Brake checking vs tapping pedal to light them up

Both are **** moves - just let them pass if they are bothering you.

I just get slower and slower if they are so close it’s unsafe. They then have the choice of overtaking or backing off.

Had a psycho van

So..... doing something antagonistic achieves what exactly? Why add fuel to the fire?

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-gangster-paul-lyons-admits-1052242

Don't antagonise already thick/frustrated/uncaring drivers.

Yep, just slow down to a speed that suits the stopping distance

Both are **** moves – just let them pass if they are bothering you.

Sorry, this is a plonker response. There are a fair few drivers with really shite driving standards around here. Driving on the A96 if you know it you often get drivers right up against your bumper. And despite there being many many opportunities to overtake they choose not to. It's just a dribbler unthinking mindset - they don't want to overtake you, they don't even want to try and hurry you up, they just have no idea of sensible separation distance and are driving along in a poorly educated, unthinking, lack of awareness autopilot.

So brake checking helps that situation then!?

So brake checking helps that situation then!?

No, the suggestion to 'just let them pass', like you were actively attempting not to, is ignorant bordering on victim blaming.

@convert - and how does a brake check help the situation with these windowlickers?

like you were actively attempting not to, is ignorant bordering on victim blaming.

The choice is let them pass or carry on with them up your arse and ignore them - what other actions are there?

Where did I say he was deliberately not letting them pass? Don’t accuse me of victim blaming you plozzer.

I’ve even pulled over before if someone is right up my arse.

Every defensive driving course I have done (required for work) instructs you to slow down if someone is too close, no brake tapping or hazards or gesturing, let 'em get on with with it, life is too short for idiots.

We were on the M6, wife driving, over taking a lorry before Junction 36, wife driving at 65, a Range Rover gets right up the back of the car. Wife pulls into lane 1 after manoeuvre, Range Rover driver was gesticulating wildly at her and then proceeded to do the same to the next car in front. We were just laughing at the sad individual.

It's a shame there are not enough traffic cops out there, because people like that need taking off the roads.

@convert – and how does a brake check help the situation with these windowlickers?

Again, I'm not suggesting brake checking* - I just object to the tone that the driver being tail gated is possibly at fault.

*Well, there was that video that did the rounds of the driver being aggressively tail gated that opened the sun roof and ejected a handful of copper coins into the air stream. Dangerous and obviously not to be recommended, but must have been very satisfying in the moment!

If there's a double white line (UK) or white line Europe I slow down a little but keep going until there's a safe place to overtake then pull right over and back right off. Most then race past. However on a several occasions people have slowed down with me nearly to a stop only overtaking when I indicate, they clearly aren't concentrating and always drive like that. A mate does it, Madame refuses to get in a car with him. Not aggressive, just a lousy driver.

Brake checking (or fake brake-checking) is for ****s. Slow down/increase the gap to vehicle in front so you allow for the tailgater's lack of thinking/braking time.

If the driver behind is enough of a moron to tailgate aggressively, they're probably enough of a moron to want to fight you over a brake-check.

If there’s a double white line (UK) or white line Europe I slow down a little but keep going until there’s a safe place to overtake then pull right over and back right off.

Hopefully the proliferation of dash-cams will put an end to tailgating before too long. I've submitted two videos to the police recently and was told that both had resulted in fixed penalty notices for driving without due care and attention. Once was for an HGV sitting inches off the bumper while flashing his lights in a 50 limit in roadworks, and another was a car tailgating on an A-road with me already doing 60.

It takes about 15 minutes to make a submission via their portal but it's worth it in the long run if it gets dangerous drivers to either think about their driving or off the road completely.

I just object to the tone that the driver being tail gated is possibly at fault.

I don't think that's what was being suggested, just that it can be the least stressful option as it guarantees they're off your bumper and off to crash into the next car up the road instead.

I don’t think that’s what was being suggested, just that it can be the least stressful option as it’s the only way to guarantee they’re off your bumper and free to crash into the next car up the road instead.

Tone is everything online. If that's what you mean write something like...."you need to get the dangerous driver ahead of you where they can do less harm. Find an opportunity to persuade them to get ahead of you". Not "Just let them pass" which is both ignorant because often they have no interest in passing (you are going to engineer it for your benefit) and has a smell of the the tailgated driver being at fault for being in the way.

Situation, you're in the fast lane of a dual carriageway with slower traffic on the inside lane, behind a car doing not much more than the speed limit. You're a reasonable distance from the car in front. A van accelerates up to your rear bumper, tailgating you and putting you at risk.

