Why Do People Tailgate?

The BBQ Pit
81

I’ve also been tailgated on two-lane rural blacktop roads which I know are patrolled because I’ve seen the police waiting on them. At times I’ve been going 10 miles per hour over the speed limit.

I also had an unnerving encounter when I was being tailgated on a two lane curving road. I slowed down when I realized I was going 15 mph over the limit, and did so by putting on the brakes. The person behind me tailgated a bit longer, then pulled over and passed me.

So far, so good, right? Wrong. He came to a stop in front of me, got out of his car, and started haranging me and continued to do so, even after someone going the other way passed him. What I gathered from what he said was that he considered my refusal to drive 50 mph in a 35 mph zone a sign that I considered myself to be superior to him. I’m also sure he had, shall we say, “anger management issues”. Somehow, in his view I was oppressing him. I also, based on his actions, think he tailgated because he’s a bully.

He got in his car and drove off while I was getting his license plate and considering other options. Less than two miles behind me, there was a rather large shopping mall. Less than 1 mile ahead of me was the home of a very good, rather protective friend who collects guns and who has swords on his wall. I was on my way to his place at the time. Between where I was and there, there’s a house where I’ve seen an SUV which apparently belongs to the fire marshall. I suppose, all things considered, it ended well, and I did get some unwanted insight.

Oh, one other insight into the mind of a tailgater. While I was learning to drive, I was going about 15 mph on a little used stretch of two lane blacktop which was full of curves and potholes. Since I was still new to this business of driving, I didn’t notice the Cadillac behind me. The fellow I was taking lessons from did. He told me to pull off to the side of the road so the person could get around me. Instead of doing so, the Cadillac came to a stop. At that point, my instructor got out of the car, explained to the person driving the other car that he was giving a lesson, and the other person could either go around us, or be patient. My take on this is this person basically expected me to drive the way he did.

I’m not a slow driver, but I’ve got better things to spend my money on than speeding tickets. I’ve also got enough of an understanding of the laws of physics to realize that objects require time to decelerate and accelerate. The latter also comes of driving a Geo Metro! I will drive in a fashion which I consider safe, and, if you are tailgating, I’d much rather have you ahead of me than behind me! That said, I won’t be bullied, and I won’t endanger my life or my wallet for your convenience.

CJ

82

It may have had something to do with him having a small penis.

83

Umm what? Are you in the car with me? I just said I don’t ride bumpers, nor do I flash my lights. I don’t try to intimidate, hell, who’s going to be scared of a fucking Golf anyway? I’m not MAKING anyone get over. I just said it would be nice. Go project on to someone else.

84

I use my penis as a sort of car substitute.

85

That, too. :smiley:

CJ

86

Which is illegal. Do not flash your headlights at someone ahead of you to makethenm move over. You can be ticketed by the police, and taken to court by the person you flashed.
You sound like a damned fool, by the way. Tailgating is a stupid thing to do. It is dangerous. You should keep at least three seconds of seperation between you and the vehicle ahead of you.

Back to the OP, some Germans tailgate because they think it gets them better gas mileage. The most often cited reason for this is “drafting,” and it is most of suggested that you “draft” on a large truck because they have a larger wind shadow. It is a load of BS, of course. Cars normally run at 130 KHM and up and large trucks generally struggle to reach 100KHM. The speed difference alone accounts for the better mileage - but try and convince a kraut of this.

87

Tailgaters really piss me off.

I live off a rural county highway, and the drive between my house and town is about twenty minutes of curving roads, bridges, and no passing zones. Now, I am by no means a slow driver on these roads…the speed limit there is 55MPH, and I regularly travel 70MPH on them, if the road is clear.

Despite this, not a morning goes by that some dumb fucking trucker, in their overloaded big rig, gets right up on my ass and rides it the whole way in to town. When I mean right up on it, I mean that they are maybe, maybe three feet from my bumper.

In the dark.

On a rural road.

We have a large deer population here in Georgia. Every day, I see a fresh carcass somewhere on the side of the road, because they will and do jump out in front of cars. When that tub-bellied good ole’ boy rides my ass like that in his full rig, there is no way that he is going to be able to stop if a deer jumps out in front of me and I hit it. When that happens, I’m as good as roadkill myself.

What really pisses me off is that the highway ends in a STOPLIGHT in town, so their extra speed that they may get if I do speed up to whatever ungodly speed they want to go at, buys them, what, three minutes? Four?

Fuck you, you myopic, grievously primitive glob of future roadkill grease.

88

If the person in front of you isn’t going fast enough and you cannot pass, you have two options.

  1. Tailgate, which leads to anger and possible accidents and is illegal.
  2. Getting to your destination a couple minutes late.

Why the fuck are we even debating this?

