Safe Speed Forums

what about this then

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/713279.stm

the next tailgaiter you upset could be a genuine gangster.

I once saw a van on the motorway which nobody got close to. Lots of tailgating going on elsewhere but apparently the "radioactive" sticker made people back off or overtake.
Strange that.

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Andrew.

We all assume that every single time we get into a car otherwise no-one would be able to travel!

To attempt to influence another persons driving while in your own car either by gesticulating, signs, (rude or otherwise), or by using your car as a weapon is highly dangerous and much more likely to cause more aggression and inflame the situation.

You may get away with it nine times out of ten but at some time or other you run the risk of causing an accident.

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Shooting is good for you and too good for some people.

We only make the assumption that everybody out there is reasonably well balanced when everything is going smoothly. However when you start playing your silly games, then you are "moving the goalposts" which can change the whole deal quite drastically.

Stephen Cameron more than likely thought he could take the "old man in the Range Rover" when they started their little game on the M25 and look where that got him!

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

Not at all - I can see where you're coming from - 'your life in their hands'. But we take a 'defensive' approach to driving that allows for the behaviour of others wherever possible and whatever it is. Part of this defensive approach imvolves ALWAYS avoiding provoking other drivers.

The point is to use our understanding to reduce risk to ourselves and the risk to those around us. Antaoganising other drivers is a complete no-no.

That's not to suggest that we can reduce risk to zero - of course we can't - but we can and should minimise it.

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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

Yep. An aggressive driver will never view the situation from their side of the windscreen in the same way that you do from yours.

I thought of this thread, and particularly Shabba's approach, when I read this story on the beeb news.

Salutary reminder, if you are pissing someone else off on the road there is a chance that they are seriously potty, and in this case, armed.

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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 cannot agree with Shabba - you must not antagonise somebody who could already be in a foul mood as it could be you that gets the full consequences. A little history...

Mrs Rewolf was driving her car with me as a passenger on the M40 northbound, and she was maintaining 80mph in L3 passing a set of vehicles in L2 - it was a reasonable overtaking move, not too fast, but certainly not taking too long over it. Mrs Rewolf at that time was averaging 40,000 miles per year and is a considerate good driver.

Up our backside at speed comes a brown BMW (older 3 series) and after about 2 seconds he starts flashing his headlights. Mrs Rewolf has a stubborn streak in her at times and she wasn't going to speed up just because some git in a BMW wanted her too, and she tapped the brake lights to get him to back off a bit, but he carried on being too close and flashing the lights.

When we clear the vehicle we are passing and pull in, BMW comes past with a two finger salute, cuts in front of us and hits the brakes hard forcing us to slow from 80 to 40 in response, Mrs Rewolf swerves into L3 to go around, and he speeds up, cuts in front of us in L3 and again brakes hard, back into L2 we go, and so does he. This is getting very dangerous, and had the road had a heavier number of vehicles there would have been several accidents. I grab Mrs Rewolfs mobile (cant stand the things myself) and pretend to call 999, and the BMW see this and pulls ahead, then off at the next junction. In hindsight I should have really called 999, but for some reason didn't.

So this time we were lucky... except it had an unforeseen consequence in that next time I had a BMW come screaming up behind me, I instead sped up to complete the overtake and get out of the way, which was a real mistake, because I was in a Police sting where two unmarked vehicles were working on upping the numbers caught in their trap hidden in the armco - first vehicle would drive slowly in L1 encouraging you to overtake, but when you did so would match your speed and not let you pull back in again, while vehicle 2 (BMW) would hold back, and if it didn't look like you were going to go through the trap fast enough would speed up and come up behind you very fast. I fell for it, and was rewarded by the seeing the BMW passenger giving the driver of the other car a thumbs up as I checked to see if it was safe to pull in, BMW then pulls in behind the first vehicle and we all continue at the speed limt. At the time I didn't see the camera (I was rather distracted), and didn't realise what had really happened. other than the fact that three blokes in white shirts and black ties were driving in a rather erratic manner. When the NIP appeared it was obvious but letterd to complain and a court visit didn't get me anything other than an increased fine.

They would have looked pretty stupid in court if (say) a bird had flown in front of your vehicle at that precise moment in time and you responded with the natural reaction of jamming the anchors on.

