Safe Speed Forums

Split from the "My view" thread:

[context - BW described a response to tailgaters]



I must confess that I find tailgaters stressful, and I DO usually slow down a little if tailgated very close but that's to try to help them make an overtake - I also move to the left a little if the road allows it.

I wouldn't speed up for a tailgater so my speed choices are limited to maintain speed or decrease speed.

I would in the past have flashed my brake lights but I can see that this is 'red rag to a git' and have no need to encourage road rage incidents!

The above is the response on a SC - on Mway or DC I can only recall one really close tailgating incident, all I could do was complete my overtake and move left, I didn't slow down as that would have meant being alongside the other car for a longer time than was necessary.

These are methods I adopt - what are the recommended approaches? I accept that in a different driver, exceeding the speed limit would be an option, but I don't want to make that choice. What other options are open?

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

I agree.
On a SC the best way of defusing the situation is to slow down and let them past.
On a DC or motorway I normally speed up to overtake anyway, so I'm hardly ever bothered by tailgaters.

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Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

There's a Safe Speed page on the subject:

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

Normally I would tend to move over and let them pass to hassle the next person in line, but if I'm on the motorway and I'm stuck behind someone aswell, then I have found that slowing slightly, creating a gap, then speeding slightly and filling it again is the best method for dealing with tailgaters.

I always try to time it so I'm slowing when they're accelerating to fill the their gap, and I accelerate slightly the second they've had to brake. The variation in speed is very subtle, usually around +/- 5mph.

You can see their frustration as they have to tap their brakes, just at the point where you speedup again.

After 4 or 5 rounds of that I find most people get the message and move to a decent distance to save their sanity.

And you think it's a good idea to frustrate another driver?

Frustration > anger > mistakes > crashes. And in this case you're directly in the line of fire.

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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

No more so than they clearly do. Their frustration is directly proportional to the frustration they cause me by their tailgating.

If that creates enough anger to cause someone to crash, then I'd wager it's not my actions that caused it, more likely they're mentally unbalanced or are simply unable to drive! I'd rather be infront of someone crashing than behind.

At no point did I suggest it was a good idea, merely that from my point of view it works, and is extremely effective.

Paul - excellent page, I should have spotted that myself.

Shabba, I think your approach has one major drawback, and that is the time you need to spend looking in the rear view mirror. All that time you should of course be staring at your speedometer.

My other idea is to get some kind of sticker for the back window - "Back off I'm sticking to the limit" is likely to get the wrong kind of response, it would be a little white lie to say "9 points, please pass" but I may consider it. If a copper saw that, would they be more or less likely to pull?

How about "If you can read this, please overtake me"? Or "I don't mind being overtaken"?

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COAST Not just somewhere to keep a beach.

A young loner on a crusade to champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.

I like that - but it has a couple of drawbacks. There's the classic drawback of you don't really want them close enough to read it, but I appreciate that it's there for people who are already too close. Would others move up to read it I wonder?

But the one that worries me is the effect on an inexperienced driver who may then overtake unwisely whereas he wouldn't otherwise have done so. I'm not sure if this is either a little too far fetched or a real concern.

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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

"Stop tailgating" gets straight to the point.

And would be met with a response begining in 'f' and ending in 'u'.

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Andrew.

flu?

Will you still think it's a good idea to do that when instead of the tailgater backing off, they swerve in front of you, slam the anchors on, and then drag you out of your vehicle and give you a kicking in the middle of the road?

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

Would others move up to read it I wonder?

quote]

Human nature being what it is, unless very large , (so it could be read at safe distance) some berk will close up to read it .
I had ideas about "closer you get, slower i go" but thought better of it as it might also get them too close or provoke a response.

Think the only signs that get a true response are the letters " ecilop" or a blue light and black caps on a car with the appropriate amrkings , and sometimes a lot of drivers miss them too

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Alas the only way to deal with the tailgating bullies is to swallow your pride and fine some way of letting them past and driving defensively until thats possible.

Or a more interesting alertnative would be to buy a Volvo estate or Vauxhall Omega a drape a flurecent yellow jacket over the back seat.......

Personally i'd prefer something with a bit more persuasive power( tank perhaps) , but that's a tad illegal, i believe (pity)

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

You'd be surprised how effective a well placed hi-viz can be. You can climb out of a battered old heap of a car wearing a hi-viz and even if you look like the kind of person the coppers would arrest sooner than employ (I can't help having the odd piercing or 2... ) the sheep will listen to what you're telling them.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

Oddly it's never happened! Glad I don't live in your world, how do you ever manage to leave your house when you're so paranoid?

You are obviously living in your own little world if you don't think that the amount of nutters out there isn't increasing on a daily basis. The law of averages dictates that it is only a matter of time before you do encounter someone with a very short fuse if you insist on the pathetic game of forcing the tailgater to brake.
Take your "driving lessons for tailgaters" theory in to any inner london suburb and I guarantee you that you will be eating via a drip before the day is out.

As for remonstrating with people, the only time I will ever lock the doors and run away is if they are holding a gun, anything else and I will happily take it off them and re-educate them.
Having said that, I don't go around winding the tailgaters up anyway. It's much easier to increase the gap in front of me by a second or so, move over to the left slightly and let them have the space in front of me if they really want it.

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What makes you think I'm drunk officer, have I got a fat bird with me?

Got to agree there.

Shabba you're a fool if you think you can safely assume every other roaduser's reasoning, motive and temperament.

The person might just have a legitimate reason for wanting past in a hurry. Until you ask them you just don't know. Winding them up only adds to their stress levels and in all probability - their frustration will be taken out on you if you prove to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.

I'm not excusing tail gaters, but I am saying that you simply do not know what you're dealing with when you start your carry on.

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Sixxy: "You'd be surprised how effective a well placed hi-viz can be. You can climb out of a battered old heap of a car wearing a hi-viz and even if you look like the kind of person the coppers would arrest sooner than employ (I can't help having the odd piercing or 2... ) the sheep will listen to what you're telling them."

Yep, am tailgated a lot less in winter than summer, can't have anything to with me Not taking my site jacket of before jumping in the car ??

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Gordon Brown saying I got the country into it's current economic mess so I'll get us out of it is the same as Bomber Harris nipping over to Dresden and offering to repair a few windows.

Chaos, panic and disorder - my work here is done.

http://www.wildcrafts.co.uk