89

The Tailgater’s Safety Mantra:
“Here I come, get outta my way”

90

Guess you’ve never encountered a two lane highway or a one lane country road over there in Ohio like we’ve got in Pennsylvania. When I get tail-gated, it’s generally on US Route 40 where it’s only one lane in each direction and some assclown decides to take a mobile proctology course.

In those instances there is no ability to move over. I tend to slow down to 25 mph so that if I do have to stop suddenly, the odds of my getting killed (as I nearly was by being hit in the tailpipe once) are lower. If the tail-gater doesn’t like it, the tail-gater can back off and give me some breathing room.

Actually, I find it funny how many people on here seem to assume that all roads have two or more lanes travelling in the same direction. Most of the roads where I live are single lane each direction, and many are single lane period. There is no ‘fast lane’ and I am not ‘fast lane camping’ if I’m doing 5 or 10 mph over the posted speed limit and someone tail-gates me.

91

Please God, make it stop…:smack:

Mort Furd…ahemmm. I personally do not think it is rude to flash your brights behind a car if you would like to pass them. It’s a hell of a lot better than tailgating.

imthjckaz-

Gee, I did not know women can be called dickheads. Thanks for the compliment.

:wally

badmana…well said!!!

We need to ask a traffic officer the rules of the road.:slight_smile:

92

Well, we opened up this big tin of stupid and it needs using up before the expiry date.

93

I am of course with you on tailgating being stupid. But, it is illegal to flash your lights at someone?? The person you flashed can take you to court? Why? I always thought flashing your lights was just a reminder to the car in front of you that there was a car wanting to pass and they need to get out of the fast lane if they aren’t planning on passing anyone.

94

Likewise:
if you are in the fast lane and someone is tailgating you, you can:

  1. Try to deliberately block them, which leads to anger and possible accidents and is (probably) illegal.
  2. Brake unnecessarily, which leads to anger and possible accidents and may be illegal (driving without due care).
  3. slow down/pull over and let the asshole pass to go wrap himself around a tree.

Why, as you say, the fuck are we debating this?

95

I flash my brake lights at tailgaters, too. I very, very rarely am ever in the left lane for anything – either the right, or the centre lane, and if I’m driving in the slow lane going 10 mph over the speed limit already there’s no reason in the world for ANYONE to be one or two feet away from the back end of my little Tercel. When this happens I flash my brake lights and make sure there’s extra room between me and the car in front of me in case the bozo manages to hit me. It always seems like it’s some heavy duty truck or SUV or something else six times the size of my vehicle, too. I don’t understand how anyone could have such a blatant disregard for their own safety and the safety of the other drivers on the road. If I actually DID have to stop for some reason suddenly I would probably be killed. Nowhere is so important that it’s worth potentially killing yourself and someone else just to get there 60 seconds faster.

96

I am in Mississippi and I usually get tailgated on old rural roads with the speed limit being about 35 or 45. If someone is tailgating me I usually slow down to about 5 mph just to piss them off. Tailgating is a big pet peeve of mine.

97

I didn’t say it was rude. I said it is against the law here in Germany. It is illegal because it contributes to road rage. It is pretty much treated like flipping someone off.
BTW:
It is also illegal here to hog the left lane on the autobahn. If someone else comes up behind you going faster than you are, then you must get over to the right - provided of course that you can. If the right lane is full and you can’t get over then the guy behind you must slow down.

98

Ah! Germany. Sorry I missed that Mort Furd.

99

Broomstick, I need to agree with Lunasea, WTF are you talking about?

In Ontario (and AFAIK, all states / provinces on multi-lane highways) cars and trucks are to stay right (trucks cannot be on the left lane on a 400 class highway ever).

You should never be just sitting in the left lane, for any reason. If this is a reflection of how you see yourself as a driver (broomstick) then what’s wrong here is that YOU are trying to control traffic. YOU are being the bully. Passing on the right is not just dangerous but a sign that you don’t care about other drivers who are trying to clear the road.

And we’re talking about multi-lane highways, not single or multi-lane inner city roads.

When I see a driver such as yourself (again, if you actually drive with the “fuck everyone behind me” attitude) then I’m more inclined to flash my lights and maybe cut you off trying to pass you. I’ve seen drivers get so pissed at left lane hogs that they have caused the “left lane camper” to crash into the guard rail after getting in front of the slower car and absolutely slamming on their brakes. Do you really want to even have a small chance of this happening? I don’t, my car is new.
And again, what does speeding and blocking the left lane have anything to do with anything? Both are illegal so where are you coming from?

100

If I catch myself tailgating (like when a two lane road becomes a one lane road and everybody is moving over) and there’s no way I can pass the person in front of me, I actually slow down a bit so that a large enough distance between us can be created and then I go the speed limit.