[Closed] Tail gaters

I hate tailgating, I'll admit that when I was younger I used to do it. But as I've grown I hate it. It's dangerous, it's stupid. I just hate and try not to get wound up. If they wanna go by let them.

Have a look at what traffic behaviour is enforced and what isn't. Clearly tailgating isn't a problem. Neither is the use of mobile phones or driving down the motorway with the car so full of cannabis smoke you struggle to make out the driver. All were the observed on yesterday's commute.

The only dangerous thing anyone can do on the roads is speeding clearly.
(where's that tongue in cheek smiley before anyone takes that the wrong way)

Wash your windscreen the next time you get a tailgater - interesting piece of advice I picked up on a speed awareness course. It seems to work and is safer than touching your brakes...

I have a quick car and a slow one. Drive both at legal limit. Never get tailgated in sports car, always do in the other despite me doing same speeds.

Aim for the puddles.

SLOW DOWN PULL IN WHEN SAFE AND LET THEM PASS.

Theyre obviously in a rush, and youre not............

Your being protective of yourself and your passengers, nothing wrong with that.

I'd slow down gradually, and allow them to overtake you into the space you have created in front, you will not be 'going backwards' as some claim and your journey will take no longer but both parties remain safer.

Defensive driving is quite often about creating and maintaining space around you so to increase reaction time.

Slow dowwwwwn, until the ****ers overtake and clear off 😀 Being an old dodger I leave plenty of time for my journeys, so slowing down is no loss to me, but usually is to the odd tailgater.

I get maliciously patient. The sensible thing to do is to slow down a bit so that you're less likely to have to stop quickly, the fact that it probably really annoys the impatient moron behind you is just an added bonus.

It gets particularly fun around sets of traffic lights/ multiple lanes etc where you can try to drive really smoothly and steadily, such that you get through it all as fast as everyone else around you, without at any point giving the car behind a chance to get past. It's not big, it's not clever, but it keeps me amused.

Nip the handbrake on no brake lights will come on but be ready to accellerate. Exceptionally dangerous with high risk but they will get a fright.

It's not just aggressive tail gating but people sitting too close in general that I dislike. I can't understand their thinking. Perhaps because they're not thinking.

There's two type though! The arrogant aggressive a holes who clearly want to be in front, even if it is 30 yards. Then there are those that are purely and simply - crap drivers. No intention of getting past even if the road was clear but insist on being right up one's arse! 'Generally' I find men to be the former and women to be the latter.

The more recent craze to me is the 'front bumper gaters'. Those on the motorway that think flicking on an indicator (if they can be bothered) and swerving right causing the cars over taking them to brake. Highest form of arrogance - I'm watching the box sets of Dexter at the moment and this type of driving gives me evil thoughts...

If I have less following distance behind, I increase the following distance in front. That way, there's less change I'll have to brake firmly to compensate for the Muppet behind.

Obviously, they don't understand this.

King-ocelot - Member

I have a quick car and a slow one. Drive both at legal limit. Never get tailgated in sports car, always do in the other despite me doing same speeds.

That's because the kind of expert driving successful alpha males who tail gate are living in a little bubble where their 140bhp German repmobile is king of the road. They don't tail gate anything they recognise as faster as it'll shatter their delusion.

This is one of the most fun things about owning sleeper.

I just pull in and let them past on the motorway or make sure I give myself plenty of stopping distance from the car in front on other roads. Let them crash into someone else.

People tailgate the landy all the time. I think they expect im going slow...... I can do 70 no bother and did 85 once on my private road - thanks to an engine swap.

How ever tailgate me and i just slow down. If its safe to pass me you can pass , if its not safe to pass well sorry but you deserve to be stuck.

I probably get tailgated in the van too but i cant see them as i have no rear windows - once you get behind me i cant see you you need to be about 10ft away minimum of you dissapear into the void.

It's worse in a van because people can't see there's anything in front and presume you're holding them up.