Decelerating as advised above could cause a collision. Surely a flash of red is reasonable, there's nothing else you can do in the situation.

I'm not asking if you think something is a d**k move in your opinion , I'm asking what the law would say. Theoretically, being behind another car, you'd be perfectly within your rights to brake in order to maintain stopping distance with the car in front. Tapping to turn the lights on briefly or maintaining stopping distance - obviously there's barely any difference between the two, and intent would be impossible to prove. You see brake lights going on all the time at night, cars just randomly slowing, or coming up behind another.

What does the law say?

I accelerate whilst left foot braking. Seems to have the desired effect. By speeding up a tiny bit it opens up a gap .the tailgating vehicle is unsure if you are going to stand on the brakes or not so will invariably lift off.
Sometimes takes a couple of goes to get the message across. If they are persistent I just indicate right and if there is no oncoming traffic for a good 100mtrs , just pull over to the other carriage way and let them go about bullying someone else.
I think that alot of these drivers want to race , or are totally incompetent behind the wheel all they can do is follow. Not having the required skills to complete a safe overtake.
Oor they want you to go fast so , in the unlikely event there is a speed trap , you will get zapped and as they are so close z they won't.
Or , they are so thick that they think they will get to their destination quicker by driving 1mtr from the car in front. Which is technically correct , what they do with the extra seconds is anybody's guess .
Or , they enjoy the smell of cold sulphur diesel first thing in the morning and want to suck it into their cabin air intake.

I have front and rear dash cams by the way.

In the dark and rain a tap on the brake light will illuminate their front plate and could be the difference between identification or not.

Won't have a chance to view the footage until end of this weekend.

Accelerated away from the problem once the car in front was gone, but later in traffic the psycho caught up and tried an even worse move, undertaking and sitting on the bumper of the car in the slow lane.

Complete your overtake and pull to the inside lane. Do you really think flashing your brake lights, possibly causing hard reaction braking behind you, is a safer option?

Perhaps buy one of these and use it to tell people off?

I have front and rear dash cams by the way.

That will be useful to help any claim go 50/50 when the footage shows you tapping the brake at 70mph with a plumber's van 3ft off your bumper.

There's always footage on these dashcam compilations on Youtube which makes you wonder what the submitter did in the minute before the clip starts to enrage the road-rager so much!

Situation, you’re in the fast lane of a dual carriageway with slower traffic on the inside lane, behind a car doing not much more than the speed limit. You’re a reasonable distance from the car in front. A van accelerates up to your rear bumper, tailgating you and putting you at risk

Honest answer that’ll probably get me flamed. If I was genuinely concerned about the vehicle behind?
I’d accelerate a bit over the speed limit if that will allow me to pass the car on my left and pull in and slow back down.
I’d indicate nice and early so throbber behind knows I’m getting out of the way and the cars on my left may possibly make me a gap.

In the dark and rain a tap on the brake light

You're just trolling now!

Both are **** moves – just let them pass if they are bothering you.

Yeah but if they're younger than me I'm likely to die first.

Perhaps buy one of these and use it to tell people off?

A completely different scenario granted,  but I was taught to actively show a brake light in some circumstances on an advanced motorcycle course. This is because motorbikes can slow quite significantly due to engine braking just from rolling off the throttle.  This can catch inattentive following traffic out because they don't see a brake light. A typical scenario would be entering a 40 or 30 from a national speed limit where I would tap the brake to show a light if there was a car behind me, even though I can slow adequately without applying the brakes.

I actually stopped on Thursday night because of a tail gater. Blizzard conditions, car i front of me very erratic, blowing snow. Idiot Uner driver right up my bumper, id already slowed right down through engine braking as the road was covered in snow. Eventually i just stopped and he went around me. He then went on to tailgate someone else. Glad i stopped as it was really bad around the corner, drifting snow, vehicles coming up sliding across the carriage way. I wanted space all around me.

Accelerated away from the problem once the car in front was gone, but later in traffic the psycho caught up and tried an even worse move, undertaking and sitting on the bumper of the car in the slow lane.

So do you think it helped? Was the situation made calmer and safer by you flashing your brake lights?

Had both a tailgater and an undertaker weaving in and out of traffic on the M6 yesterday.

I moved aside and let the tailgater past me as soon as it was practicable to do so. I may have slowed down a bit before I did it.

The undertaker undertook me before I had chance to move over after overtaking slower traffic. I stick to the left hand lane as much as possible.

I don't think that advising people to let them past is victim blaming.

Brake light checking is a nob move IMO.

In the situation described you should slow down gradually until you have at least a four second gap to the vehicle ahead of you. That's your stopping distance, plus the stopping distance of the nobber behind you.

