I think there’s at least two different kinds of tailgaiters we’re talking about here. The one that is more understandable to me is the guy on the rural interstate flying in the left lane who encounters a patch of traffic occupying both lanes side by side, all driving more or less the same speed. FWIW, I slow down and follow closely without tailgaiting to see if anyone “gets it.” Eventually I’ll put on my left turn blinker while I’m in the left lane. The “squatters” tend to be less homicidal to a left turn signal than tailgaiting or flashing the brights.
The less understandable tailgaiter, to me, is the one who is stuck in bumper to bumper traffic in a three or more lane “expressway” going 5-45 mph at any given second. These guys are scary in the sense that they risk so much for so little potential gain.
ARRgh! Epimetheus and Siemsi I can’t believe you are actually defending going slow in the left hand lane and forcing people to pass you on the right. The left hand lane is the passing lane! If you aren’t passing someone you should move over.
BTW, I am also very anti-tailgating. But, it’s a hard call who is more annoying tailgaters or slow left lane people that refuse to move over.
Without easing off the gas, I casually move my left foot onto the brake pedal, and tap it very slightly to make the brake lights come on without slowing the car. They usually get the message.
Someone did this to one of my friends last week. I don’t know if it was the same exact situation, but, knowing him, it probably was. He’s not exactly what you’d call a defensive driver. He got forced off the road–he was lucky.
It did 3,000 dollars worth of damage to his car.
Getting pissed off and slowing down in front of tailgaters is cool. Intentionally causing an accident is stupid, jerky, and completely reckless. What if the guy behind you swerved into another completely innocent car? What if the guy hit you and you got injured? I don’t care about insurance; getting hurt in a car accident sucks even if you don’t have to pay the medical bills.
I don’t know where you live, but if it is Wisconsn you could be ticketed for doing something like that. In Wisconsin it is illegal to hold up traffic in the left lane, even if you are going the speed limit or above. I don’t know if Wisconsin is the only state with a law like that, but I wouldn’t be suprised if other states have similar laws.
Plus, doing something like that is also rude, maybe just as rude as tailgating itself. It isnt’ up to you how other people drive. You are not the law.
As for purposely breaking hard if someone is tailgating you, that is idiotic. I hope you seriously don’t do that because it is dangerous and stupid.
Tailgating is an absolutely idiotic way to “suggest” to someone that they should move over or speed up. Tailgating means you are a selfish stupid jerk. No if’s and’s or but’s about it. Tailgater = jerk.
If you are unhappy about someone’s speed, figure out how to use your brain instead.
To the non-tailgaters. One of my philosophies about human nature is that other people think that other people think like them. E.g., lairs think all people lie, a thief think his victims would steal from him if they had the chance so that makes it okay. Since tailgaters are jerks, this means they think the guy in the car in front of them is a jerk and that means risking that person’s life and annoying them is okay. Look at some of tailgating apologists’ posts above. Note how it focuses on the front person being presumed a jerk (as opposed to safe sane driver, etc.). They ignore the fact that tailgaters tailgate in all lanes all the time. I get tailgated in the right lane of 5 lanes going 10 mph over the speed limit. I once got tailgated on a snowy freeway by the only other car on the road when there were 3 other cleared lanes to choose from. Jerks, ever single last one of them regardless of circumstance.
I have noticed in my recent trips to Portland, that there are a lot of people who go under the speed limit in the left lane even in heavy traffic. No one seems to bother them. People just cope with it. This is a sign of truly superior intelligence IMHO.
Listen, not everybody’s goal is to get somewhere 5 seconds faster. Some people want to get there calmly. Maybe you tailgaters should learn this important concept.
I know a guy who used to pull up on his emergency brake, so the tailgater wouldn’t even realize he was slowing down so fast until he was suddenly up in his trunk. That was extremely dangerous.
For all you who think tailgating is acceptable, keep in mind this: the person who is going slow is not trying to piss you off (at least not initially). Respect that they may not be as comfortable with driving and give them a little room. If you back off, and they actually can get over, most will do so. I don’t reward bad behavior, however, and no matter how bothered you are by the speed I’m driving (which, incidentally, is usually 5-10 mph over the speed limit), you’re the one breaking the law (well, except for me also speeding) and endangering everyone on the road. Just take a deep breath, count to ten, and back off a bit.
P.S. My husband always wanted to mount a box of pebbles on the underside of the vehicle. When someone tailgated, he’d release the pebbles from a mechanism from the inside so they’d get caught up by the tire and flung into the offending driver’s windshield.
