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Original poster

To slow down when tailgated

177 replies

HoneyIshrunktheBiscuit · 03/08/2017 11:55

Nothing annoys me more than arseholes who tailgate. When I was a new driver I found it incredibly intimidating and now I refuse to be scared by these road bullies.

Just been tailgated, right up my bum, on the motorway in the left lane. Plenty of space to overtake but not the guy was right up there. So I slowed down to about 65 - I couldn't have gone much faster anyway as there was a car only a little in front doing just under 70. When I pulled off on tothe exit junction he was effing and jeffing and gesturing at me.

OP posts:
mumsneedwine · 03/08/2017 16:43

I pulled over the other day to let the idiot behind me over take. He had spent the last ten minutes trying to get into my boot. The satisfaction when I passed him 5 minutes later - he had been pulled over by the lovely boys in blue as he'd been caught by their speed gun 😁. I waved 😇

RatherBeRiding · 03/08/2017 16:47

I drive a big, ponderous 4x4 on rural roads and get tailgated a lot. I actually cannot safely go any faster round twisty, bendy roads because its centre of gravity is high, its acceleration is s-l-o-w, and I don't want to find myself upside down in a ditch.

So whilst I am not driving up to the speed limit on a lot of these roads, I am driving with a mind to what is safe for the vehicle I'm driving.

Notreallyarsed · 03/08/2017 16:49

Tailgating is so bloody intimidating and unnecessary. It stresses me out to the point of panic, especially if our kids are in the car. It's part of the reason I don't drive, I'm too scared.

DownstairsMixUp · 03/08/2017 17:44

There is no such thing as a fast laneHmm seriously it's for overtaking

Mulledwine1 · 03/08/2017 17:53

I do think sometimes people think that people are closer than they actually are though - I'm guilty of this myself. Sometimes I'm driving along and I notice someone behind me and say "gosh I wish they'd get out of the boot" and DH will look back and say they're not actually that close.

I am very rarely truly tailgated. Sometimes people rush up behind me and then drop back a bit - they may still be quite close, and obviously displeased that I sticking to the speed limit, but it's rare that someone really is inches away from my bumper. I think a lot of people think you are tailgating when you're not.

And you don't need to brake going round every corner. In many cases, if you have to brake, you are going too fast. It should be enough to take your foot off the gas in good time and drive more seamlessly. I think that's why a lot of people get frustrated on the roads. It's not so much that people are driving too slowly, it's that they are driving too erratically.

It's the same with speed humps. Our high street has a set of them. I go along the road at a steady 20. Other people speed back up to 30+ and then slam their brakes on to go over the hump. It's really irritating following someone like that.

ChelleDawg2020 · 03/08/2017 18:00

If someone is tailgating me I will not drive any differently. My driving instructor told me I should just make extra sure I left plenty of space in front so that I didn't need to stop suddenly - but with experience I've learnt that you should always leave enough space to the car in front that you don't need to stop suddenly.

Slowing down deliberately to make a point is moronic - it will anger / frustrate the idiot tailgating you, and anger / frustration lead to collisions. Maybe not with you, but some innocent driver or pedestrian further down the line.

Shopkinsdoll · 03/08/2017 18:03

I don't drive on motorways. But it really annoys me when someone drives up my A**e! I get great satisfaction in slowing down. If they want to overtake let them. It's intimidating and annoying when they tailgate.

Augustwashout · 03/08/2017 18:19

i always slow down, and if they are so stupid and carry on, I will pull over and stop and let them pass ( not on motorway of course) shame cars cant record cards that do this and fine them ie

car going x speed on x speed limit road and for x seconds....FINE BAM.

Mumzypopz · 03/08/2017 18:24

I slow down if tailgated, so as they slow down. I do it very slowly by easing foot off the gas, not by breaking. I don't do it to annoy them, more to make the situation safer, as you can't concentrate on what's ahead of you, if bothered by someone acting like an idiot behind you. If they still tailgate, then I click my lights on and off so as brake lights come on. They soon get the hint.

OublietteBravo · 03/08/2017 18:28

I get tailgated a lot. Mostly on roads with a 30mph speed limit. The fact that I won't go any faster than 30mph seems to frustrate a lot of drivers. I'm especially bemused by the ones who get annoyed with me when I'm doing 30mph on a road with a 30mph limit and average speed check cameras Confused

couchparsnip · 03/08/2017 18:32

I was told at speed school to increase the gap in front of you to 4 seconds instead of 2 so you have your own highlights distance plus the stopping distance for the wanker behind you.

couchparsnip · 03/08/2017 18:33

*Stopping distanceBlush

OublietteBravo · 03/08/2017 18:42

My drive to work takes me past two businesses which provide fleet cars. Unsurprisingly, this means that car transporters are common on the surrounding A roads. I'm amazed at how many people tailgate them. Properly underneath the overhanging cars and breaking every few seconds. The car transporters aren't even travelling especially slowly - usually 55mph in a 60mph zone.