What's worse is the zombie driver that lives life at 42mph no matter what the limit is. Sat right up my chuff in 30 zones then nowhere in the nationals then, oh look it's you again

When they do it to me, I simply want them away from me. I don't want to do something that will potentially increase the risk of an accident further, the cargo is too precious for me to play games. So usually I will slow down to either just slow the speed of both of us down or to give them the opportunity to pass and piss off away from me.

As some have said, it's the generally crap drivers who have no sense of the minucule amount of space they are giving themselves by just hugging your rear bumpre. They have no intention of passing nor are they driving aggressively they just actually think they are driving safely by being a few feet behind you at 50 or 60mph.

I used to cringe at the idea in my sports bike days but the sooner motorway driving is automated the better

[i]It's not just aggressive tail gating but people sitting too close in general that I dislike. I can't understand their thinking. Perhaps because they're not thinking. [/i]

Or maybe they thinking more than you? I can't stand folk who brake when it's not needed, folk who are too cautious and/or obviously haven't a clue as they maintain the same speed past every hazard and every condition.

Folk who overtake need to take MORE care than those that never do.

I can't stand folk who brake when it's not needed, folk who are too cautious and/or obviously haven't a clue as they maintain the same speed past every hazard and every condition.

and the best way to let them know your disapproval is to sit right on their bumper?

😀

Folk who overtake need to take MORE care than those that never do.

Bollocks.

Maybe you meant "Folk who overtake safely need to take more care than those that never do."

On a motorbike I move around to block their line of vision.

"Or maybe they thinking more than you? I can't stand folk who brake when it's not needed, folk who are too cautious and/or obviously haven't a clue as they maintain the same speed past every hazard and every condition."

Not sure if trolling because its complete bollocks

Unless you have xray vision you have no idea why they have braked. Maybe its the corner , maybe its the dog that ran out , maybe the front left wheel of their car just fell off .... You have no idea.

And theres no driving instructor in the world who would suggest that the best place to start an overtake from is 2 feet from the car infront.

What I dont get is when I'm chugging along at 75 or whatever on the motorway and I'm overtaking a lorry going past another one does the bloke driving the X5 really think charging up behind me flashing his lights and then sitting 2 m off my bumper is going to make me do anything other than ease off a bit to annoy him?

Used to find it was the boy racer types tailgating me, but in recent years I get far less of them and the majority now are mostly women.

I find many just drive very close but have no intention of overtaking. Just the whole special awareness thing I guess.

ust the whole special awareness thing I guess.

I always wondered what the ESP button on our Golf did.

OP any particular reason why you couldn't let him pass?

Spin - Member
I always wondered what the ESP button on our Golf did.

😆

[s]special[/s] spatial 😀 (I blame autocorrect)

Though maybe both 😉

Love this move. Say if im turning left at a junction and have had someone tailgating me for a while I tend to make the turning mind numbingly slow.

Disappointed this thread isn't in relation to these gator tails...

[img] [/img]

Agree with all the above - making space in front of you is the best way to react (and as mentioned, the act of slowing them down more is just an added amusement).

However, the other night on the M40 when I had a BMW roar up to my rear bumper whilst I was performing a legitimate overtaking maneavure at about 75 - i may or not have made use of a large amount of the 550hp I had to keep up with him as he tried to overtake (before realising I was being a moron myself and slowing back down - good fun though!)

cb - Member

There's two type though! The arrogant aggressive a holes who clearly want to be in front, even if it is 30 yards. Then there are those that are purely and simply - crap drivers. No intention of getting past even if the road was clear but insist on being right up one's arse!

Exactly. TBH I find the latter ones the worse. The aggressive ones at least have a reason, moronic as it is. (especially since it's generally easier to pass if you leave a gap, for visibility and speed changes).

But the ones that just latch onto the bumper of the car in front are a more constant threat to others imo, and never go away- not to mention quite likely paying less attention to their surroundings- because at least aggro overtaking dick is looking ahead. There's something about the scottish borders that seems to attract these little roadtrains of 3 cars in the space needed for 2.

OP any particular reason why you couldn't let him pass?

Because he didn't want to. He just had no comprehension that he was driving too close. Hence when we got to a set of traffic lights and asked if he could get any closer to my bumper he stated that he wasn't close to my bumper.

