could try sticking a fake camera in an obvious position in the rear window
could try sticking a fake camera in an obvious position in the rear window
also try adding a stick figure family, "powered by fairy dust", or "grandchildren on board" to make yourself appear to be a useless incompetent driver that others will keep their distance from.
Of course, the OP is about tailgating, what are your actions if someone tailgates you in this context. If your immediate reaction is “That’s their problem” then why aren’t you thinking; “I’ll just get out f this person’s way?”
The roads would be at a standstill if we stopped to let every tailgator past.
I have some long, straight open 30mph sections when coming to work. Had a tailgater this morning and it set me thinking - what speed would actually make them happy? 35? 40? More? None of those options would be sensible, so I just did the usual 30 and ignored them.
Even if they overtake it just gets them 200m further on to the next vehicle doing the limit. Then we all regroup at the traffic lights so utterly pointless.
A woman pointlessly overtook in the last bit of 30 a few weeks ago. Sure enough, I was back behind her again at the next lights and she then proceeded to stall twice when pulling away - I got a sheepish wave for being patient / not beeping 🙂
I just carry on doing what I do and judge to be safe for that road - within the legal limits.
I have to say, the longer we have 20 zones the fewer tailgaters I am seeing in both 20 and 30 zones.
A colleague was on a speed awareness course a few weeks ago. Apparently there was a woman who argued that the correct distance between cars wasn't 3 seconds but was 3 car lengths, regardless of speed.
There's a small Range Rover that regularly used to to close tailgate me every morning down a 30mph road (I'd be driving at 30.) She'd drop back significantly in the 40mph section, and then be back on my bumper for the next bit of 30 before she turned off. Interestingly, her reg - M155FOX or MI55FOX - doesn't seem to be registered.
I just slow down / dawdle a bit. Or if in the diesel and they don't get the message or overtake, dawdle for a bit then boot it so they get a nice cloud of soot. Then revert to more dawdling.
I just slow down until I judge the gap behind is appropriate for the speed we are going. That may be quite slow, but they probably overtake quickly anyway. Not my problem.
Though since getting the van it's not something I've noticed, perhaps due to the lack of rear mirror 🙂
(more likely people don't tend to tailgate battered old vans)
That’s why those types of areas are 20 zones
True, I just wish that we would introduce 20 as the standard for anywhere where the road or pavement was narrower than a given width. 30mph where the road is say 8m wide and the houses have a 5m front drive and a 2.5m pavement is quite a different to those where the road is say 4m wide and houses houses have a 1m or less border and pavement.
Brighton is the way to go; everywhere is 20mph regardless. Once you tune in to the fact that you barely save any time driving at 30 as opposed to 20 it's so much more relaxing.
Though since getting the van it’s not something I’ve noticed, perhaps due to the lack of rear mirror
This. If they want to run into my tow bar then it's up to them.
At 30 I just ignore it as I always leave a safe braking distance for myself regardless.
On an a road, if it's quiet then I'll encourage them to overtake at a safe place. Happy for them to crack on.
On a busy motorway where I can't do anything about it I'll do a backwards waving motion for the worst offenders. This is generally quite effective as most are doing it purely because they're not concentrating. I'd say at least 50% drop back and stay back. Doesn't work if you have blacked out windows...
My pet peeve is drivers who, quite rightly, trundle along at the speed limit but then accelerate massively when a little bit of dual carriageway comes along to stop you overtaking. That is dickish driving.
My pet peeve is drivers who, quite rightly, trundle along at the speed limit but then accelerate massively when a little bit of dual carriageway comes along to stop you overtaking. That is dickish driving.
Why would you need to overtake if they are driving at the speed limit?
Heh, was going to mention the van thing. In fact, the worst offenders are pretty much in the blind spots, so you really can't see them!
My pet peeve is drivers who, quite rightly, trundle along at the speed limit but then accelerate massively when a little bit of dual carriageway comes along to stop you overtaking. That is dickish driving.
Which probably equates to doing the speed limit in a 30/40 signed zone them upto 70, which is also doing the limit. Doesn't seen entirely unreasonable to me.
It's the tailgaters who are too close to the car in front when overtaking me on my bike that worry me most. I'm pretty sure they haven't looked at on-coming traffic, they have just seen the car in front go round me and they blindly follow.
No, the speed limit doesn’t change.
I’m happy to sit at the proper distance behind someone who wants to stick rigidly to the limit, but if I choose to overtake in a short dual carriageway section they can get stuffed if they’re only doing it because being overtaken somehow makes them feel emasculated.
