How Do You Handle Tailgaters?

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If I am in the right lane moving with the flow of traffic in the lane and someone idiot is tailgating me, I drop my speed just a tiny bit, a couple of miles an hour. If the tailgater doesn't back off, in another minute I drop my speed a bit further. Eventually the tailgater gets the message and either backs off or moves left and overtakes.

I think the worst thing you can do under the circumstances is to speed up to satisfy the tailgater. It just encourages bad driving by the tailgater.
 
Well, if they want to stay back there, they can at their own risk. With my semi truck, if they are not paying attention and I have to lock it down, they are going to be in bad shape. they have 53 ft of trailer and freight to get to me. Not hardly. I have been rear ended by a drunk, and I barely knew it happened. Or if I blow a tire and throw a gator at them, it will go right thru their windshield. Saw that happen just a few weeks ago outside of Iowa City with another semi that had a car tight on his back end.
 
Originally Posted By: George7941
If I am in the right lane moving with the flow of traffic in the lane and someone idiot is tailgating me, I drop my speed just a tiny bit, a couple of miles an hour. If the tailgater doesn't back off, in another minute I drop my speed a bit further. Eventually the tailgater gets the message and either backs off or moves left and overtakes.

I think the worst thing you can do under the circumstances is to speed up to satisfy the tailgater. It just encourages bad driving by the tailgater.


What kind of road are we talking about? 2 lane, 4 lane, or more?
 
Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
Well, if they want to stay back there, they can at their own risk. With my semi truck, if they are not paying attention and I have to lock it down, they are going to be in bad shape. they have 53 ft of trailer and freight to get to me. Not hardly. I have been rear ended by a drunk, and I barely knew it happened. Or if I blow a tire and throw a gator at them, it will go right thru their windshield. Saw that happen just a few weeks ago outside of Iowa City with another semi that had a car tight on his back end.


After years of driving on interstates, I don't understand why people think it's OK to treat semis like cars. Things like stopping distance, acceleration, visibility, maneuverability, wind gusts and other factors...give semis room. I've seen people cut over waay too early in front of them, tailgate them, drive in blind spots. Or dawdle beside and never actually pass. Amateur car drivers.
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I ignore them. I do adjust my driving slightly, I change lanes last second without using brakes at speeds over 2x the ones going in front. Or slam on brakes real good inseam of crawling to a stop. They calm down pretty good after that for the most part.
 
In the city I find coasting to a red light really annoys the tailgater since they are used to accelerating towards a red light and then slamming on the brakes. They decide to change lanes instead of being behind a driver who comes up to a red light gradually.
 
There is an epidemic lately of complete idiots that stay in the left lane doing the speed limit or under or for that matter even 10 or 15 over. The left lane is a passing lane not a driving lane throughout most of America. Not condoning his behavior, but I just spent eight hours on the interstate and a full 80% of drivers do not get over out of the left lane. What is going on in this country when 80% of the drivers are completely oblivious and discourteous to the drivers around them? It's infuriating.

You do not have the right to lollygag around in the left lane.
 
Originally Posted By: George7941
In the city I find coasting to a red light really annoys the tailgater since they are used to accelerating towards a red light and then slamming on the brakes. They decide to change lanes instead of being behind a driver who comes up to a red light gradually.
i do the same. No reason to hammer down only to stop at a light. Funny thing is that they never get out of your sight.
 
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Originally Posted By: George7941
If I am in the right lane moving with the flow of traffic in the lane and someone idiot is tailgating me, I drop my speed just a tiny bit, a couple of miles an hour. If the tailgater doesn't back off, in another minute I drop my speed a bit further. Eventually the tailgater gets the message and either backs off or moves left and overtakes.

I think the worst thing you can do under the circumstances is to speed up to satisfy the tailgater. It just encourages bad driving by the tailgater.


The chances of the tailgater hitting me are small. I ignore them completely when necessary, as the risk is truly minimal. The time a tailgater spends behind me is never long. I won't hold them up though. If I can move over, I do.

Cops often drive well over the limit around here, and tailgate people like crazy to get them to change lanes. Nobody "brake checks" them....
 
Originally Posted By: Dyusik
I ignore them. I do adjust my driving slightly, I change lanes last second without using brakes at speeds over 2x the ones going in front. Or slam on brakes real good inseam of crawling to a stop. They calm down pretty good after that for the most part.

Sounds like me several years ago.

Eventually I realized that brake application and blocking the passing lane are the main causes of traffic jams and certain kinds of accidents. I decided maybe it's a bit selfish of me to impose risks and inconveniences on everyone behind me, just to feel like I got back at one person for not actually doing anything to me.

I also asked myself why I apparently took it on myself to decide who could or couldn't overtake me. I quickly realized that belief was not only immature but counterproductive. Why act all self-righteous and risk a road rage incident when I can just let the tailgater pass me, so that THEY'LL be the one to provoke the state troopers? That way, as the second fastest driver on the road, I can just sail on by.

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If I'm on my motorcycle I pull over

If I'm in my jeep I usually do 5 over so if someone is tail gaiting me I either keep doing what I'm doing or let off to do the actual speed limit.
 
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If I am in the right lane moving with the flow of traffic in the lane

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to speed up to satisfy the tailgater


If you are moving with the flow of traffic, how can you speed up without running in to the guy in front of you? May be you are NOT moving the with flow of traffic if you think you can speed up.
 
Originally Posted By: George7941
If I am in the right lane moving with the flow of traffic in the lane and someone idiot is tailgating me, I drop my speed just a tiny bit, a couple of miles an hour. If the tailgater doesn't back off, in another minute I drop my speed a bit further. Eventually the tailgater gets the message and either backs off or moves left and overtakes.

I think the worst thing you can do under the circumstances is to speed up to satisfy the tailgater. It just encourages bad driving by the tailgater.


I do pretty much the same thing, until I'm going a little too slow for traffic. Sometimes they still don't get the message, so I'll signal and pull onto the shoulder. By then though, my blood pressure is up. Wish I had a trunk cannon sometimes.
 
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