Because he didn't want to. He just had no comprehension that he was driving too close. Hence when we got to a set of traffic lights and asked if he could get any closer to my bumper he stated that he wasn't close to my bumper.

Once, after being tailgated on my motorbike, I may have used the line "any closer to my arse luv, and you'll need a strap-on", to the female guilty party. She went a bit red.

Onzadog - Member
If I have less following distance behind, I increase the following distance in front. That way, there's less change I'll have to brake firmly to compensate for the Muppet behind.

This. I don't get annoyed by it, but am aware when it's happening and the above is my response to it. It gives my a smooth braking space and also allows them something to overtake safely into should they feel the need.

It does puzzle me when people do it when i'm overtaking on the motorway and have moved to the middle lane to do so, they close up right behind me, brake and follow at point black range until I complete the overtake and then accelerate past me...the outside lane was completely free during the entire thing; WHY?

The more recent craze to me is the 'front bumper gaters'. Those on the motorway that think flicking on an indicator (if they can be bothered) and swerving right causing the cars over taking them to brake. Highest form of arrogance - I'm watching the box sets of Dexter at the moment and this type of driving gives me evil thoughts..

Its a slight tangent but how many time do you read the road ahead and want to pull out to overtake when Mr "I own the outside lane" has closed up behind the car in front to a ridiculously dangerous distance to close the door on you. I find indicating too early just meets with this response. I indicate and move quite quicky (and safely) but avoid Audi cocks accelerating to block you in.

Slow down let them past, then move further north. There is definitely a correlation between how far south you go and how angry/crap the driving seems to be.

There is definitely a correlation between how far south you go and how angry/crap the driving seems to be

It's definitely less angry here in Inverness but it's no less crap!

If a quick flash of brake light isn't enough of a message, I then slow down to a safer speed.
I have to confess to tailgating though, usually to people who think it's ok to pull out rigth in front of me. 😯

I had a woman pull out in front of me a couple of weeks ago. I couldn't move into the overtaking lane and she merged right in front of me, then brake tested me while gesturing her disapproval. Work that one out.

lean side to side when going round corners,slowly, seems to unnerve them

I sometimes think tailgating goes hand in hand with muppets that seem to take an inordinate amount of time to overtake people. Noticed this recently, they pull out and crawl alongside the row of traffic

But then I am thinking that might be because cruise control is a lot more popular but people don't really know how to use it

SLOW DOWN PULL IN WHEN SAFE AND LET THEM PASS.

Theyre obviously in a rush, and youre not............

Like most people, I usually do the slow down bit. Sod letting them past.

Just because they're in a rush, it gives them no right to bully everyone else on the road. Show a bit of courtesy and most people will offer it back. Be a dick, and, well...

Once, after being tailgated on my motorbike, I may have used the line "any closer to my arse luv, and you'll need a strap-on", to the female guilty party. She went a bit red.

Good comeback! 10/10. If there's one thing that boils my piss more than tailgating though, it's people tailgating motorbikes. Whenever I see that I really do want to shout at them. And I don;t even ride a motorbike. Cycles too. Watched a bus the other day driving 3 feet from the back wheel of a cyclist. Stupid.

Just pull over and let them get away from you. They're going to have an accident because thy're shit drivers and I do want to be anywhere near it when it happens.

I find that people just don't have a clue that they are too close. OK, you get the arrogant type who just want to speed but, like has been said, most tailgaters just don't realise they are too close.

I saw a woman this morning about 2 ft away from the car in front. That car turned off and she did the same to another car.

As a Driving Instructor, there are always things that the Students start doing or stop doing. Most at some point will try to tailgate and not allow 2 second or 4 second rule. When questioned as to why they are doing that when I've never taught them to do that the usual reply is " oh me Mum drives that close......."

€250 fine here. That's significantly more than a ticket for speeding (by about a factor of 4x).

Doesn't stop BMW and Cayenne drivers trying to hold a fag paper between his front bumper and your rear at 150kph on the autobahn.

And he'll be commencing the overtake manoeuvre the moment your rear has passed the line of the truck front bumper that you're overtaking, before you've even started your manoeuvre to pull in front of the truck. Or Police Car!

