Bloody tailgaters...

[Jaggerdagger]

Picture the scenario:

Single carriage stretch of road, 30 minutes drive in total from one town to the next. It's a well used commuting route with a mixture of national and 40/50mph limits. Constant stream of traffic in front of me, all going at a reasonable speed.

Suddenly! A wild prick in an Alfa Romeo decides to sit so close behind me that I can't see his bumper. Even if he overtook me, there was so much traffic in front that there was nowhere to bloody go anyway. I kept a safe distance between myself and the car in front, yet because of this, it seemed to piss the tailgater off even more!?

I went into defence mode and sprayed my back window washer as a warning 😂⚠️ I felt like an angry skunk. It worked for a bit but he was sitting on my bum again within 2 minutes.

I know I'm not being unreasonable here, but I came to discuss why the fuck people do this?! I'm interested in the psychology behind it. Maybe I'm thinking too much in to it and they're all mindless pricks, but thought I'd give them the benefit of the doubt....

You would fail if you did it in a driving test because you're not a safe driver

Not really true, in some cases you just can't overtake as any opportunity of a straight bit of road has cars on it coming towards you. So to overtake you'd cause a crash, so you don't. I get some roads are '60' roads but really shouldn't be for how narrow and bendy they are, but if you're on a wide bit of road, mostly straight, and you can't achieve 60? You're a bad driver and holding people up for no reason.

The closer they get, the slower I go. They normally get the message.

@beeeeeeeeeeeeeeee but why on earth would you chose to drive significantly slower than the speed limit though? It's one of the most dangerous things you can do

I know you were trying to prove a point but this sort of passive aggressive ultra slow driving is equally dangerous.

Someone 4 cars behind you might be late for a job interview or an important appointment and then risk trying to overtake dangerously resulting in a pile up taking out an entirely innocent family.

Yes, not technically your fault but...

I always move across for tailgaters if I can. If I really can't then I put my hazards on or do a slow down gesture in my mirror.

I don’t break sharply, I just slow drift along getting even slower and slower

I went into defence mode and sprayed my back window washer as a warning this made me laugh so much. 😂

I don’t know why they do it OP! It is very annoying.
Next time someone does it to me though, I will be using your window washer warning method 😂

I don’t think they care that they’re not behind the lorry though. They know that’s going to happen.

I think that the motivation for the aggressive over takers / lane switchers isn’t that they really think it makes a huge difference to journey speed, they know it doesn’t.

I think it’s because they treat driving like a PlayStation game. It’s fun to over take you, to beat you, to outmanoeuvre you. That they’re then behind something else is just part of the game.

The drivers I have see like this are ALWAYS men.

I had one last week… two lanes into one at very slow speed, everyone alternating. Him in his huge SUV, far too close to me, knew he’d try to not wait. I actually gritted my teeth and forced him to. But I said to my teen - see the next lights? He’ll do it again. He did, and I didn’t hold my ground that time. And then it happened a third time (all within half a mile, it’s an annoying lag out!) and again I said - watch him move into the right hand lane now, and force his way in front… and he did. Dick.

Because some roads are only 60 because there's technically no reason to make them.a 30 or 40. But the amount if potholes and broken bits of road surface and sharp bends and sheer lack of visibility near you cant always go 60. I drive a stretch if road once a week at the moment where the surface is so dodgy you go zooming at 60 and hit one of the gazillion chunks if road thats broken off you'd damage your car. Plus it's single track and you need to be ready to pull in to the passing bay bit.

As a recently passed driver (passed at the end of March), this freaked me out at first. Whenever someone was right up my arse I would feel awful, like I was holding them up. Then I remembered that I'm doing the speed limit and that's where I'll happily stay. I have "P" signs on my car for a reason, matey. More fool you if you get too close. (I'm a good driver, but still very new to all this so occasional mistakes happen like stalling here and there).

It does annoy me though when, for example I'm driving on a practically dead 40mph road coming home from work at 10pm and there's someone doing 20mph 🙄

Driving turns many people into wankers

If you're being tail gaited, just keep intermittently touching your brake pedal. My driving instructor recommended this 30 years ago and it does seem to work.

