Being Tailgated... How do you handle it?
 

It is only occasionally that I get tailgated in the X5, it happens far more offten in my RX7 TT (little bigger than a Miata); I guess some people think people in smaller cars are more easily intimidated?

Anyway, on these occasions. I start watching the rear view mirror to see if the driver is paying attention. Most are. When I am sure they are looking, I give them a "back off" sign - thumb pointing backwards with arm pumping.

Most people back off right away - others get angry, more aggressive, and move in closer.

This happened today. I was going down the street in the 7 when this woman with child in back seat came speeding up to my bumper. She was so close, I could not see the lower portion of her front grill. I give her the "sign" and she immediately gets pissed and closed in tighter while giving me the "go ahead and drive sigh" hands grasping invisible steering wheel and rocking left/right.

Well since I was (a) doing the speed limit - according to my speedo (b) waiting for my engine to come up to heat, (c) on a one lane, I continued at my speed while trying to get her to back off.

After a while it became apparent that she was not going to back off (she was giving me a new sign - the bird) I started to slow. My position is that if you wont get off my ass, I'll take it down to 5-10 MPH below the limit if I have to in order to make the point. If you get off my tail, I will speed back up.

So this turned into a big deal when she tried to pass me on a bend and almost had a head on with opposing traffic. I could see her swearing and cursing and just freaking out. (BTW, this is one of the reasons I keep a camera recording front/rear in th X5 - i need to get one for the 7 now.) All the way to the next light she kept swerving left and right in the lane. I am not sure what that was for because she had nowhere to go.


So, the question I have is how do you all handle tailgaters?

factory option S907A

Yeah, that would be one option but it's a pretty drastic solution :D

Jog my memory....Is that the rocket launchers or machine guns option?

:gun:ok... we will spare the kid... so, when he grows up, he can come after us...

:explode:

this is what we install in northern virginia at our work cars before shipping them abroad!!!

007 - James Bond option

Niice!!

When younger and full of T and angrier/bolder, I would either tap the brakes, or give them the back off wave...these days, I may tap the brakes lightly and see what the response is, or just slow down slowly and wave them by.

Surprisingly, or maybe not, even on fairly empty roads/interstates I occasionally find some idiot on my azz...in the X and esp in the Vette, I might drop the hammer and watch them get tiny in my mirror. But lately, with all the angst and acrimony out there on the highways, if the idiot is not texting, I let them go by. If they are texting, I honk and make faces or...

GL out there in WalmartNation bad driver land. ;)
BR, mD

here is a thought..how about you get out of the way? unless you enjoy pissing people off! "am doing the speed limit" thats just an excuse to be a dck IMO.

not trying to be an a22whole just my .2 ;)

I usually just move out of the way regardless of what speed I'm doing and the posted speed limit (which I ignore anyway). I don't cruise in the left lane so it's extremely rare, but if the right lane is unbearably slow I will speed up and find a gap to poke into the right lane to let the person by.

When I am driving, I am rarely in the mood to offend anyone. If I am doing 140km/h and someone wants to go faster, I will move over as soon as possible, no hard feelings.

However, I'll get pretty annoyed if I'm on the receiving end. If someone in front deliberately tries to slow me down or fails to yield or use an object called a mirror (standard equipment on vehicles!), I get pretty short. In derestricted zones this will happen at times; I realise that 160km/h isn't exactly permissible but if there's room in the right lane, please just move over. Thanks. :banghead:

policing the policy is the domain of the police - i usually stay right, and pass left, if, for some reason i have two cars passing me on the right, it means i am too slow, so i move right. I can read, i know what the posted limit is, and usually do not need a reminder of the speed limit from the motoring public, with uncalibrated speedometer, and a rolling road block.

If i am on a single lane, and the guy in front of is doing speed limit, or above, i will just take it (unless i have a medical emergency, then all bets are off). If the same guy, in the single lane is going under the limit with no obvious road hazards (no rain, no snow), then I might lose the patience.

Two lane traffic - the rule of thumb is, if there is adequate space on the right, the car should be on the right, even if it goes twice the limit. If the car is on the left and still passing the cars on the right, no problem, i will follow. if the car is on the left, just cruising, not really passing anyone ("do you have Grey Poupon?" in motion) it gets under my skin...

but, if i am going 90 MPH, passing cars and someone is on my tail, like i am not passing the others fast enough - that can drive me crazy too... still, not enough to flip a bird or wave at them - just getting pissed off silently...lol...:rofl:

I always keep right except to pass. That being said, Blktoptrvl said he was on a one lane road.

My ride from home to the highway in the morning is a one laner - curvey with no sidewalks and pedestrians. Most mornings I get some moron up my ass. I do the same as you do. First check to see if they're paying attention, then talk to them in my mirror with my hands up in the air like WTF. Most get the hint. Some do not - usually a girl or a soccer mom. I then slow down and piss them off more. Once the road straightens out and opens up a bit I leave them in the dust. I have tapped the brake but don't like doing that. Funny part is, there is usually no where for them to go other than up the ass of the car in front of me.

