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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to let people who drive up your arse hit you?

179 replies

Fattynotfitty · 27/10/2020 14:38

Driving home from work, two occasions had cars driving so closely behind me that if I were to stop suddenly they would hit me no doubt about it. I drive to the speed limit occasionally slightly over and it was raining too!
Sometimes I really want to just slam on my brakes and let them hit me to show them how dangerous it is! ( Of course I wouldn't but am I being unreasonable to want to do it in theory!?) I find it so intimidating and off putting when I'm driving.

OP posts:
MinorMinnie · 27/10/2020 17:24

Lily - I wonder how many crashes and accidents were caused by people driving "too slow". Very few i would imagine. Its just a desperate argument trotted out by entitled, speeding people who don't understand the dangers and anti-social aspects of speeding in a massive metal machine and like to push everyone else out of the way (other drivers, pedestrians, animals) to get home in case they miss the theme tune to Eastenders and other important life events in their tiny minds (which is on catch up anyway)

Bargebill19 · 27/10/2020 17:24

But the dash cam would be useful in an accident for the insurers. Bugger the police, they didn’t even show when Dh got hit by two lorries on the motorway.

MinorMinnie · 27/10/2020 17:25

The consequences for anti-social, dangerous and reckless driving should be instant and speedy. castration comes to mind

MinorMinnie · 27/10/2020 17:27

don't know what I'd suggest for aggressive and selfish women drivers - not so common but they do exist.

Enough4me · 27/10/2020 17:28

I always use the tilt mirror tab at the bottom of rear view mirror and drive normally (with care). It still shows some of the rear view, but not the full closeness of the vehicle behind.

MissBaskinIfYoureNasty · 27/10/2020 17:38

Just gradually slow right down until they get the message and back off. Its a double win because it annoys them and you're also going slower just in case they do hit you.

GuyFawkesDay · 27/10/2020 17:42

Yes, I find gradually just driving slower is a decent solution....

DougRossIsTheBoss · 27/10/2020 17:42

No-one ever needs to overtake in a 20mph limit on a residential road with 2 schools on it do they?

Unless the vehicle you are overtaking is actually stationary or perhaps you are bleeding to death or something I really cannot think of any good reason.

And yet on a daily basis twats in white vans feel the need to do this to me whilst I am observing 20 or even slightly over.

Also the road is not very long and there are alternative routes with no schools that are still 30 limits. It has to be arrogance, entitlement and thinking they know best doesn't it? No-one could have a genuine justification for it?
I have a chance to ponder this on a daily basis sadly.

DougRossIsTheBoss · 27/10/2020 17:43

Before they overtake they spend the prior few minutes up my arse flashing their lights and sometimes making delightful hand gestures

IrkedEssex · 27/10/2020 18:01

The closer they are to me the bigger the gap I keep in front of me so if the car in front slows suddenly I can react in a more measured way and hopefully give the fool behind me enough time to react without going into me. But I also want them in front of me and away ASAP so I will pull in if possible or just go slower and slower until they overtake. The big gap in front of me helps with that as they have a gap to pull into.

Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese · 27/10/2020 18:40

I have in the past felt intimidated and sped up. I got caught speeding and as many people who have been caught speeding it's not an excuse...
So I now set my limiter when city driving so even if I put my foot down when they're stupidly close, I can't increase my speed.

LunaLula83 · 27/10/2020 18:44

Tap the breaks - does wonders!

notonmytime · 27/10/2020 18:56

Is it allowed to need to spray clean the windscreen when someone is too close behind?

Soletsgotothepubearlierthen · 27/10/2020 19:08

A dashcam is your friend here. I play spot the exact minute they spot the rear view camera and then ease backGrin

Bargebill19 · 27/10/2020 19:14

@notonmytime

🤣 reminds me of when I was last pregnant ... morning sickness and driving didn’t mix well. As I was driving in thick fog I was going slow up a hill, when Mother Nature decided I need to vomit. Nowhere to stop, so window down and launch ..... bet the car behind never drove up the backside of anyone ever again.

Tanfastic · 27/10/2020 19:15

@Lurkingforawhile

The advice from an instructor on a speed course was the pull over and let them past. You can't drive well if you're concentrating on them. I appreciate it's (a) not always possible and (b) not fair, but when I've done it I've felt much better afterwards. On my commute home I drive on a 50mph then 60mph rural road with nowhere to pull in and I hate the tail-gaters
I pull over quite a lot when it happens to me. I do unfortunately have to fight the urge to gesticulate as I'm doing it though 😂
Miseryl · 27/10/2020 19:32

Tail gaters are complete morons but so are people who can't understand that you stay left unless over taking or merge too slowly onto motorways. Dithery drivers can be just as dangerous as aggressive ones (I try to be neither).

Osirus · 28/10/2020 01:24

The safest thing you can do (besides pulling over and letting them past) is to pull back from the traffic in front leaving a much wider gap than usual. It leaves you more time to react, so you can brake slower to avoid the bastard tailgater ending up on your back seat.

Mariola212 · 28/10/2020 02:31

Luxury car like BMW etc have better handling and power so is easy to drive faster. This is why see more speeding I think. I use to drive my ex partners M3 and was so easy to go fast round corners, always catching up other cars even when not trying. But I think too many people sit in middle lane and that why people drive close instead of overtake. They saying get into the slow lane idiot.

justilou1 · 28/10/2020 02:41

I was tailgated by a police car in an attempt to intimidate me soon after I got my driver’s license. I had driven through a yellow light and they tried to book me for going through a red, but another car pulled over and said that they had witnessed it, and they had to rip up the ticket. They followed the police car. I stopped quickly at another yellow light and they went up my backside, and a lawsuit ensued - they got in quite a bit of trouble. It was all on traffic cameras as well.

IncandescentSilver · 28/10/2020 02:45

I had an HGV tailgating me for miles yesterday on the A1, presumably because we were stuck in a line of traffic travelling 50mph and I had left the correct stopping distance between me and the car in front.

Not only that, he must have been a local driver because he flashed 3 of his mates in lorries coming the other way.

He was so close, I felt as if I had a towbar attached. Heavy rain too.

Idunnoyou · 28/10/2020 02:59

Please dont. I once stopped because someone suddenly did this to prove a point and he ended up smashing my windows. Was teenagers, no insurance, played up car I had to pay.

Idunnoyou · 28/10/2020 02:59

Plated up car... Sorry

AmICrazyorWhat2 · 28/10/2020 03:07

@Shinyletsbebadguys. Hee, hee, same here. There’s a a nursery and then a school up the road from us, both with speed cameras in front. I let people zoom by as it’s a wide city street and then chuckle when the cameras flash. 😈

StarlightLady · 28/10/2020 03:44

Providing it won’t alarm the driver in front of you, flash your lights. This will also flash your tail lights and the driver of the car up your bum is likely to think they are break lights.

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