Why Do People Tailgate?

The BBQ Pit
201

Epimetheus,
You have made so many idiotic statements that I am overwhelmed.

Epimetheus wrote:
Actually I am not a kid, I am 25, been driving nearly 10 years and have no tickets, and no wrecks. Near misses included, except for the guy that had to drive in the ditch to avoid me. His fault. Can you say the same thing there pal? Have you driven for 10 years without a ticket or a wreck? Probably not.

You are 25 and you are already all growed up?, I am so proud!, I am 37 and I have been driving for 22 years (2 accidents one was my fault).

Epimetheus wrote:
Would you care to provide a cite that says “speed limit laws only apply if you are not in the fast lane”. The fastest person on the road is obviously speeding, so they DONT have the right of way. Idiot boy indeed.

You are playing the oldest debate game in the world (and you are not very good at it) changing what I said and demanding a cite is the last bastion of a fool who has been beaten.

Epimetheus wrote:
I am the dangerous one…yeah

Yes you are, please for the sake of the rest of the world learn how to drive!.

Epimetheus, you are so stupid, bullheaded, DANGEROUS, a BAD DRIVER and ILL INFORMED that I am not going to view this thread again, I give up!!!

YOU SUCK, YOU ARE AN IDIOT and worst of all you think that you know something.

unclviny

202

It is this statement that I have a problem with. You are still assuming that I am implying that the speeders are not as guilty as the person not yielding to the car coming up behind them in the left hand lane.

BOTH are guilty.

BOTH can get tickets.

BOTH are dangerous.

Here’s a suggestion. Why don’t you worry about preventing a ticket for yourself by abiding by the law and moving to the right when someone overtakes you, and let the State Troopers worry about regulating the speeders.

Be sure to post their response.

203

Unicliny- 33 huh? You don’t sound like it. Provide my idiotic statements for me, I am a moron after all and don’t see them for what they are.
I think I stated that I know how to drive just fine. Judging me by my statements and letting your anger cloud your perception of them, then stating I am a bad driver, in spite of my flawless driving record shows me what kind of idiot you are.

You aren’t going to view this thread so it doesn’t matter I guess. LOL. 33 and playing that “You suck, blah blah, going to stick my fingers in my ears game.” Yeah, you have learned so much more than I have in your 8 more years on this face of the earth. :rolleyes: (probably spent it watching TV and working, and we know how much about life can be learned stuck in a dead end cycle of work/sleep/get nut off)

Since when is asking for a cite for absurd statements the last bastion for a fool whom has been beaten? Have you even contributed to this thread, anything worthwhile anyhow? glances up thread. Nope. Your presence will not be missed. Buh-Bye now, don’t let the door hit you on your ass.

204

How do you have a problem with that statement? If the law states that the slower person has to get out of the way, even for a speeder breaking the law, it is rewarding the speeder. Thus condoning the criminal action.

Don’t worry, I will post the replies. Even if I am wrong. :wink:

I am not bullheaded, if I am wrong I admit it. I have been in the past many times. (and admited it)

205

Uniclvny- Opps, misread 37 as 33. Same still applies, change the number. Oh, act your age.

206

I was just reminded of Red Green’s solution for tailgaters, which may have already been mentioned, but jesus, people. 204 posts?

Just bolt a briefcase and a travel mug to the roof of your car. Says Red, “People will stay back a quarter mile.”

207

I really and sincerely hope that you didn’t send that email. No way would anyone take that for real. It sounds like it came from a 16-year-old.

208

When this happens, I heed the words of one of my best friends:

“Anyone can read lips when you look at them and say, ‘Fucking Loser’. There’s just no misaking those words.”

209

mistaking, even. And I call myself and english major. :frowning:

210

I try my damndest not to tailgate, because it is dangerous, but I do drive pretty fast. And to all of you who say “you should have left 15 minutes earlier” I’d just like to say: I’m not in any hurry, I just like driving fast.

211

God, I hate tailgaters. Perhaps it wouldn’t bother me so much if there was a reason for them to be tailgating me, like I’m driving 1 mph in the left lane, but I only seem to get tailgated when I’m driving 10 mph over the speed limit in the right lane with no traffic in the left lane. I just take my foot off the gas and gradually slow down until the tailgater either passes me or turns.

212

Not in California. From the California Vehicle Code (http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21753.htm):

Also, to those who maintain that passing on the right is illegal, again from the CVC (http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21754.htm):

So passing on the right on a freeway is perfectly legal, at least in California. It’s even legal on residential streets, as long as there is sufficient room.

Please, let no one interpret this as that I’m defending tailgaters. I think 'gaters are idiots, scum, rude, inconsiderate, and damned dangerous.

My intent here is quite the opposite, to show that some of the “reasons” and “excuses” that 'gaiters give for their stupidity just don’t hold water.

You think that 'gaiting is the “right” way to signal that the person in front should move over? WRONG, flashing your lights, or even sounding the horn, is the LEGAL way.

You think you need to 'gait to get the person in front to move to the right because it’s illegal for you to pass on the right? WRONG, it’s perfectly legal.

So get the fuck off my ass, and get your stupid self around me and be on your way!

213

So you tried flashing and honking to no effect. The right lane is too crowded to use to pass, and you’ve been following some asshole for 10 miles. Why isn’t a little friendly tailgating in order in that situation. And don’t give me the it’s super dangerous bull. I already pointed out twice that people drive close to each other at high speed in rush hour every morning.

