Tailgating drivers everywhere

[mag2305]

I'm sure this isn't really something new and I might be totally wrong but since the pandemic, I feel like there's always cars sitting really close behind and often kind of agrressive, like swerving out slightly to created pressure I guess or some overtake. Has driving become more aggressive? Is it because people are frustrated? Is it just this area (busy area in Essex)?
Maybe it's just me noticing it more. I'm not a slow or fast driver, just stick to the speed limit. I've got a toddler and one of those baby in board stickers which might piss people off and make them tailgate even more, I don't know. I was always quite a confident driver as I used to drive in Central London regularly which can be interesting, lol! So I was never easily intimidated by other drivers. But the tailgating and overtaking is every day round here and I'm more nervous now on the road which I never felt before. Maybe it's also being a mum now too, just feeling more protective. Don't know.
Anyone else feel this?

As an experiment I might take our BoB stickers off and see if there's any difference (I don't think there will be). People might still have beef with my Honda Jazz driver husband just because he's in a 2009 Honda Jazz. We can't all afford big BMW 4x4s.

There are just so many factors in this but the number 1 thing that emerges is that so many drivers are just total twats, and the Essex breed of twat is the twatiest in my opinion! Lol!! I'm partly joking.
But round here, there seems to be a status thing. Expensive, big cars = you can drive like a knob. It's very Footballers Wives near me.

@LizzieW1969 absolutely, you're right. It could be any type of sticker. Or how about people with personalised number plates. Surely BoB can't be as irritating to people as personalised number plates?!

@Yondergoat so if I'm doing 30 in a 30 area and have someone right on my bumper which has happened, I should be going faster. Even when I'm right on the speed limit and sometimes a touch over, these idiots appear from nowhere. Good to know it is my fault and I'm going too slow. I should be doing 80 on a 40 road to appease some of the tailgaters we see.

It’s always happened. I notice it a lot on motorways. I always leave a generous gap and other drivers repeatedly pop into it. I drop back and then it happens again! It drives me crazy.

If you dont mind me asking OP, are you to the east or west of southend town centre? I'm to the east.

@mag2305 My children have survived to 24 and 19 (years not months) with no ridiculous signs on our cars

@mag2305 and sis you mean to be so rude?

Imagine berating people simply for indicating to other drivers that they may drive more cautiously because there’s a young child on board. Baby on Board signs were invented because of arsehole drivers who are incapable of driving without aggression. Unfortunately the attitudes on this thread show the complete ignorance around the topic, and subsequent abhorrent attitudes on the road.

“Michael Lerner had the idea of marketing the sign in 1984, right after he drove his 18-month-old nephew home. He realized people were impatient at his driving:

“People were tailgating me and cutting me off,” he says. “For the first time, I felt like a parent feels when they have a kid in the car.”

[quote mag2305]@JudgeRindersMinder so you're saying that having a baby on board sign makes tailgating justified? And that anyone with any sort of sticker on their car deserves to be tailgated?[/quote]
Nothing justifies tailgating, but humans are curious by nature and will subconsciously want to see something which draws their attention in the way a window sign does on a car.
Every car is legally required to have a number plate, whether old format, new format or personalised, a number plate doesn’t pull your attention the way a window sticker does.
I don’t even have a dealership sticker on my rear window

For goodness sake having a sign in back window is NO excuse for bad driving nor do I for one minute believe that drivers are either desperate or distracted enough to bother doing more than glance at it - & if they are on a motorway & that near they ARE tailgating & not 2 chevrons distance
there are definitely worse more distracting things in back windows - thinks - camping stuff or the university runs with students paraphernalia crammed into every nook
& on the motorway the only thing you should be concentrating on is other vehicles

[quote mag2305]@AuntieZoflo definitely! I do wonder if people see my VW Up or my husband's Honda Jazz with our baby on board signs and think, 'get out of my way you unworthy peasants' lol![/quote]
I have a VW Up and it’s not quick to get up to 70 mph but it moves away from traffic lights like a rocket! Upsets the Audis in the next lane

Tailgating is pure arsehole behaviour which I don’t condone.

However - VW Up, Honda Hazz, anyone with a BOB sticker car drivers are all massive red flags for me that the driver will be poor with slow reaction times and a reluctance to actually indicate. Feel the same about Renault Capturs with added “inability to not park like a wanker” factor.

Shoe on the other foot - if you are constantly being tailgated are you driving too slow or are you in the wrong lane?

You may be going the speed limit in the overtaking lane but if others choose to break the law just move out of the way.

People lane hogging make idiot drivers even worse and more dangerous.