ForalltheSaints · 03/08/2017 19:03

When i use to have a car I used to do the same as the OP. Maybe one or two should have been reported to the police.

Pebbles1989 · 03/08/2017 19:24

I got down to 18mph once on a country road near here. The fucker tailgating me was unable to overtake... for five miles. Wonderfully satisfying.

fuckingbubbling · 03/08/2017 22:00

WRT to the country roads a lot of people cause huge issues driving at 25/30mph in 60 zones and I've even seen people deliberately veering towards the centre of the road so people cannot overtake!

sweetbabboo · 03/08/2017 22:39

I slow down too, my driving instructor told me that was the safest thing to do as if the fuckwit tailgater smashed into the back of me for whatever reason, better the crash happens at a slower speed than a fast one.

I'll admit that I have slowed right down to 20mph in a 40 zone on my local drag strip. Some stupid bitch in a brand new Audi zooming up behind me, I was doing 40 btw, and keeping her full beam lights on so I was dazzled by my wing mirror. Finally the single road splits into two lanes at a junction with traffic lights. Pulls up beside me, I smile and wave at her. That seems to wind these fuckers up more than any rude gestures! 😅 There have been several crashes on that road with idiots driving at more than double the speed limit, I'll be damned if I'm going to be bullied off the road just so they can wrap themselves round the next traffic island (and delay my journey home!)

FairfaxAikman · 03/08/2017 23:09

I've just seen someone botching on FB that the local paper was "shaming" a young girl, what happened was an accident and no wonder people commit suicide.
It was a court case - the lass had been doing 50mph in a 10mph zone, wrapped her car round a tree and left her friend seriously injured. Oh yeah, and it was the day after she passed her test!

whatalifethisis · 03/08/2017 23:47

I especially like to be in the outside lane when they do this so that I can match my speed to the car (or preferably lorry) on the inside of me, so that I do the worlds longest and slowest overtake. Twunt behind me just gets even more frustrated then

Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?
I was hit by a lorry on the motorway last Thursday. It was a foreign lorry and I was in the driver's blind spot when he pulled into my lane as I was overtaking. I was overtaking at a reasonable speed. If you overtake slowly you are going to be in his blind spot for a lot longer . Why would you do this?

fuckingbubbling · 03/08/2017 23:55

^^
This. With bells on. You can't reason with fucking dangerous let alone stupid!

Ceto · 04/08/2017 06:20

I got down to 18mph once on a country road near here. The fucker tailgating me was unable to overtake... for five miles. Wonderfully satisfying

Of course they shouldn't be tailgating, but honestly this strikes me as a ridiculous thing to do. Why not stop in a lay-by, let them go past and just get on with your life?

Scoobydoobydont · 04/08/2017 07:14

I got down to 18mph once on a country road near here. The fucker tailgating me was unable to overtake... for five miles. Wonderfully satisfying

If this is true it makes you a total twat. All you are doing is frustrating someone (who for all you know has a valid reason to want to get somewhere more quickly than you want to) and increasing the chance of them pulling off a risky overtake that might endanger you, then, and oncoming traffic.

There wasn't a single driveway, game entrance, lane, sideroad or lay by you could have just pulled into for five miles? You don't even need to stop, just slow down and pull over and let the quicker driver by. Same applies to everyone complaining about being tailgated.

I don't think I have ever had anyone behind me for more than a couple of minutes who I haven't just let pass, why wouldn't I?

OublietteBravo · 04/08/2017 07:39

I don't think I have ever had anyone behind me for more than a couple of minutes who I haven't just let pass, why wouldn't I?

Erm. Because it is safer to have them behind me going at the speed limit rather than ahead of me going much faster? Not necessarily safer for me perhaps - but safer for all the kids walking to school down the narrow roads in the village. Perhaps not the approach to take on every road, but definitely on those with a 20mph or 30mph limit.

Henrythehoover · 04/08/2017 07:42

I hate tailgaters I was once riding home from work (motorbike) and it suddenly started chucking it down i was riding just below the speed limit my way home is over twisty country roads which most of it isn't possible to do the national speed limit. When this van decided to tailgate me. It was really slippery out so I slowed down and pulled across a bit so he could get past but he just sat right up my backside to the point I ended up just pulling over. He went flying off down the road. It's so bloody dangerous if I had fallen off he would have ran me over he was that close.

Gizlotsmum · 04/08/2017 07:50

Have recently done a efficient driving course and it covered defensive driving ( always leaving enough space when in traffic to be able to pull around the vehicle in front etc etc ) and the instructor said the best way to deal with tail gators is drive as you always do. You should have left yourself a safe stopping distance and all the windscreen washing, fog lights, slowing down etc doesn't do anything. One thing that does work is using your brakes to slow down rather than gradually slowing. I was a bit. Sceptical but it actually works. You should brake before the corner and drive through the corner ( so not braking on the corner)

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