For bonus points, if its daylight put the fog lights on, then switch the headlights on as you tap the brakes.
All the red lights at once.🙂

It’s funny how in the work van, with no rear window, I can completely ignore a tailgater, yet in a car it’s more stressful. Despite the fact that a van full of tools is probably an uncomfortable place to be in a serious smash. Especially if I have compressed gas on board

Actually having witnessed a few bumps involving tailgaters, every one has been minor.
The bad ones were vehicles trying to exist in the same road space changing lanes, or not noticing stopped traffic.

brake check (illegal I believe)

Is it? It's utterly stupid unless you're actively looking to cause an insurance claim, but don't think it's illegal in itself. It might well fall under Driving Without Due Care or one of the other catch-alls. They teach emergency stops when you're learning for your test.

Where practical I'd let them past, pulling over if necessary. I've no desire for someone like that to be close to me, behind or ahead. Failing that I'd just ease up on the throttle for a few seconds before going back up to the limit, I'm reasonably sure that even my 1 litre Seat can out-accelerate a wazzock in a van. Rinse and repeat, they'll soon work it out.

When I used to drive to Portsmouth regularly down the A3 and there was this builders diesel crew cab van was driven by an absolute roaster. Quite a few times I managed to get in front and then alongside an HGV going up Buster - I’d just ease off the throttle as the truck slowed down - he’d lose all his momentum and be forced to pull in behind the HGV and he’d crawl up Butser at 30mph. Not big, not clever but so, so satisfying 🤪

A completely different scenario granted, but I was taught to actively show a brake light in some circumstances on an advanced motorcycle course. This is because motorbikes can slow quite significantly due to engine braking just from rolling off the throttle. This can catch inattentive following traffic out because they don’t see a brake light. A typical scenario would be entering a 40 or 30 from a national speed limit where I would tap the brake to show a light if there was a car behind me, even though I can slow adequately without applying the brakes.

Yes, I was also advised of this. I usually dab the rear brake a little, although I can slow down sufficiently with engine braking alone. I saw an advert somewhere for a product which plumbs into the throttle position sensor (I think) so it automatically activates the brake light in such scenarios.

There's a real Surfmat vibe in this thread.

With the increase in vehicles with regenerative braking systems out in the road, the car will do the same as the OP is suggesting automatically when you do what a lot of posters and the defensive driving courses advise.

If, in an EV, you adjust your speed to suit to total following distance in front and behind, using acceleration sense and not applying the brakes, there's a good chance that the regen system will illuminate the brake lights for you regardless, not because you are applying the brakes but because vehicle speed is being retarded.

It wouldn't suprise me if some of the smarter vehicles could combine that with rear facing sensors and he more likely to illuminate the brakes the closer the vehicle behind is.

The old Scottish country road /singletrack trick when somebody was very clearly closing  (which very few people seem to understand nowadays) was to get to a straight/layby, lift off and left indicate (or wave forward with right arm out of window)  the milk tanker drivers/lorries were by in a flash, usually with. A few toots, , I now end up with cars pulling up behind me.

Honest answer that’ll probably get me flamed. If I was genuinely concerned about the vehicle behind?
I’d accelerate a bit over the speed limit if that will allow me to pass the car on my left and pull in and slow back down.
I’d indicate nice and early so throbber behind knows I’m getting out of the way and the cars on my left may possibly make me a gap.

this is the most sensible response in my view. Don't antagonise and get out of the way as soon as is safe.

Also bear in mind that many cars now have adaptive cruise control so can sit quite close behind you and still be safe.

Also bear in mind that many cars now have adaptive cruise control so can sit quite close behind you and still be safe.

Ah, I forgot that adaptive cruise control bends physics! Response times might be better than a human...but no. That's bollox.

edit - or was that written with irony that I've missed 😉

Also bear in mind that many cars now have adaptive cruise control so can sit quite close behind you and still be safe.

Ah yes, the Audi setting.

Just do lots of windscreen wash cleans (will obviosly spray the car behind too) and a couple of Rear fog switch checks

"Also bear in mind that many cars now have adaptive cruise control so can sit quite close behind you and still be safe."

Must vary according to cars then.  None of the cruise control settings on my car are anywhere near tailgating distance.

I did once come to complete stop on an quiet road in the highlands before the driver behind me would go past. Maybe with today's traffic conditions many newish drivers just don't overtake on single carriageway roads.

@convert

Response times might be are better than a human

Fixed it for you, and seeing as response times make up a lot of the gap that we leave between cars, automatic systems are safer at closer distances.