Easy to say unless you're on a packed dual carriageway that isn't moving much above 50mph.

Had one woman tailgate me so I did the appropriate thing and adjusted my speed, she got closer. Slowed down again, got closer, slowed down again and was just about hanging off my back end. All the time throwing her hands about the place like she had a nest of wasps in there with her. Not proud but did slam the brakes on at that point after I had a suitably low gear, I think I actually saw her screaming and throwing a proper tantrum in my mirror as I moved on.

Wouldn't pull that stunt now as I have a little 'un but people like that just shouldn't be on the roads. And yes, I realise I wasn't much better, I'll get on with it....

[img] [/img]

I now find driving a LWB t5.1 with no rear view mirror means that tailgaters don't exist.
I'm sure that they do, but I can't see them any more.

butcher - Member
Good comeback! 10/10. If there's one thing that boils my piss more than tailgating though, it's people tailgating motorbikes. Whenever I see that I really do want to shout at them. And I don;t even ride a motorbike. Cycles too. Watched a bus the other day driving 3 feet from the back wheel of a cyclist. Stupid.

People have a tendency to tailgate sports bikes if the rider is obeying the speed limit. I think it's because they assume you're going to be whizzing off. If I'm doing 30mph on a 200mph bike, it's because I want to.

It does mean, however, you can be really childish on the motorway with tailgaters. You pull over to let them past, and then keep pace in the middle lane as they overtake. Fun to see how fast you can make them go.

Not that I'd ever do such a thing.

Tail gaters onvthe motorbike are funny. Had one once in a 30 zone he pulled out to overtake as the road moved to a 60. He didnt even get alongside!

Dont try to quickly 'tap' the brakes on a Volvo equipped with brake assist.
Did it once to a tailgater at 60 , in a 70 NSL. He was in a van , my car went into 'OMG its an emergency situation' and piled on full brake force to all wheels.
I had no idea 1.6T of Swedish steel could stop so fast . I dont think the van driver did either as he had to take avoiding action.

I soiled myself, and he probably did as well.

I try not to tailgate, but there are some who almost seem to encourage it; the drivers who accelerate up to speed, then back off, so you find yourself accelerating along with them, up to a certain speed, ready to sit behind them cruising at the notional speed limit, which you do for a while, then suddenly find the other car is right in front of you without you having gone any faster, so you back off the power a bit, and find the other car is getting further and further away, so you gradually increase speed to match the other car, which then slows down and is close to the front of your own car,
and repeat.
Trouble is, there are no brake lights, so it's almost impossible to know if the other car is keeping a steady speed or speeding up then, after a while, slowing down again.
Drivers who do that rather boil my piss.

Ah, the drivers who think the accelerator is a binary switch. Yes, I love those ones.

[I]Unless you have xray vision you have no idea why they have braked. Maybe its the corner , maybe its the dog that ran out , maybe the front left wheel of their car just fell off .... You have no idea. [/I]

Usual do, as I'm a safe distance behind them.

IME an awful lot of drivers have little idea what they are doing - today we came behind a car that had both side mirrors turned in, I worked on the theory that he probably wasn't using the middle one either... plus he drove along touching the brakes for every corner (pretty much without losing speed), and whenever a car came in the opposite direction.

I think it's only sensible to make sure they are awake. Not but touching the brake but by going down a gear and gently slowing down and then, when their bonnet dips, speeding up again. Morally wrong, etc, but it makes one a little safer. The delta-V would be about +/- 2mph, it's enough.

This particularly applies on the half-mile of twisty bypass with double white lines up to the roundabout where they will go left and I won't.

Seen it all... Went from tap the brakes, flick the brake lights, stamp on the brakes drop a gear and floor it to washing the windows, always have one jet pointing up. (and a combination of all)
Most of the time it os roads with nowhere to go, one of the finest examples of really bad driving there is and should be punished heavily. If you don't understand stopping distance then ha do your keys it. Especially the amount thinking distance plays.

Being childish think I nearly saw sparks off the front of a 5 series and the idiot on the motorbike that was potentially checking out the content of the boot was less than happy with screenwash all over him.