No, the speed limit doesn’t change.
I’m happy to sit at the proper distance behind someone who wants to stick rigidly to the limit, but if I choose to overtake in a short dual carriageway section they can get stuffed if they’re only doing it because being overtaken somehow makes them feel emasculated.
So you're breaking the speed limit to overtake somebody who is driving at the speed limit, and then you're going to settle down in front of them at the speed limit having made an unnecessary overtake?
Get some stickers about having a black box fitted and a baby/dog on board and they'll be sure to drive more respectfully around you.
My pet peeve is drivers who, quite rightly, trundle along at the speed limit but then accelerate massively when a little bit of dual carriageway comes along to stop you overtaking. That is dickish driving
So:
- to speed up and overtake would be illegal.
- you don't want to drive any faster than they are travelling.
But you need to overtake?
Mmm, 'kay.
What, like you’ve never done that?
I saw a car in Tesco's car park yesterday with a sticker in the rear window that said:
'I brake for tailgaters'.
Nobber.
A nice long squirt on the windscreen washer will usually find it's way on to the tailgaters windscreen. After the 3rd blast or so they sometimes get the message.
Not sure what the rush is to get somewhere. So **** em.
Had this a couple of weeks ago. Mid-morning, A-road NSL. Quite curvy and oncoming traffic at the start so not many opportunities to overtake if you want to. I'm sat 2 cars back behind someone doing about 48, a little slower than the 54 I would cruise at with no-one infront of me but no big deal. Then suddenly this little white Seat Mii flys right up behind me, weaving left and right as though he's going to be past at the first sniff of a gap. His problem is that there's 3 of us that he'd need to be past in one go and he's only got a little 1l engine to do it with.
So, instead he sits what must be about 2m back from my bumper at nearly 50mph, closed than anyone I can rememberbefore. I give the slightest tap on the brake pedal, just enough to make the lights flash on and off without actually slowing maybe just to make him realise he's a bit close. Obviously it makes no difference. So, I then let it coast down to 40 and at that point a raise of my hand like a shrug as in "what are you playing at?" He seems to get the message a little and back of slightly. Withing a short distance I'm back behind 48mph car, now leaving a larger than normal gap so I wouldn't have to brake suddenly if anything happened in front. So now I'm thinking I'm leaving a big enough gap infront of me that he can easily nip past me, in to that space and not be my problem any more. Along come at least three long, clear straights. Prime opportunity to be past with loads of spare time and yet he just sits behind me, still uncomfortably close.
Carried on like that for the next few miles until we went our separate ways at a roundabout and he attached himself to the next unsuspecting driver.
I just don't understand some people. I wish I could have just ignored him, but he made me feel unsafe and in doing so distracted me from concentrating properly on normal driving. I tried to let him past but he wasn't interested. What else can you do in that situation? I'm not going to pull over and stop to let some inconsiderate man-child through just becuase they're incapable of overtaking when there are more than enough safe opportunities.
No, the speed limit doesn’t change.
If the road goes from a single to dual carriageway then the speed limit normally changes. 60mph (50mph in a van) on single and 70mph (60mph in a van) on a dual carriageway.
I ease off until I've got enough braking distance in front of me to accommodate them as well, then carry on at the speed I was doing before. If he wants to overtake, that's not my issue. I'm generally somewhere around the limit in town, and I'm damned if I'm going to pull over so that some little gobshite in a Seat can get another 50 yards further up the road.
I’m not going to pull over and stop to let some inconsiderate man-child through just becuase they’re incapable of overtaking when there are more than enough safe opportunities.
Could I ask why not? It would have been the safe thing to do. What if you'd had to have braked suddenly? He'd probably have gone into the back of you. You seem to have the hump about his lack of skill, but just because you're in front of him, you're content to let him drive unsafely behind you?
I'd have wanted him in front where i could see him
I think it's easy to make the assumption that anyone sitting up your backside is there agressively because they want to overtake - more often I think they're just bad drivers who have a slim grasp on the basics of self preservation.
It's like being on the motorway in the rain - there'll always be a small car right behind a massive lorry, giving themselves zero visabiltiy of the road ahead. I've always just put it down to drivers too nervous to overtake, but weirdly thinking seeing nothing but spray and the back of a lorry is somehow safer...
Sure, so be courteous to those around you and drive at 30. Driving less than that to me suggests one of a few things; New driver, someone not paying attention, or someone for whom driving is still an all consuming business and hasn’t got the awareness to pay attention to everything that’s going on around them.
TBH, everything you've said up there has proven to be FAR more applicable to the tailgaters.
