohol on them they probably just got a good scare. ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/8 "2002-08-16T05:27:28Z")
I sympathize with people who want to drive fast, so my reaction generally is to speed up. But there a couple times when I’ve had someone ride my bumper when I’m in the slow lane and the other lanes are open. In that case, I tap my brakes suddenly. I live on the edge. ---
**Author:** ![OliverTwistofLime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b487fb/32.png) [@OliverTwistofLime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OliverTwistofLime)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/9 "2002-08-16T05:44:59Z")
Turn on your windshield cleaners. Water squirts over your car and nails his windshield. They almost invariably slow down and stop tailgating. Occasionaly, the tailgating car passes you…gets in front of you…and lets you have a dose of your own medicine…I certainly don’t recommend this childish behavior…but sometimes… ---
**Author:** ![honkytonkwillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@honkytonkwillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/honkytonkwillie)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/10 "2002-08-16T06:10:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joey P \* > \*\*For various reasons chaning lanes and speeding up aren’t an option. \*\* May I ask why you can’t speed up? I’m not meaning to be a wanker here, but the scenario you pose sounds a bit artificial. Unless you are tailgating the vehicle ahead of you. Normally with tailgaters, I just ignore them. And I certainly don’t make efforts to taunt other drivers. I’m convinced that many tailgaters don’t even realize they are doing it, but have simply reached their zone of comfort driving 20 inches away from my bumper. The fact that I drive a full sized truck is significant. It’ll hurt them a lot more than it’ll jurt me. I see a similar situation on escalators. When you hop on an escalator and you’re in a hurry, you don’t just stand there and wait to arrive at the next floor, do you? You start climbing the moving stairs until you come upon someone ahead of you at which point you stop. How many steps do you leave twixt them and you? There’s that comfort zone again in a different context. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/11 "2002-08-16T06:19:03Z")
> [@](#): > > May I ask why you can’t speed up? For those of us who don’t drive full-sized trucks, being tailgated is a scary and dangerous situation. Speeding up will usually turn a 30mph tailgater into a more dangerous 45mph tailgater. And if you get into an accident because you are driving faster than usual and/or because the tailgater is making you nervous, you will be at fault. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/12 "2002-08-16T06:28:37Z")
Not recommended but a colleague of mine is a rally driver whose car that has a bank of driving lights mounted on the roof. The two outer lights can be turned around 180%. Apparently its rather effective in these sort of situations. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/13 "2002-08-16T06:29:53Z")
I don’t speed up becuase I don’t want to be to close to the person in front of me. Then if the suddenly stop, I don’t hit them (and then get hit from behind). Besides, if I do speed up, they’ll be right there behind me. I should also mention that I get tailgated no matter what I’m driving, big SUV Tahoe, old 95 Bronco, my little Cavalier, girlfiends Malibu. And as far as the situation sounding artificial, I suppose that would depend on where you’re driving. For me it’s the whole Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha area. For anyone that lives in Milwaukee, they’ll know what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![woolly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ebca7d/32.png) [@woolly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woolly)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/14 "2002-08-16T06:29:55Z")
Of course that should be 180 degrees, not 180%. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/15 "2002-08-16T06:52:33Z")
Anyone see the Red Green episode where he showed various methods to deal with tailgaters in the Handyman’s Corner? My favorite was rigging your bumper so you could pull a string and have it fall off onto the road behind you… I’ve actually pondered whether one could rig up a simple system to “accidently” drop/dislodge a big clump of dried mud from one of the rear wheel wells to avoid getting in trouble with the law - dirt clumps falling from the car sound common and innocent enough, don’t they :D?? -not that I would ever advocate such measures of course ;). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/16 "2002-08-16T07:22:56Z")
You may not be able to speed up without breaking the speed limit; if you are travelling at the posted speed limit while overtaking a vehicle in the next lane which is travelling only a little slower, then out of nowhere the tailgater arrives, he may want you to overtake at 100mph; this should not put yoou under any obligation to break the law just to serve his convenience. If you feel that there is danger, the correct response, I believe, is to slow down and pull in when possible. The danger of death or serious injury increases proportionally with the speed at which the accident occurs. Although it is tempting to block the tailgater, this is also illegal, as you should only occupy the outer lanes for as long as it is necessary to pass vehicles. Personally, my approach is to find a way to let them past as quickly as possible, not to indulge them, but simply because you don’t want wankers like that _behind_ you in a position where they could hit you - let them past and let them go find a ditch to crash into… ---
**Author:** ![zen101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c68b51/32.png) [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/17 "2002-08-16T11:31:39Z")
Well this may be a bit confrontational for some folks but I either slam on my brakes (screw it, I broke my neck once before for the Army, why not one more time to freak out some jagoff tailgater?) or when I had my pickup truck I had two things that worked great, one was a busted CB radio with a working loudspeaker under my hood and the other was a 500,000 candle power spotting light that works real good to let folks know they are irritating you when you aim it over your shoulder. Hell when people crowd my line while on a bike I have been known to ride the dividing line or to get along side and knock on their windows and flip them off. Again, this is the more assertive approach and you might try something more kind and gentle works for you. I do like the Red Green approach mentioned and hove tossed a big gulp slurpee onto the hood of a convertible SAAB that was too close one time, that worked well. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/18 "2002-08-16T11:51:17Z")
\ Use your rear-firing machine-guns? \ ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/19 "2002-08-16T12:02:04Z")
Hit the “oil slick” button! Though the last time I was in this situation, I as driving along a mostly-deserted highway at night. This clown pulled up closely behind me for no apparant reason, except maybe he was a cheap bastard trying to save a few pennies on gasoline by “slipstreaming” my car. I behaved as **postcard’s** friend did: took my foot off the gas. My car gradually slowed from about 110km to 60km or so, with this clown slowing down with me but never retreating or going around me, though he had plenty of room to do so. I then floored it and barreled up to 140km for a few seconds, leaving him far behind me, and resumed my former speed. He didn’t approach again. Jerk. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137/20 "2002-08-16T12:41:06Z")
My 1st thing in this situation is 60…59…58…57…56…55…54…53…52…51…50 very slowly lower my speed - if that doesn’t work I will then suddenly speed up back to 60 but then let off the gas and coast back to 50 and repeat if needed - they soon learn that they should leave some room. Also I have used the brake and gas not to slow down but to turn on the lights. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-when-someones-tailgating-you/124137.md?page=2)