Tailgating is usually done by assholes, but it still has valid and perfectly safe uses.

214

To be annoying.

215

As someone who drives 100 miles a day on California highways, I can assure you that audible signals and flashing lights do absolutely nothing to get people out of the left lane. Probably b/c they have read 21753, like you…

…and probably b/c they don’t realize that it is an exception to 21750, like you:

The vehicle code first says:

Your “passing on the right” cite is listed after this vehicle code, making it an “exception hereinafter stated.” IOW, passing on the left is preferred.

Why are you in that lane? “Slower Traffic Keep Right.” You’d prefer that every car travelling faster than you get their stupid selves around you, b/c it’s legal to do so? You’re impeding the flow of traffic. Get the fuck out of the left lane like you’re supposed to and I’ll get the fuck off your ass and be on my way.

216

If flashing and honking have no effect then why can’t you just drive behind them? It won’t kill you. Is it really so important to pass that it is worth the risk of killing them?

It being super dangerous isn’t bull. Some people do drive close during rush hour but that doesn’t make it safe. Unless you think the laws of physics are bull too? :rolleyes:

During the Thanksgiving holiday I had to travel about 300 miles on interstate 95 to get to my grandparent’s house. Traffic was moving very quickly at times. I know that for one spell I was traveling at 80 mph in the right lane. That didn’t stop people from tailgating me. I also saw no less then three possibly fatal accidents. One was so bad they didn’t even have a tow truck. A backhoe was putting the car parts in a dump truck. Those people didn’t get to spend Thanksgiving with their families. All it takes is one blink, one glance at the radio, one second of hesitation, one moment of distraction to kill someone when you are tailgating at high rates of speed. It happens every day. There is never an excuse for tailgating.

217

I guess you don’t see the multiple car pileups, and cars that have lost control and sped into the guard rail because they had to swerve to avoid hitting someone, either, like I do every day on the way to work.

Honk and flash your lights all you want. Your headlights aren’t going to cause me to run into the person in front of me, or get rear-ended if I need to stop. I very, very seldom get tailgated in the left lane. All the tailgating that happens to me is in the right lane, when I am speeding usually 5-10 mph, and it’s not for a few seconds – it’s prolonged riding my ass. I have never met a tailgater that just did a quick scoot-up ‘warning.’ They want to ride my bumper, and that’s fucking dangerous as hell. THERE IS NO SAFE USE FOR TAILGATING. Just because people do it during rush hour doesn’t make it OK. IT IS NEVER OK. I don’t care if some old granny is doing 10 mph in the fast lane, just because she might be endangering others does not justify you doubling the danger by putting an unsafe distance between you. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and all that. Excessively speed all you want if the road is clear, but you can’t get around her, then SLOW DOWN UNTIL YOU CAN. I have and will continue to flash my break lights quickly to let people know to back off, and if experience is any guage, they’ll continue to ignore any and all efforts I make to be left alone to go 75 in a 65 mph right lane of the highway. One of these days, one of these bastards is going to be buying me a new car, because something will happen and I’ll actually have to stop for real. I just hope like Hell that I don’t get killed in the process.

I like driving fast too but I will not drive fast at the expense of myself and everyone else on the road if it isn’t safe, and if I’m running late I’d rather be late to work and alive – if I’m in the ICU I might not be showing up at all.

Feh to anyone and everyone that ever tailgates, for any reason.

218

Seems to me we’re muddling up two separate issues: “hogging” passing lanes and tailgating.

Not all–relatively few, actually–roads are limited access highways. The “limited access” caveat is intentional. Just because two lanes go the same direction doesn’t mean the left-most lane is a passing lane. (Left for them’s as drives right, doncha know.) Just because it’s on the left doesn’t make it a “fast” lane, whether or not careless drivers interpret it as such.

But highway, city, residential—tailgating is dangerous and inexcusable.
Period.
If somebody in front of you is driving slower than you want, adjust. Channeling your inner dinosaur is stupid and dangerous. The other driver isn’t trying to piss you off or challenge you. Odds are he/she is just another schmuck just like you who’s trying to get somewhere on public roads.

Forget the metal casing. There’s a person driving inside. Maybe they have a migraine, maybe they’re lost, maybe they’re grieving and just trying to get home, maybe they’re tired. What’s the absolute worst stake you risk by courtesy and consideration? A few minutes.

I’m sorry, this pisses me off. (Veteran of Cinti–and other–highways, btw.) I’ve been tailgated too many times through residental areas, school zones, country roads, etc. to remotely excuse the selfish, dangerous practice of “me, me, me, getoudda my WAY” stupidity.

Anyone who drives a car is responsible for handling a half-ton weapon. It’s just damned sad–tragic, more like–that so many don’t respect the simple physics of the tool they take for granted so blithely.

If tailgated, I slow down. Each mph reduced is that much reduced impact, because they aren’t in control of their tool. If someone blasts up behind me while I’m passing in a passing-lane, 30-over to my mere 15-over, they’ll damned well wait until I’m sure I have a clear spot to merge back into, and time to clearly signal the return.

I’m sorry, but the horrific relative risks aren’t nearly compensated by any excuses.

If you tailgate, for whatever reason, you’re a lousy driver. I see absolutely no reason for mistaking personal need and tool-power as an excuse to abdicate responsiblity/

Veb

219

Well said Veb.

There is no legal excuse for tailgating, it’s wrong, rude and most of all, dangerous.

220

Hi my name is Dave. Now you’ve met one.