To drive at 30mph on a dual carriageway?

[CrohnicallySick]

On my way home from work there is a stretch of dual carriageway with a posted 40mph limit. This is a straight, wide road, with very little traffic, and no turnings, houses or crossings along it. Unsurprisingly, it feels ridiculously slow and the vast majority of people speed along it. I don't like speeding, but find it difficult to stick to the 40 limit, so tend to do around 45mph.

Today, I had a driver tailgating me. They began uncomfortably close to my rear end and were gaining on me- at one point I braced myself for impact. Rather than speed up, which is presumably what they wanted me to do, I took my foot off the accelerator and slowed down to 30mph. Eventually they took the hint and overtook me (bear in mind, this is a dual carriageway with 2 lanes, and no other cars came past so they could have overtaken me at any point previous to this).

So WIBU to drive at 30 mph or should I have dealt with it differently?

Perfectly reasonable, I would have done the same.

In a 60mph zone that would be dangerous, but in a 40 mph zone I don't think you were BU.

The highway code says to slow down if someone is tailgating you so they can overtake so perfectly reasonable.

So long as it really is a 40mph zone then YANBU.

I only say 'so long as' because there is a dual carriageway which sounds exactly the same as yours on my way home. It has 40mph at each end of it, as you come up to roundabouts, but I'm positive that some people take that to mean that the whole road is 40mph and it drives me insane (I know, it shouldn't, but it does. I would never tailgate someone though).

Thank you. I was physically shaking because I was petrified they were going to hit me, if I had needed to brake for any reason they would have done (so close that I couldn't even see their bonnet in my rear view mirror). I know the Highway Code recommends pulling over/turning off the road but there wasn't anywhere. I just don't get why they felt the need to intimidate me like that when there was a perfectly good overtaking lane just waiting to be used!

Ilovexmastime- very definitely 40mph, there are small repeater signs along its length. I wonder if people just don't see them and assume it's national as it's a dual carriageway though?

Sounds like they were just being arseholes. If there is room to overtake, they should have just done it. Where's a copper when you need one eh?

Ok, so not the same as mine then! If they can't see the signs, they shouldn't be driving. Some people are just arses I'm afraid.

I hate tailgaters.
Out of all the dangerous shit drivers on the road tailgaters are the absolute worst.
You did nothing wrong.

I hate tailgaters, but I wouldn't have slowed down I would have kept at a constant 40.

You did the right thing, I know I was taught to slow down if being badly tailgated to minimise harm/damage if they did hit.

YANBU, that's what you are supposed to do with tailgaters. It's because if you did need to slam on the breaks they would hit you at a slower speed.

I stopped on a 30 road yesterday when a moped driver wouldn't get off of my arse. He was so close that when I had to stop for a traffic light (which had gone amber first so he knew it was coming) he had to brace himself using the back of my car. I thought that he'd back off after that but he was just as close afterwards so I stopped and let him go around me before continuing as he wouldn't back off when I had slowed.

I scoosh tailgaters with screenwash. It's less likely to result in a car up my arse than braking but gives me a little bit of pleasure.

Never thought of that, pickle! Will try that next time

I always slow down for tailgaters. The idiots can overtake me and piss off at whatever speed they like if they don't like it.

I do this.
I also look in my mirror a lot and they just about always take the hint. [though I live in a relatively safe area. This may not be such a wise thing to do in all areas of Britain].

I hate aggressive tailgaters. I normally get cross with sexist comments about drivers, but ime, tailgaters are always men.

I always slow right down, which is more satisfying when they can't get past.

Slowing down can just aggravate these people more, just pull over out of their way next time. You never know what someone could do.

I think you should have stayed at 40 tbh... Slowing down is quite dangerous too and only likely to inflame the situation.

I pick up my hi Vis jacket from the passenger seat if someone tailgates me, they seem to have a panic that I might be a police person although I don't think the police have had to resort to a 10 year old polo yet.....
Obviously they can't read the bit which says AMBULANCE in large friendly letters on the back. Seems to work though and was a tip given to me by a police officer I knew years ago.

Seems a perfectly reasonable response. DP likes to flash his fog lights when he has a tailgater but I love the idea of having a sign in the back window saying 'I slow down for tailgaters' in the same style as those saying I slow down for horses.

People are nobs. Why tailgate when there was a perfectly good lane to overtake? Nob!

I'd have flicked him the bird as he went by too, but I'm a bolshy cow!

(Flicking the bird means I extended my middle finger, is it called that over here too?)

My dad is a tailgater. He gets really angry when drivers in front of him slow down and I take pleasure in pointing out that they're doing it deliberately to annoy him. He won't change. I really worry about how he'd cope if he did himself or someone else some serious damage - everyone knows what he's like behind the wheel and everyone would be happy to say "I told you so". I know he would care, but I worry that he's so sure of himself that it'll take something major before he realises what a wanker he is on the roads.

YANBU OP - I'd have done exactly the same thing.