If your immediate reaction is “That’s their problem” then why aren’t you thinking; “I’ll just get out f this person’s way?”
because it is their problem. I'm not going to prevent them from passing. But at the same time, I'm not pulling off the road (and then trying to rejoin traffic) just to let them hoon past. (Unless I'm towing something, or driving something that is speed limited.
If the road goes from a single to dual carriageway then the speed limit normally changes. 60mph (50mph in a van) on single and 70mph (60mph in a van) on a dual carriageway
I don’t think that’s the case on the stretch of road I’m thinking of - there’s definitely no signs suggesting it. I may be wrong. However, that’s not why they’re accelerating, it’s because they can’t bear to be overtaken even though they don’t want to speed themselves.
Remove all your mirrors. Ignorance is bliss.
I don’t think that’s the case on the stretch of road I’m thinking of – there’s definitely no signs suggesting it. I may be wrong.
It's one of the basics of the highway code and the first thing you talk about on speed awareness courses.
t’s because they can’t bear to be overtaken even though they don’t want to speed themselves.
How do you know this, for certain?
But at the same time, I’m not pulling off the road (and then trying to rejoin traffic) just to let them hoon past.
Why not? They're much more of a danger to you when they're behind you, than they are in front. The biggest risk of someone tailgating you is that they drive into the back of you. Why not then take active steps yourself to remove that danger?
I don’t think that’s the case on the stretch of road I’m thinking of – there’s definitely no signs suggesting it.
If the road changes from single to dual carriageway and there's no speed limit signs, it definitely is the case. FFS, it's highway code 101. How long since you passed your test? You could do with a refresher.
Well I certainly don't drive slowly but always keep a decent distance behind the car in front of me especially if using the handy, stress-free ACC system. I have front and rear cameras since someone went straight into the back of me. They were too close behind as the witness testified. The witness was an unmarked police car.
Have been know to do it alongside a lorry if on a duel carriageway.
I try to avoid duels when driving.
A nice long squirt on the windscreen washer will usually find it’s way on to the tailgaters windscreen. After the 3rd blast or so they sometimes get the message.
This is what I do, works a treat 99% of the time.
If the road changes from single to dual carriageway and there’s no speed limit signs, it definitely is the case. FFS, it’s highway code 101. How long since you passed your test? You could do with a refresher.
I'm talking about 200m of dual carriageway on a 50mph road.
I can't see any indication in the Highway Code that says the speed limit automatically rises by 10mph just because there's two lanes for a very short stretch.
I'm pretty sure the rural road I'm thinking of has them to let people overtake tractors.
Anyhoo, if you're happily driving along at 50 with a queue of cars behind you (not tailgating) and the first one goes to overtake and you suddenly decide you need to drive at 70 for 200m, then you're being a dick as far as I'm concerned.
Pull over at safest opportunity and let them past. Better they're in front and out of your way. Sometimes you get lucky and catch them up at the next lights/tractor.I it also forces them to slow down and sometimes in shock as they have to engage in an overtake that's not their decision.
I’m talking about 200m of dual carriageway on a 50mph road.
If the single carriage way is limited to 50mph, then at the start of the dual there should either be continuous repeaters (probably on the street lights, another indicator that a dual carriage way might be speed-limited) or a national speed limit applies sign, in which case the speed limit will be 70.
I can’t see any indication in the Highway Code that says the speed limit automatically rises by 10mph just because there’s two lanes for a very short stretch.
A dual carriage way is a road with a central reservation separating the opposing flows of traffic. It's nothing to do with how many lanes the road has.
I’m talking about 200m of dual carriageway on a 50mph road.
I can’t see any indication in the Highway Code that says the speed limit automatically rises by 10mph just because there’s two lanes for a very short stretch.
Do you mean like this?
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If so you're correct that the speed limit doesn't change, but it's also not a dual carriageway. A DC has to have a central reservation dividing the 2 different traffic directions. The above is just an overtaking lane to allow you to get past slow vehicles safely.
A nice long squirt on the windscreen washer will usually find it’s way on to the tailgaters windscreen. After the 3rd blast or so they sometimes get the message.
I have been known to do this.
Along with leaving extra space in front
Life's far too short to get into a genitalia-measuring contest with an idiot, so why get in their way? I'd rather they crashed ahead of me than into me. I just try to get out of their way if I can, as they're often in a hurry to either crash or wind someone else up. If I can't avoid them, then establishing a decent braking distance from whatever's in front and driving considerately (as above - 30 is the max allowed, not the target) is probably the safest thing to do.