[sub]No, you shouldn’t try this at home. It would be illegal, I’m sure.[/sub]
I’m sure that there’s a similar law here – it sounds like the two-second rule. Unfortunately, when a highway reaches its most efficient mode, with the most number of cars passing a given point per hour, there are most likely no two-second gaps between cars. This is because we are punished for leaving two-second gaps by having car after car pull in front of us, so we learn to tighten up the gap to the limit.
I am curious as to how an optimally-performing highway model where all of the cars follow the laws to the last detail would perform compared to actual peak flow rates. Do we make do with inadequate highways by bending the laws, or would we fly by without nary a jam-up if we all followed the rules?
I try very hard not to tailgate, but I sometimes drive 15 - 20 mph over, and I will pass you in the right-hand lane if I have to. I don’t care how fast you’re driving: if you are not currently passing, or about to pass, get out of the passing lane! I like to give people the chance to do the right thing, but just because you’re tooling along at 75 doesn’t mean you can decide that’s as fast as anyone needs to go, and clog up the system.
I can appreciate why passing on the right may be a bad idea, but if no one did it, after a few hours the ripple effect would turn all of the interstates into parking lots and we could all ditch our cars and concentrate our energies on mass transit.
Okay…I realize some people are just scared to drive…and may drive slower…that’s is fine. But a truly INTELLIGENT driver is aware of the situation(s) around him/her and will do the most intelligent thing: move over…move over…move over. Let the dummies pass in the left lane if they choose to go 90 mph.
**The fact remains that the left lane IS a passing lane. Usually intelligent drivers will get out of a situation like that before someone rear ends their car. That’s just my opinion.
BTW…how is that blaming a victim for a crime? I say think if Murphy’s Law: if you think you’re going to get rear-ended…move the hell over. Yes. There is always an option.
I agree, but tailing me so closely that I cannot see their headlights is also stupid, jerky and completely reckless and could cause an accident that is much more severe. I don’t completely stop, I slow down about 10MPH(just rather quickly), the only reason the guy went into the ditch was because he was SO close that he had no other option. I am talking about a foot of space.
Am I a jerk for doing this- perhaps. People that get that close to me is one of my pet peeves though, so I am not at my most rational at the time.
I can’t believe you think 10mph over the speed limit is going slow. Arrgh!
Good point. Tailgating is not safe in any manner. I flash my brights to see if the person in front of me gets the hint. I personally don’t tailgate — I usually end up passing them on the right side- then…getting in front of them.
BTW…I’ve never encountered a situation where I could not change lanes. (just my experience) Then again, I’m driving in Ohio…:rolleyes:
Perhaps that is what a signal is for? I mean, out of all the bad drivers there has to be someone who will see your signal and let you in the center/right lane>>> right?
Maybe in most situations the tailgator wants to move faster, but not in all. For example; I’ve been tailgated many times when traffic is moving at a relatively high rate of speed (45+mph). The roads were congested and there was very little room to pass, in most instances. Also, whenever I’m talking about tailgating, I’m talking about inches from my bumper. Also, tailgators aren’t only found in the fast lane.
What do you want us to do when there is no place to move over to?
I am most often tailgated on one lane country roads where there is no place to get out of the way. On an interstate I always drive in the right lane unless I am passing.
Ohio must be a lot different from Virginia. I usually drive route 50 and Fairfax County Parkway. In both cases, traffic is hiddeous, and in both cases, so are tailgaters. I agree, that if possible, the tailgatee should signal and change lanes, but that is not always possible.
For example: This morning, I was in the far left lane, traffic-as usual was a nightmare. I was going about 40, in the 55, I couldn’t go any faster as that would lead me to tailgate the car ahead of me. I’m driving along and I see a rather reckless driver changing lanes, cutting off drivers in the process. Well this genious gets right behind me, and proceeds to creep as close as humanly possible to my back bumper. In my rearview, I could see him making frantic gestures and talking to himself. I was unable to do anything, as I had only two options: 1. stay in my lane, going as fast as I could, and 2. get in the next lane over and proceed to cut off and or hit the cars in that lane.
I try to be a courteous driver. I don’t tailgate, but I do drive fast. If I’m bearing down on someone in the fast lane, I slow down and leave them plenty of space in front of me. I will wait patiently until you have a chance to move over. Why not have the same courtesy for me and get over so that I may pass you? You aren’t the police, why do you feel the need to control how fast I drive? If I get caught, so be it. I won’t complain about my ticket, just it promply and in full.