Last year it was some guy my dads age. There was no where for me to go, cars in front of me. He tried quite a few times to take me on the left in oncoming traffic and then tried to pull a Starsky and Hutch on me - passing me on the left and cutting me off to go right. I saw the move coming though and left room for an evasive maneuver. The lunatic followed me all the way to the entrance ramp to the bridge - I was just about to call the cops but I guess the $12 toll wasn't worth him following me. Took his plate down and called my sweetie who is on the job to document just in case he decided to make up a story and go to the cops. Once again, there was no where for him to go. I wasn't holding him up. There was maybe a car length or two. I truly wonder if it's not the car that pisses people off.

While I do understand that some people have places to go and people to see sometimes, I hate tailgaters. If I am doing the speed limit or 30 over the limit there is usually a jerk on the BX River Parkway that has to seriously take a shit and cant hold it. So I wave them off like many have state and if that doesn't work, I make him/her shit their pants by slowing down. If you needed to be somewhere early and the time caught up to you, call and reschedule rather than cause an accident due to your wreckless driving. There is no need for ME to speed up for you!

So, doing the speed limit is being a dick? Interesting. How much over the speed limit do I have to go to not be a dick?

Thanks for actually reading my post.

:iagree:

I just saw the title of this thread and thought of this:

http://i1.cpcache.com/product/144565...=460&width=460

So I give 'em three strikes. Normally on the GSP, I will do 75-80 just crusing. If the guy is on me, I'll move one over.

Normally that does it. But if he moves over with me and still on my tail, I brake check JUSTTTTT to make sure my brakes are good. And move over one more if I can.

If he/she is still on me... Then I get a few pennies, opened the moonroof and watch the fun happen.

Thankfully, I only did this once in high school. At least the guy backed off.

Xenon Reverse lights that can be controlled from a switch inside the cabin. If this is not a frequent happening, just slow down to a complete stop, or look as though your going to. People s*** themselves. I use this, but for the opposite reason, when someone does not want to move out of the way in the left lane of a motorway (does not apply to your case, this is not justifiable on a single lane) just pass them on the right, pull up in front of them and start slowing down. They are in the slow lane instantly :D But I do this in a matte black Techart Cayenne, so they're also afraid of whose behind the wheel ;) One of the benefits of having black 4X4s.

Meh, I rarely get tailgated on a rural two-lane road (one lane in each direction) because I default to 100km/h or 110km/h outside of built-up areas so usually I'm the quickest one. On one or two occasions people have wanted to go faster but here we just wait until the overtaking zone (dashed line is on my side). If they wish to go faster, they are free to pass me and out of courtesy I will ease off the throttle to make it easier for them to overtake me. This has never happened, but if for some reason I had to operate below the limit and there is no passing zone or lane I would pull off whenever possible and let the person pass.

Generally my minimum is 80km/h outside of built-up areas; if you're travelling below that then I'm going to overtake at the next legal opportunity. There are some wider stretches where traffic flows closer to 65-70mph on these two-lane backroads and I speed up and overtake accordingly. That said, I realise that people have a right to operate at 55mph on these roads and won't hold anything against them.

NCDOT typically allows for quite a bit of two-lane overtaking so irate drivers are rarely an issue.

rear fog lights. Usually my V1 is going off in this instance, so I just move over and laugh at them. But I have a short attention span and generally forget about it quick.

Except one time I remember, when a QX56 with FL tags was right on me going well over the limit on I-26. I pulled off a while later to a rest stop and he was there... took a lot not to let him know that for me it's a phone call, and for him its... well... don't drop the soap.

I read your post, and you we're (A) driving slow as sht (B) using posted speed and engine temp as an excuse (C) instigating the situation by slowing down to a crawl.

Lets just say the posted speed on the road you were on was 25MPH (or at least HOPE so! because if you slowed down to 5-10MPH on a higher posted MPH zone that makes you a bigger DCK)

Now to answer your question how not to be a dck? well...Is simple really...don't be part of that "Group" That group of drivers that drive as if they had A " Proctologist consultation" going on in the car, same group that thing they are always right and like to police other drivers, the group of drivers that when they get passed on the HWY even if it is by 4-5 car lengths they still flash the High B and blow the horn, well you get my point.

So, you too are saying that driving at the speed limit (35MPH) is being a dick? So, had I been driving 5 mph faster I would not be a dick? Or would I have to bump that speed by 15?

I don't know where you folks who think like this drive, but I certainly don't feel I am required to move faster than the posted limit, especially to please someone who is being an ass.

I never understood the need to raise my hand or tap the brakes...thats like lowering to their standards. I just try to brake earlier in case traffic slows ahead. Some people are angry behind the wheel...while most are clueless.

I do feel uncomfortable when I am the passenger and my buddy is right on the bumper of the car in front....I keep braking with my right foot on the non existent pedal lol

I've never had anyone tailgate me in the vette, they couldn't catch me ;)

In the X, now that I have the diesel, I just downshift, accelerate and watch as they choke on diesel fumes :)

Just install spike producing tires. :D