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....

This! No need for sharp braking, That's just an accident waiting to happen

So much depends on the car you’re driving I agree.
I had a Fiat 500. It was a magnet for tailgaters and seemed to send out a ‘must get past’ signal to any male behind it. Lost count of the times I was tailgated and tried to be intimidated.
I changed it to an older Land Rover. That seemed to become wonderfully invisible and I’m generally ignored in it.

by far the worst is our 1988 XR2. This one attracts every youth in their souped up Polos and corsas who just want to race it. Well yes, clearly you’re going to beat it because it’s a 30 odd year old classic car of which we have no intention of thrashing but if you want to look like a prat go for it. Fortunately the majority is middle aged blokes giving us the thumbs up as they relive their youth though 😂

I always hold my ground when someone drives close behind me and if there is ever a chance ahead that they might try and overtake, that is when I speed up a little. However I never so anything that might put me or my passengers in any danger - in that case, let the twat go by.

Oh I used to love a bit of double declutching!!!

This is SO dangerous. Why would you speed up when someone is trying to overtake. This puts anyone coming from the other direction at risk. Why play stupid games?

Not if there aren't many long enough straights to see what's coming!

There's a road like that near me, only 2 short straight sections, 50 mph limit, and I once was stuck behind someone who did 28mph the whole fucking 7 miles of it. Every time I got to a bit where I might have been able to overtake, there was oncoming traffic, so I couldn't.

It was so frustrating.

I think they should gradually replace the national speed limit signs with signs giving a specific speed limit for that road. I know it would take some time, money for signs and assessment but some country lanes are just not safe to drive at 50/ 60. It could be a rolling 10 year programme prioritising the roads where this is more hazardous. It has been done in towns to reduce the limit to 20 so why not rurally? shootme69 example is a case in point, 20/30 should be the limit on that sort of road, obviously slowing on the corners.

Since starting to teach my dd to drive it has been a revelation how people will rev up, tailgate and then do a dodgy overtake on roads I have never had anyone overtake me on just because a car has L plates and is driving at the speed limit. If she were to speed she would lose her licence more quickly than someone who had passed. There are of course other lovely drivers out there who do hang back and will let her out.

I do though happily let people overtake me if they want to speed ahead. I would prefer that they are in front of me so I can modify my driving and leave an extra gap than behind me in case the car infront breaks suddenly. I generally drive at the speed limit, where safe to do so.

Ok @Tinkerbellflowers this is where it helps to read someone's message twice in case you make a fool of yourself trying to come across high and mighty.

I didn't say I speed up when some tries to overtake. What I said is that I pre-empt a situation in advance and simply increase my speed up to the limit. If he/she chooses to overtake me then I'm not going to get into some drag race.

It's a MAXIMUM speed. Not a "you must drive at" speed. So on the assumption they are not driving so slowly they are dangerous (which at 30-40 I highly doubt), they are doing nothing wrong.

Perhaps they are aware of their personal limitations and, for your and everyone's safety, respecting them. Perhaps they have seen a potential danger ahead.

Whilst you may be annoyed at someone driving slower than you'd like, it's not the same as tailgating. One is dangerous and kills people. One adds a few moments to your journey.

Oh I used to love a bit of double declutching!!!

We have a car that needs double declutching to change gear. I understand the theory but the practice is a another thing altogether.

I've noticed this is increasing behaviour on a motorway. Why is it that people have to drive right up behind you before overtaking, when there's a lovely space in the lane next to you they can go in? Baffling and frankly dangerous when there's no way they're within the safe braking area, cos it's definitely not thirty metres at seventy miles an hour (actually I just looked it up and it's 96m at 70 mph!).

As for the tailgaters on country roads, remember these roads are not as familiar to everyone, so people might be going a bit slower than you, just like I have to be patient with those people who aren't familiar with the confusing one way system near me (and crawl along at ten miles an hour sometimes and switch lanes unexpectedly).

It takes 7 minutes to drive 5 miles at 40mph

It takes 6 minutes to drive 5 miles at 50mph

People should try and understand that this kind of difference in speed makes hardly any difference to arrival time, but it makes a whole lot of difference to how safely you drive and how stressed you are.

Although if you did 30 in a 60 on a clear road on your driving test you'd fail due to 'failing to make progress’

My dad is a retired police officer and drummed into that speed and tailgating are the causes of most traffic accidents.

I use my hazards, and then usually let them go ahead (not passively, but I would genuinely prefer them to be ahead of me than behind me, just incase I need to break. Esp when I have my children in the car)

My new car has crash hazard warning. It has gone off a few times because of other people. Scares the crap out of me! I think it's a bit sensitive for the state of UK roads....i.e. narrow and full of tailgating stressheads!

Ahh okay. Your earlier post didnt say that 😊

I SO agree with this. It's taken me a long time to hold my nerve and stick to a safe (IMO) speed when there's some prick up my exhaust pipe. Road near me is a 60 limit but it's narrow in places and so twisting, with no pavements, that I drive it at 30-35. It's just not safe to go faster. A friend hit a deer on that road and I want to be able to stop/ be in control.

DH used to drive too close up behind other cars - to "make them go faster"! He got a few lectures from me and now just relaxes instead of always pushing to go faster.

Totally right. Yesterday there was a Fiesta in front of me doing 40 in the outside lane of a 60, so I could only pass if I undertook. I chose not to get worked up about it, nor about them running through the subsequent 40 zone at 30. I did sigh when they took the same turning off as me.

While it's irritating it's not actually dangerous, whereas tailgating is.

Very sadly the attitude of some drivers is one of entitlement and there’s no recognition that you’re driving could have any consequences. Tailgating and poor overtaking are common around here, we have a lot of single carriageway roads used by different types of traffic and there’s always someone treating it like a racetrack.

There’s been an example of this locally this week, a driver has been convicted for a fatal crash and the family of the victim have asked for some dash cam footage to be shared to highlight the risks of poor driving. Trigger warning on this link, it really shows how things can go wrong in a split second:

Video of RTC - trigger warning

Most annoying are the people that drive at 40 in a 60 (fair enough) but then keep on driving at 40 through a 30 zone.

Nah. What I find most annoying I think is those sections of road ( we have many) where between volume of traffic, and multiple lights, anyone attempting to join the main.road from a.side Street is at the mercy of the drivers on the main road allowing them in. I absolutely hate it when you come to one of those side street entrances and you have someone far to close to you to allow you to stop or slow and let someone out even though the lights red and it makes little difference to how much further on you'd get as it's starting to back up, and then they suddenly stop and let someone out making u look like the dickhead who didn't. Hate that so much.

Drivers are definitely getting more aggressive in general. There's just no need for it.

It's definitely not just a male thing. I drive the A1 twice a week and nearly always get someone tailgating me. And it's regularly women - usually driving an Audi. And I don't dawdle either. It's like a compulsion to some people. "Must pass, must pass"

It's usually thick bully men.

It's the known cause for the majority of accidents, particularly on motorways.

Funny that (not).