Safe Speed Forums

Does anyone either do this or suffer from it on a regular basis? While driving to work on the M4 I regularly suffer from people in cars driving right up my arse even when I am doing 70 in the inside lane, or when I am overtaking a slower car and cannot move back in quickly. It's dangerous and rude.

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freedom is knowledge of one's necessity

unfortunately (for them) the only effect tailgating has is to make me go slower.

Yes, frequently. Normally encased either in a BMW or a Merc

A traffic officer could perhaps help us out with this, but they are dying out and being replaced by robots that only worry if you creep over the speed limit (which is also a natural reaction to a large hunk of german steel being stuck up your arse)

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"Are you sh**ing me?"
"John Spartan, you are fined one credit for a violation of the verbal morality statute."

Yep, I get this all the time. But then I'm a cyclist so generally slower than most other vehicles anyway! Not really an excuse to sit on my back wheel though.

I'm with ed_m on this, slow down until they've got the message. Or until they stop the car and start waving a "Krooklok"* at you.



*exchange for any other suitable handy heavy blunt object.

There's positive advice about being tailgated on this page:

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/tailgate.html

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

This has been discussed at some length here: http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1346&highlight=tailgating

Tailgating is incredibly annoying but the advice that Paul gives is sound, even though most of us (me included) can be sorely tempted to 'punish' the tailgater, (hit the brakes, slow down etc)

That's likely to make matters worse and, if the tailgater becomes so frustrated that he tries to overtake unsafely, may cause a crash - and you could be involved.

The SafeSpeed page on tailgating has good advice.

That would be a Testosterone Man - a speedy/greedy bloke, usually in a suit driving a boring grey German car to a meeting with another Testosterone Man to talk about monthly widget sales! They are sad artefacts of consumerism but cameras on m-ways will hopefully soon take a withering toll on them! Goody!

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I stole this .sig

Your prejudice comes shining through.

You're quite right, I've just read the tailgating page, and it's all useful stuff.

I often feel quite guilty when I let an aggressive driver get the better of me, e.g. a tail-gater forcing me off onto a pavement. There's always the thought that "I let them get away with that, no one was hurt that time. But next time, because they got away with it they could try again and cause a crash".

I've never been good at dealing with conflict.

Very useful - makes you think far more defensively. However, you may not be able to follow the speeding up advice before pulling back in and down if there is a scam on the bridge over the motorway

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"Are you sh**ing me?"
"John Spartan, you are fined one credit for a violation of the verbal morality statute."

And stupidity, and ignorance, as usual.

Sorry to be personal, basingwerk, but everyone who participates in these forums knows what a twat you are.

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'The normally careful and competent actions of a reasonable person should be considered legal, regardless of the letter of statute'

Rioman, Herts

I know, but I can't stand by and listen to byny's tail (geddit) without having a dig at those lunatics in thier Bavarian cars. This tailgating culture has to STOP!

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I stole this .sig

I cannot agree with that personal attack - we all know twats have uses

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"Are you sh**ing me?"
"John Spartan, you are fined one credit for a violation of the verbal morality statute."

It is rare that a Gold Member apologises personally to me! Have a nice weekend.

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I stole this .sig

I might be a twat, but I wouldn't be seen dead on a Suzuki, especially not a yellow one! Ride carefully.

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I stole this .sig

Yes, that's a harey tale l

As a matter of interest, how many lunatics in Bavarian cars did you have sitting on your tail while you were driving in Bavaria?

I had an Audi that was good for nearly 200, but I still had to get into the habit of quickly getting out of their way, before I got swotted!

In the balance, though, Germans do not tailgate like these bloody minded brits. Furthermore, Germans drive German cars like any other car – it is a British phenomenon to drive a Golf like a bastard!

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I stole this .sig

i'm not trying to give them a message, frustrate or punish them (however much they need a good slap).

if i have someone 2inches from my rear bumper i cannot brake suddenly if something unexected happens. therefore i need a larger gap in front of me to allow gentler braking and a chance for the tailgater to respond too rather than landing in my boot.
as far as i can tell there's only one way of opening up the gap in front of you (short of phoning the guy infront and asking him to speed up), and that is to slow down until you have the gap you need.

this i think is also in line with SS's page.

[devil's advocate mode] Probaby because people do get out of their way, not like in Britain, where they wait to be served with a written order to vacate the lane. [/devil's advocate mode]