That I’m not going to speed just cos some dickheads are?

[Agsjsgkahs]

Hello

I drive to work each day, on a mix of motorway and city roads. Shift work so always before 7am and after 8pm.

I drive within 2mph of the speed limit. The area I live and work in has one of the highest amounts of speed cameras, red light cameras and police cars doing speed checks in the UK. I have zero desire to get 3 points.

Yet now and again( often a taxi driver) honks at me, today I was going 51 in a 50, and had this prick up my tail, going on the horn.

AIBU to stick to the bloody speed limit ?

If I was going 35 in a 50 I’d get it but I go the limit.

If someone is tailgating you, so they are too close to stop without colliding with you if you need to brake suddenly, then slowing down, means the speed at which they hit you will be slower.

I had a woman follow me for about 5 miles along an A road yesterday who scared the crap out of me, kept coming up really close behind me, so I couldn't see her number plate, backed off, did it again and again, I realised she was texting on her mobile phone. She also kept veering into the other lane, fortunately nothing was coming at the time.

I used to have the mentality of not speeding up for anyone tailgating me but, on a motorway or a dual carriageway, I will speed up a bit to overtake quicker and move. My desire to keep the occupants of my car alive overrides my stubbornness. I won’t speed up more than a couple of mph though otherwise I’m just as dangerous.

If someone is tailgating me on a single lane road, I’ll stop if there’s somewhere convenient. It’s just not worth the risk of not making it to where I want to go.

highwaysengland.co.uk/road-safety/stay-safe-stay-back/

If you are being tailgated you should drive normally until it is safe to pull over and let them pass.

I slow down just to piss them off even more

This is dangerous.

@PandemicPalava

I have the same problem in my area as some of the roads near me are like a race track and people love it. What I do is when they are right up my bum I hit the brake ever so slightly so the red lights go on but it doesn't actually slowdown my car much, and it makes them panic and back off. If anyone ever confronted me about it I say there was a rabbit in the road.

They are idiots but brake testing them is a really bad idea.

If it is a taxi, get the taxi number and report to whoever licenses the taxi.

Where I am it's not speed that's the problem, there are a few bad bends, junctions with blind spots, and lots of people parking on double yellow lines, so people will sit and beep behind me, because they can't see what I can see (there's a bike coming from my left etc), or because I don't want to overtake when I can't see oncoming traffic, (I'd rather wait for eg bin men with the bin lorry to do it's thing then move on). I'm not risking smashing into another car, because someone behind, who has even less of a view of what's coming, thinks I should chance it. It pisses me off almost as much as the huge delivery/work vans that park on double yellow lines, and block the view of what's coming.

What I do is when they are right up my bum I hit the brake ever so slightly so the red lights go on but it doesn't actually slowdown my car much, and it makes them panic and back off

Get caught doing this in accident, you quite easily could be considered the cause of the accident. It is a risky driving behaviour.

I'm amazed how many people who insist they never would speed because its dangerous, drive very unpredictably and therefore riskily in other ways.🙄🙄🙄

What I do is when they are right up my bum I hit the brake ever so slightly so the red lights go on but it doesn't actually slowdown my car much, and it makes them panic and back off

Oh and also even if you do get away with (incorrectly) not being identified as the cause of the accident, you are putting yourself at high risk of whiplash if the car behind does hit you. Bit of an own goal really.

If you've done this and never been hit it says alot for the skill of the drivers behind you!!

@Caramellatteplease Wrong. When I did my driver's theory it specifically said that if you're tailgated you should slow down gently. Obviously you shouldn't suddenly break but it's absolutely correct to slow down and have your break lights come on.

I also think it depends on the car you’re driving. I drive two different cars. One is a standard entry level small car and the other is a bit more flashy boy racer type car.

My driving style doesn’t change but I find that when I am driving my car (the normal one) people are more aggressive towards me. When I’m driving the other half’s car I hardly ever get tailgated or beeped.

Some people are odd and aggressive OP and YADNBU.

[quote InTheDrunkTank]@Caramellatteplease Wrong. When I did my driver's theory it specifically said that if you're tailgated you should slow down gently. Obviously you shouldn't suddenly break but it's absolutely correct to slow down and have your break lights come on.[/quote]

There's a difference between slowing down gently (which can be achieved a lot of times by taking your foot off the accelerator, or changing down gear in a manual car and using engine braking) and tapping the brake pedal for a light show to dissuade someone.