Surely drive quicker, then it's not an issue !

I had an M5 for a while, never ever got tailgated, also had a clio 1.2 always got tailgated! I dont actually know why people do it? are they just really f stupid?

D- funkydunk

the monday morning troll is obvious 😀

Wasn't there some really flamey shoutey thread a couple of years back about whether touching the brakes was a good or a bad idea?

Someone got so incensed about the whole thing that they left the forum, never to be seen again, ISTR.

So touching your brakes may or may not be OK, but discussing it on STW is definitely something that needs to be approached with caution.

A tailgating bell end crashed into the back of me when I stopped suddenly as the car in front had an accident. I told him in no uncertain terms why he'd just had a totally avoidable accident. 6 months later I notice a ratty white micro 6 inches from my boot, at the lights THE SAME plonker smashed into the back of my repaired car. The front of his car was artfully taped together and it distributed itself across the road instantly. I was too incredulous to have a go a second time.

Slowing down is the approved method of dealing with these arseholes. Not because it will influence their behaviour much, but because it gives you more reaction time in the event of something unexpected, making your braking less severe, and hopefully reducing the chances of them hitting you.

I've started pulling over and letting them through though. Getting old, clearly.

"Only a fool breaks the two second rule."

[url= http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2+seconds+at+30mph ]2 seconds @ 30mph = 26.82 meters[/url]
[url= http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2+seconds+at+40mph ]2 seconds @ 40mph = 35.76 meters[/url]
[url= http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2+seconds+at+50mph ]2 seconds @ 50mph = 44.70 meters[/url]
[url= http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2+seconds+at+60mph ]2 seconds @ 60mph = 53.64 meters[/url]
[url= http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=2+seconds+at+70mph ]2 seconds @ 70mph = 62.59 meters[/url]

There are a LOT of fools out there.

I think that's been changed to "Absolutely every **** breaks the 2 second rule"

I drive a lot for work and am tailgated almost constantly as I always keep to the speed limits. Just gets boring after a while and I only ever notice the really really bad ones. Slowing down to 20-25mph really does not please them but I'd rather be hit in the back at 20 than 30, I have a bad enough neck as it is.

I must admit seeing the incandescent rage that some drivers get when you do 30mph in front of them THEN slow down even more is highly amusing.

I think that's been changed to "Absolutely every * breaks the 2 second rule"

Yeah or "It's complete impossible to follow the two second rule because if you do then some * will overtake and pull into the gap about a meter from your front bumper. And then slow down."

"urban" tailgating is something that's really obvious when you commute by bike.

Little trains of 4 or 5 cars with about a car length between them brakes lights flashing on and off travelling along together on a 30mph road

Why?

It's even more stupid and pointless then motorway tailgating - I mean where do the following cars think they can go?

"urban tailgating" as well as being inconsiderate and dangerous, is almost inevitably pointless anyway, unless you're in a hurry to get to the back of a queue at a traffic light/junction/roundabout...the car in front is going to get there when it gets there and whether you're a few feet from it or two car lengths back, you'll only be moving forward when it moves on.

Followed a guy in my neighbourhood the other day who aggressively (well, I assume "aggressively" anyway) tailgated a learner driver - driving so closely that the only view I had of the L-car was through his windscreens. 😯 At the next mini-roundabout she went one way, he sped off the other way, same way as I was going. About half a mile further along, there he is in front of me at traffic lights. 😆

Thing is, I'm betting he hasn't even thought about what he's just done ie. endangered his, the learner's and the instructor's safety, probably shit the learner right up only to be stuck at a red light at the same time he would have been if he'd just kept his distance. I know I feel on edge if someone's tailgating me, so I imagine it's a lot worse if you've only had a few hours in a car.

GrahamS - Member

Yeah or "It's complete impossible to follow the two second rule because if you do then some * will overtake and pull into the gap about a meter from your front bumper. And then slow down."

I tried to do it on the M6, you're lucky if it's just one *, apparently 53.6 metres is [i]plenty[/i] of space for 3 more cars.