@SkiingIsHeaven

Shoe on the other foot - if you are constantly being tailgated are you driving too slow or are you in the wrong lane?

You may be going the speed limit in the overtaking lane but if others choose to break the law just move out of the way.

People lane hogging make idiot drivers even worse and more dangerous.

The scenario I described above happens on the inside lane of the motorway with the traffic doing 70. There’s no excuse for tailgating, it’s just dangerous.

Yep I can’t stand it when drivers act this way. I’d drive a fairly big car and I swear when people see me they assume I’ll drive super slow as they pass me at high speed. But then on the other slow drivers are also a nightmare. I was stuck behind someone averaging 22mph in a 40mph zone the other day. They’d actually fail their driving test if they drove that slow in a 40mph. I kept my distance because they kept slamming on their brakes for no apparent reason but Ill admit I was dying to over take them as it was ridiculous.

What gets on my nerves is when I’m on country lanes, which is pretty much most of the time, and people coming the other way think that my 4x4 can jump ditches and hedges and expect me to miraculously get out of their way. No, I’m not going to scrape my car along the hedge yet again so you can sail by completely uninterrupted, you can slow the fuck down. A bit of mutual courtesy doesn’t go amiss.

And don’t get me started on the arseholes that come sailing through our village on the long curved bend with cars parked down one side. They can’t see if it’s clear but they go anyway and seem surprised and rather put out when they’re suddenly faced with my car on my side of the road! Our lane is just off the big bend so I get this a lot. I’ve lost count of the times cars have driven along the pavement rather than wait five seconds, or had van drivers contorting their faces into the ugliest things imaginable as they rant at me because they’re too fucking impatient to wait. Fuck off all of you.

I live in a 20mph area, usually doing 22mph and get tailgated daily. Not sure how else you're expected to drive in that situation?

It's all sorts of people now, been mostly young women just lately, often with babies in the car. I just pull over and let them by where I can, but wonder if that just makes them think they're justified in driving in such an aggressive way? Usually pull up behind them at the next set of lights too, so they really gain some time with their driving style. Not.

@SemperIdem

Tailgating is pure arsehole behaviour which I don’t condone.

However - VW Up, Honda Hazz, anyone with a BOB sticker car drivers are all massive red flags for me that the driver will be poor with slow reaction times and a reluctance to actually indicate. Feel the same about Renault Capturs with added “inability to not park like a wanker” factor.

@SemperIdem So are you suggesting that's it's the car a person chooses to have or can afford to have that makes that person a poor driver? Talk about painting all VW up and Honda Jazz drivers with the same brush! Now if you'd said, rude boy, boy racer cars, then, yeh, granted. What do you drive by the way?

@MsPeachh totally know what you mean with VW ups being good at traffic lights. They are really good at taking off

@DialSquare Benfleet area, hence my Footballers Wives comment

Usually pull up behind them at the next set of lights too, so they really gain some time with their driving style. Not.

This ^^ There was a test done once, where one driver cut the lights, overtook dangerously, went above the speed limit and the other adhered to the rules. The dangerous one arrived at their destination about 40 seconds earlier than the safe one.

Baby on board signs aren't to get a congrats we can breed, it's simply saying be a bit more careful please as my baby getting whiplash is a lot more serious than an adult, if you decide to drive like a twat 🙄.

You are right OP - it's definitely worse. I don't know why there aren't traffic cops stopping it. We had some really aggressive tailgating recently on the M4. The driver was right up behind us and accelerating, it was actually pretty scary. I don't think there would have been a meter between us.

@mag2305

Can I ask why so many people hate baby on board stickers? I know it's going off topic slightly. But if that's a reason why people would aggressively tailgate, I would consider taking mine off.

For me, it was done with the best intention for safety as I naively (it seems) presumed some drivers might be a little bit more respectful. Of course we should all be considerate of ALL people in cars, all ages. You wouldn't want to crash into anyone. But I guess the difference is that babies and children don't decide to get in a car themselves. The majority of adults (with some exceptions) know the risks of getting in a car and make that informed decision for themselves.

Because they are just pretentious. No I'm not "more respectful" of someone who has a child. All drivers and passengers should be treated appropriately. And as nobody ever takes them out it is only the possibility of a childthey represent; that the driver occasionally has a child in that vehicle, not that there is necessarily one in there at the time.

They are totally pointless. The emergency service thing is bollocks.

They just say, "I think I'm more important than you because I'm fertile".

Ahhh I see @mag2305! Makes sense now
I'm Shoebury but very close to Thorpe Bay which is a bit sleepier!