*tail gated

Just because it says 60 on a windy country road doesn't mean you won't come face to arse with a horse round the next corner.

I had a lady do this to me the other day. I find if you slow down by 5-10pm oh they usually get the message and back off. Even if they don’t at least you know you are frustrating them further although ultimately you add no extra time to the journey as you’ll probably catch up with the cars in front at the next major roundabout.

"It's a limit, not a target"

A little bit of left foot braking will put your brake lights on without really scrubbing off any speed and they usually get the message.

Before anyone @'s me, left foot braking is a standard driving technique, it used to be taught, along with double de-clutching to help match engine revs when changing gear.

Oh yes... recently started driving again after a long hiatus, in a small carpool car (branded, so everyone knows).

Besides the tailgating, have had young men in a red sports car draw level with me to make a rude gesture, and a guy in a white van gesticulating wildly when I was following a slightly slower car at the correct distance.

I think the combo female driver - small car - carpool really gets to people. I mean, to certain categories of predominantly male idiots. I didn't get as much of this in a private Honda Civic way back when.

It's a territorial thing, I think. Like some ppl go really potty- mouthed while driving.

At some level, I guess they know that they are hurtling about in a ton of metal and if anyone responded to them with the same swaggering braggard mindset they practice, it could get really dangerous.

Bullying born of fear of the possible consequences if their own idiocy?

It's male macho culture. Always men, ages vary. They need to feel superior and be in front. They will tailgate aggressively and often do pointless overtaking manoeuvres even if 10 metres away from a roundabout where they have to then stop and there's traffic ahead. On dual carriageways even if you're overtaking, they literally drive glued to your bumper if you don't move out of the way dangerously close to the car you were overtaking. My findings are based on many years living in the country where your idiot's car was made, now I get the train when possible.

This made ma laugh out loud! Cow piss karma.
When I have a tailgater in my boot I just decelarate until they have to brake then carry on. Then I brake a couple of times to get the message through.
This reminds me of my mum when I was a kid. We're Highlands so lots of single track roads which is always fun. Ripe for tailgaters and passing place parkers.
Driving along steady about 40 mph (lambing season) when some numbnuts in a rental camper raced up behind us.
Cue several miles of tailgating, revving, swerving and eventually flashing of lights.
Mum stopped car. Gets out, opens boot and asks if he'd like to get in.
Apoplectic campervan wanker starts saying go faster or pull over. Where? It's a strip of tarmac on a moor!
Mum gets in and continues at 30 mph. All the way. He was purple but backed off after that.
People in cars can be such idiots. There's just no need.

YANBU, but I wouldn’t do the rear windscreen washer thing or anything else to further antagonise someone who is displaying signs of aggression. Just don’t react is the best thing to do.

Some people seem to become unhinged behind the wheel.

I drive a high performance japanese racing car & people seem to think I should race around all the time..... I don't, I stick to the speed limits! We got a rear dash cam as we seem to get more tailgaters than other people, guess they expect me to go as fast as I can everywhere.
Once had a van behind me in pouring rain so close I couldn't see his number plate, once he over took I remembered the company name on the side & emailed them to tell them if your going to act like an idiot maybe don't do it in a sign written van!

I had someone do this to me in a similar situation. I tapped my breaks, he soon backed off but gave me a 😒face.

I slow down too. Wish I had that bumper sticker!

I also hate tail gaters and whenever this happens to me I do a combo of the following- pressing the brake pedal usually makes them stop, failing that I give them the V out the rear windscreen and if there’s a gap in front of me put my foot to floor and accelerate very quickly away from them (I have a sporty 3.2l Mercedes), so seeing them disappear into the distance behind me absolutely owns the little scrotes 😂

Even if they catch up with me (ie cars in front of me) they then hold right back lol

Also loving the thought of the reversal of tiny dick man! “Maybe she has a massive vagina” hahaha

Is "breaking sharply" the new "snapped and farted"?
Cars brake. If they break, you need a mechanic.
<runs for cover behind wall of pedantry>