"I tried to do it on the M6, you're lucky if it's just one ****, apparently 53.6 metres is plenty of space for 3 more cars."

and tailgating leads to the phantom traffic jam also. the car at the front corrects his speed - tailgater 1 hits his brakes and so on so forth till about 6 cars back they are stationary as well as everyone else on the road....

It's not just aggressive tail gating but people sitting too close in general that I dislike. I can't understand their thinking. Perhaps because they're not thinking.

+1

I actually don't mind someone sitting close when they are trying to get in front on a single carriageway for example. I don't see the need for it, but if they want to get ahead of me and feel like they can only perform the manoeuvre with limited visibility, carry on.

What irritates me are people who seem to drive around forgetting about basic physics. The ones who sit needlessly close the whole time (not "tailgating", but where they are close enough that their visibility is reduced, they can't anticipate changes and they have to jump on the brakes as soon as you ease off).

This may be expectancy bias, but I rarely notice this problem on my commute with rep mobiles etc. It always seems to be young girls! Proper tailgating tends to be 4x4s and vans, which might be because they can see ahead of me anyway so happy to sit closer.

If I'm not happy with someone up my backside I just ease off until they either pass or back off. One guy threatened to kill me (finger across the throat gesture) because I eased off from 65 to about 50 hoping he'd pass, which he didn't, he just got closer...then eventually passed me at the worst possible moment while looking at me rather than at the road ahead. Stuff like that is rare though.

In the old naturally-aspirated diesel Landy I used to declutch then floor the throttle, sending a massive cloud of greasy black smoke out of the exhaust. Most people got the message and backed off.

"In the old naturally-aspirated diesel Landy I used to declutch then floor the throttle, sending a massive cloud of greasy black smoke out of the exhaust. Most people got the message and back off"

Yep thats a quality trick - works even better in a turbo diesel as it dumps a wodge of unburnt fuel when you let off (in the form of said black cloud) out the back.

Just let them pass these days, not worth the hassle of anything else.

Not long ago the combination of flick the lights on (daytime only - looks like brake lights) and washers used to the trick. Plus understated car has bigger than expected engine in, so the alternative is always to simply floor it.

+1 for the single speed drivers mentioned earlier. I stick rigidly to 30 and 40 limits on the bike (and the car, of course) - the number of ar*eholes who disappear at 10mph (at least) over the limit and when you catch them up after the limit (quite quickly on the bike)they are doing the same speed is shocking. I've also noticed an increase in middle lane hogging recently, too.

I just wondered what others here thought about drivers who tail gate?

I wish them all an untimely and unpleasant death; whether they are aggressive or passive flavour.

Hope that helps.

I had a shocking drive from Scarborough to Newcastle yesterday afternoon. Tailgating featured heavily and the number of cars pushing our little Mini along the country roads was frightening (don't know if it's this bias thing people talk about but it doesn't seem to happen as much in the 3-series). I got so wound up by a guy in a Kia 4x4 thing I let myself get distracted and ended up pulling out in front of someone at a roundabout.

I'm so annoyed with myself as it would have been a nasty bump (fast roundabout and approaching car was also a 4x4 travelling quickly) that I can't stop thinking about it. I've never done anything like that for as long as I can remember but it's given me a wake up call not to get so distracted if nothing else.

TBH tho more worrying than the tailgating is the points at which some people overtake. Two cars (A4 then a Vectra if anyone's interested..) overtook us and two other cars just after !Hidden Dip! signs (on the left and right) and also on double solids. Two of the worst overtakes I've ever seen and the Vectra just seemed to copy the A4 as if he'd thought "he's done it so must be okay". Absolutely disgraceful taking such risks. It was the A171 and it is a known black spot where people have died from head-ons after failed overtakes.

There should be an online Police submission thing where dashcam footage can be submitted of such things with the result being points and fine in the post.

"There should be an online Police submission thing where dashcam footage can be submitted of such things with the result being points and fine in the post. "
I believe it's called You Tube.

Funny you should mention Kia 4x4 jobbies. Noticed a few round here driven by total bell ends with no regard for other road users. No indication, pulling out and generally get out of my way attitude.