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....

I have a theory around that too. I used to car share to work with a guy who had a subaru estate thing (3L automatic shit off a shovel acceleration) but at times he'd use his wife's small car. Despite the fact he drove them both the same way, the amount of people who'd overtake us or pull out in front of us when in the mini but not in the big car was too often to be a coincidence.

I get your other point about being in traffic too so technically you're not the one holding them up, how have they not seen the other 10 cars in front of you?!

Hhhdfgjjgggjj6677
That is annoying but what is just as annoying is people driving 30-40 in a 60 drives me mad if the person an the front just drove at the speed limit wouldn’t be holding everyone up.

I get that it might be annoying but that never justifies driving too close to the vehicle in front - you just have to suck it up and play safe. Stopping distances are crucial - it's not speed that causes accidents, it's usually proximity.

I've had to pull sharp several times recently due to pedestrians dashing across a road, or cars pulling out right in front of me without indicating, and if someone had been right behind they would surely have collided with me.

For me, absolutely nothing trumps safety, however annoying some drivers are.

Tyres on tarmac, two second rule. If you don't know that. Don't drive. You've passed your test, it's not everyone else's fault you don't have the capacity to retain the information.

There's a road near me (passes two schools huge clue there) satnavs frequently mislabel as 60mph. There are A LOT of drivers too stupid to know it simply is not a 60. Literally a daily occurrence some that will be doing the revving, swinging, tailgating shit. I've become very zen in allowing my speed to fall away until I am driving at a speed suitable for the danger they represent.

@EmmaH2022
I think you misread my post. I said cars brake.
If they break, I assume they're faulty and need a mechanic.

Even assuming that 50 mph is a safe speed on a narrow lane that bendy, you got annoyed because you were held up for 6.6 mins? This is probably the driver behind the behaviour that we are discussing.

I live in an area (quite a large area) where the speed limit is 20 mph. I always try to stick within the speed limit. I freely admit that it isn't always easy but if I do to over it is only by a minute amount and for seconds (not only do I keep an eye on my Speedo but my sat nav tells me!). I frequently enter the 20 mph zone with no cars behind me but within less than a minute there is a whole queue of cars behind me, all of whom must have been speeding to get so close behind me. Sometimes they are so close that I feel that if I took my foot off the accelerator they would be pushing me along. The council have now put cameras up along the straightest section to catch speeding drivers and I am very much looking forward to finding out how many drivers have been caught. Ideally it will slow them down!

The worst part about this thread are the people who think they're justified to be road captains and decide what the rest of the road should be driving to, because they're the car in front.

Slowing down in 10mph increments to prove a point, is poor behaviour.

You're only as fast as the car infringement! Always have smug smile when I'm being tailgated they manage to overtake me and then 10 minutes later you've caught up with them as they're now behind someone even slower 😂

*car in front not infringement 🙈

I don't slow down in 10mph increments to prove a point, I do it to keep myself safe, it gives the tailgater a choice to either slow down and pull back or overtake.

What other lawful options are there?

If they are going to hit me because I need to brake suddenly, far better at 30 mph than 60.

I am more concerned with those tapping their brakes to teach the tailgater some kind of " lesson".

You are meant to increase the gap between u and the car in front if you get tail gaited.

That does involve slowing down a bit.

What a dickhead. Really not sure why they do it. Always men in my experience and probably they do it more to women than other blokes.

I think the Honda Jazz is a part of it. We own one and a bigger car and I switch between. There’s such a big difference in the way people behave depending which car I am in.

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.

This makes so much sense. Thank you @Testina !