@Caramellatteplease Wrong

The link above is the highways agency advice. I think they probably know best.

[quote Caramellatteplease]**@Caramellatteplease Wrong

The link above is the highways agency advice. I think they probably know best.[/quote]

Agreed ! However as evidenced from the middle lane thread and this one, some people find what's convenient for them in driving behaviours, then state it back to everyone as fact or law.

The irony of some people complaining about tailgating, but admit to purposely antagonising the situation by slowing down intentionally piss people off, and others who admit to brake testing.

My driving instructor said that rather than touch the brakes that it's safer to put your main lights on. Moron on tail sees red lights and drops back. This only works in daylight! I have also become a very aggressive windscreen washer. After a couple of dousings most idiots retreat a little.

@BeingATwatItsABingThing I would have pulled over if I had had the confidence that she would notice what I was doing in time to stop, as it was I just gradually slowed down, so she had to too. She never tried to overtake and there was plenty of opportunity to if she was miffed about the speed I was travelling at. She just kept glancing up, saw she was way too close, backed off, went back to texting, veered into other lane, glanced up, corrected, back to texting, got too close, glanced up, backed off, repeated over 5 miles.
I would have prefered the normal tailgating knob, at least you know they are generally focussed enough on your car to notice you are pulling over.

Can’t believe it was so few messages before the ‘speedo inaccuracies’ was brought up. Who gets their speedo calibrated regularly, and who then gets annoyed with a 2mph discrepancy between the speed you want the drive and the speed the person in front of you is driving?!

I don’t really get why people say it tbh.

@Ginuwine

You are not unreasonable at all. 51 in a 50 is probably 47-48 mph once you take into account speedo inaccuracies, but it's well beside the point of course - even at 48mph you are making VERY reasonable progress by anyone's definition.

You are not hindering someone with unreasonably slow driving.

What you are doing is stopping them from hitting this imaginary "performance commuting" target they have in their mind. It's ridiculous because anyone who drives professionally will know that the road is for all users - people drive at different speeds, and shock horror, some even at the legal speed limit! So this person should just factor that in and set off earlier, or adjust their wrong perspective, and follow you at a safe distance and save themselves 3 points.

YANBU it's just embarrassing how many folk act the big one on the roads.

Performance commuting is bollocks as the time you actually save is tiny. The time saved on a 10 mile journey between 40mph and 50 mph is just 3 minutes.

@Spandang there is something hideous about the M6 or M5 around Birmingham.

I drive miles on the M6, M25, M40, M42 and even the dreaded awful A1(M) is preferable to that section around Birmingham!!

Please stick to the speed limit and ignore them - i got my first speeding fine last week and I very rarely speed, so have been kicking myself! I was running very late for work (due to childcare issues) and got caught by a mobile speed camera van. It's my own fault, but I can't help but feel peeved about it when I'm normally so good at sticking to the speed limit.

When I have tailgaters I tend to slow down - not to a silly slow speed, but to 25mph in a 30, for example. This isn't to deliberately antagonise the tailgater (although it often seems to!), but I usually have my daughter in the back of the car and my reasoning is that if they went into the back of me, then the impact wouldn't be as severe at a slower speed.

[quote frumpety]@BeingATwatItsABingThing I would have pulled over if I had had the confidence that she would notice what I was doing in time to stop, as it was I just gradually slowed down, so she had to too. She never tried to overtake and there was plenty of opportunity to if she was miffed about the speed I was travelling at. She just kept glancing up, saw she was way too close, backed off, went back to texting, veered into other lane, glanced up, corrected, back to texting, got too close, glanced up, backed off, repeated over 5 miles.
I would have prefered the normal tailgating knob, at least you know they are generally focussed enough on your car to notice you are pulling over.[/quote]
Sounds like tailgating was the least of your issues here. Please tell me you reported her.

A couple of years ago, DH was driving back up from London and was overtaking an overtaking lorry , so was in lane 3, car behind not tailgating, he pulled over and clocked the car as it went past as an unmarked police car. A little further along, same scenario, police car overtakes an overtaking lorry and suddenly has a massive Audi up its arse, flashing its lights. Police car flashes its special light back and Audi suddenly remembers the rules of the road

When I have tailgaters I tend to slow down - not to a silly slow speed, but to 25mph in a 30, for example.

This is not good practice. Please see the highways code advice above.

Go slower and see how they like that

@Use627

This is bad driving please see the highways agency link above