I’m trying to persuade someone that braking (not just tapping the brakes, but actively slowing down) as a way of teaching a tailgater a lesson is foolish. The type who tailgate are probably going to become enraged rather than learn a lesson, and this type of tactic bears the risk of provoking road rage. I need some statistics and other hard data to prove my point, though: that tailgaters and other angry drivers do NOT learn from retaliation… that he is not performing some vital community service by taking a risk and “standing up to a bully.” Anyone have any ideas?
I don’t have any statistics or data, but have you tried other bits of logic? Maybe pointing out the fact that if someone is tailgating them, they’re going to be close enough to crash into your friend’s foolish butt?
I like that one, because it hopefully triggers more of a self-preserving response.
Braking in front of Rich Mann isn’t going to get him any closer to the insane asylum where he belongs. It’ll probably just wreck both of your cars, which is apparently what he was trying to do anyway.
As much as I fantasize about slamming on the brakes and watching Dillweed McTailgater swerve off a cliff or into a CHP cruiser, I keep that as a fantasy only.
Potential downsides:
-Idiot may go from “tailgater” to “road rager” and do something violent.
-You could cause an accident - you could get hurt, he could get hurt, some innocent other people could get hurt. Think how you’d feel if your actions resulted in the idiot smacking into a motorcycle or a minivan full of kids.
-Even though the guy may be in trouble (in the event of an accident) for following too closely, if you were hitting the brakes for no reason other than “to teach him a lesson” you could be in a lot of trouble yourself.
-A no-injury accident will still cost you a lot of money (repairs, insurance, time).
Personally, I think nasty thoughts and I drive defensively - signal, check it’s clear and move over to the right so the idiot can pass (I do all that because those guys are also the most likely to swerve around you on the right suddenly, with no signal). If I’m all the way on the right already, I wave the guy past.
And if they’re really driving recklessly (speeding, tailgating, honking, swerving) I get the F out of their way and get the CHP on the phone.
I’m ashamed to admit I’ve done this, and bad enough the other person was forced off the road. Not much of a defense, but I “tapped” my breaks lightly several times and made flapping movements with my hand to indicate I wasn’t comfortable with them being so close. They chose not to listen.
To try to teach the tailgater a lesson is foolish. To try to get him to stop tailgating you is appropriate. The dangerous situation already exists. At any time when you’re driving, it is possible that for some reason you might have to brake suddenly. Having some nitwit two feet off your bumper means that should such a condition appear, there will be tragedy.
What I do is ease my foot off the accelerator. The slowing down is gradual enough that the tailgater can react without hitting me or having to brake or swerve suddenly. When he stops tailgating - either by changing lanes or by backing off - I accelerate - somewhat vigorously - back to normal speed. If he tailgates again, I slow down again. Never had anyone not get the message by then.
I’m not looking for retaliation, lesson-teaching, putting him on the spot, or anything like that. I’m looking for the tailgating to stop. I think it’s foolish - and perilous - to allow it to continue.
I will say that as far as hitting the brakes, while I don’t recommend it, I don’t see how you’d get in trouble for it. “Officer, I thought I saw the car ahead put on his brakes / an animal in the road / a rock in the road / any other legitimate reason to brake.” It’s not illegal to be mistaken about thinking you saw something. Don’t be foolish enough to admit you braked for spite.
Well once I was in a car with a friend being tailgated. So he braked hard to scare him. I looked behind and saw that the passenger in the car was a woman with a baby in her hands, and one guy looking a wee bit psycho.
Said car then proceeded to overtake us and throw things at us for a couple of miles, and with him trying to blockade us at the next intersection so he could beat up my friend. Fortunately we got around his car while he threw rocks at the bodywork and he chose to leave it at that.
I guess it comes down to how likely it is that someone who drives aggressively is going to respond in a non-aggressive way when you try to ‘teach them a lesson’. I dont think the odds are great myself.
Me too, I lift off instead of putting my foot down on the brake. It serves to reduce the chance of him/her driving into my rear while I get myself out of a somewhat dangerous scenario.
Surprising the number of people who feel they are entitled to drive dangerously like this.
I was being tailgated once and had to stop suddenly because a huge dog ran in the middle of the highway. I was only going about 30, but the guy damn near plowed in the back of my car.
We both stopped - me to check that I didn’t hit the dog, and him to yell at me, until he saw the size of the dog (great dane - no idea why the hell he was wandering around loose). Then he very sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and said “Huh, guess I should stop doing that.” And got back into his car.
Fact is, that could have ended a lot worse - with one of us dead or me getting the shit kicked out of me. Generally, tailgaters (and I drive close sometimes, if and only if the person is being a douche, but never right on their ass. That makes me very nervous) are never going to stop being impatient. You can’t reason with people like that; these are the same kind of people that the customer is always right and that Domino’s should get to your house within 30 minutes on a Friday night when it’s the only pizza joint in a town of over 50,000. They’ll never learn.
“Normal” tailgating is common enough in Florida that I just shrug it off, unless it’s completely senseless, like being within 3 car lengths of me when there’s no one else on the road on a 4 lane highway.
But aggressive tailgating, i.e. being within 1 or fewer car lengths, OTOH, is a bit more rare. When this happens, I decelerate to what I feel is a safe speed in most situations. After all, if I had a choice between getting hit by a tailgater at a high speed or a medium speed I’d choose the medium.
The exception to this is if I’m in the left hand lane of a highway: I don’t decelerate so as not to increase the chances of an accident behind me. I do, however, let a much greater gap happen between myself and the car in front of me, since if they slow down I will have much less stopping room than if the car behind me weren’t tailgating.
And it always seems to happen when there’s a car in front of me in the lefthand lane. What do they expect me to do, raise my car up on stilts and jump over the car in front of me?