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

They'd have also looked pretty silly if a video camera swung backwards had been in the stung car.

I know, but at the time I had no reason to suspect that it was a trap, therefore speeding up to 70 on the dead streight, no junctions section of 60 limited dual carriageway, seemed a perfectly reasonable and safe thing to do. The magistrates agreed that it was the safest thing to do in the circumstances, but that didn't matter as Speeding is an absolute offence, and now that I had admitted that I was the driver they had no choice but to give me points and a fine.

I couldn't prove that it was Police cars despite seeing Car 1 again setting up this same hidden camera by stopping and reversing from L2 into a gap in the armco, as I didn't take the number plates down at the time.

This makes me wonder if trafpol ARE better than cameras.

I'd rather see them in front of me as opposed to hitting my rear.


All you are doing by creating a gap and then filling it deliberately is creating teh very circumstances in which an accident can happen.

What if the bloke overtakes and you deny his safe passage to return to lane. He is hit by an oncoming car and ricochets into you?

Think it does not happen


THINK AGAIN!

IWe've mopped up in the past.

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

That type of nutter is, thankfully, probably a rare creature.
On the other side of the coin, you probably get many drivers who are normally mild-mannered individuals who would normally not dream of hurting a fly, but who may have allowed themselves to be overcome by 'red mist' after, for example, having had a fight with the wife, being running late for an appointment and having just being baulked for the umpteenth time over the last few miles.
The last thing this type of driver needs is to be 'taught a lesson'.

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

I did used to stop people I saw making rude gestures at others. Germany, Austria and Switzerland will proscute for what they call a "Stinkfinger"

If you note though - those making the gestures are invariably the ones in the wrong.

As said - I prefer to read the hazard, COAST my response to this hazard and just diffuse the situation by not over reacting, and certainly not "teaching a lesson"

Though if in uniform

Well - that is different!

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

I'm afraid we've chased Shabba away. (s)He hasn't been seen since the 5th April.

That'd be a shame. Can we please try and be a little gentler and a little less mob handed with newish users in the future?

Shabba, if you're lurking, we're sorry. We're only trying to help.

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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

Well- I've been on hols..

But Shabba - please do not take things the wrong way - but your method of dealing with tailgater from hell just is not the safest.

Keep the gap ahead... just let him pass you. This type just is not worth risking safety over.

Of course - you could do a Wild Cat manoeuvre. That crafty cat has a fave scamera. She does not want it removing. She becomes a right "turncoat to the cause on this one"

He fave scam of all is near a garage. Apparently this is a wide road on which she finds tailgating a problem. Built up - so she sits on 28 mph . Bollards and hatchings make tailgate overtakes "difficult to impossible" .

Wildy for obvious reasons - due to that past rear end hit - takes a tough stand on tailgaters .. and she finds that becaue this is a road which drivers "misread as faster" - she finds tailgating occurs to her on this road more frequently.

If they persist - she nips into the garage .. She finds it astounding that they miss the scamera (behind a bus shelter ) and she thus "arranges the ping" if they really upset her

But Shabba - I would urge you to read the page on coping with tailgaters and all the threads posted in the past on this topic. Creating and closing gaps is not the answer - and having mopped up accidents caused by this in the past - just let them pass you.


If trafpol/routine patrols cop dangerous tailgating - we will pull up the offender. It's their driving licence which gets endorsed if copped - not yours. However, if your action was contributing to the danger in the opinion of officer observing - you may find you are also on the receiving end of a lecture or worse

So Shabba if you are lurking ..... we all agree that tailgaters pose a serious evil on the roads and they are the worst kind of driver we meet - but as my Mum used to say to me when I were a lad

Two wrongs do not maketh a right

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

Oh how I loathe this kind of practice. I am not going to post it never happens - I am aware that some officers really let us down BADLY!

For record - Current CC is of similar style to the last one.

If we did this sort of thing here - we'd be in trouble!

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Take with a chuckle or a grain of salt
Drive without COAST and it's all your own fault!

A SMILE is a curve that sets everything straight (P Diller).

A Smiley Per post
FINES USfor our COAST!

Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon - but driving with a smile and a COAST calm mind.

we all get cowboys letting our professions down mate. im not saying that we are perfect but at least we try to do our jobs right.
i still prefer coppers to cameras

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Richie

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