Graham Wright wrote:Invite him to overtake.
TripleS wrote:In normal cases of tailgating the important thing seems to be to ensure that you do not place yourself in situations where you may need to brake suddenly and/or heavily, so you keep well back from any vehicle you may be following.
Horse wrote:TripleS wrote:In normal cases of tailgating the important thing seems to be to ensure that you do not place yourself in situations where you may need to brake suddenly and/or heavily, so you keep well back from any vehicle you may be following.
Trouble is, to the tailgater that appears to be deliberate obstruction and is likely to result in an angry tailgater - hardly an improvement
michael769 wrote:If someone really wants past then find a safe opportunity to help them get past and take their dangerous driving elsewhere.
Overall I'd rather have them in front where I can at least keep an eye on them and manage the space between us.
TripleS wrote:Horse wrote:TripleS wrote:In normal cases of tailgating the important thing seems to be to ensure that you do not place yourself in situations where you may need to brake suddenly and/or heavily, so you keep well back from any vehicle you may be following.
Trouble is, to the tailgater that appears to be deliberate obstruction and is likely to result in an angry tailgater - hardly an improvement
Well of course that is possible, but I thought we had generally accepted the merits of maintaining a comfortable following distance ourselves when being tailgated. I note what you say, but in the main I think the normal advice is still valid.
Of course we don't wish to have angry tailgaters behind us, but if that is the result, it's really showing up their shortcomings rather than ours.
Technomad wrote:michael769 wrote:If someone really wants past then find a safe opportunity to help them get past and take their dangerous driving elsewhere.
Overall I'd rather have them in front where I can at least keep an eye on them and manage the space between us.
Always worth a check on your own assumptions as well - especially if you're not a motorcyclist as well:
- there's the absolute situation where the guy is waay to close, usually to your offside 3/4. I see that a lot, in which case all advice about keeping it neutral and staying out of the way apply.
- it's often difficult for a car driver to judge just how close a bike is - particularly in the dark. Bikes can be very distracting when following a car because their short wheelbase leads to a lot of pitching and therefore flickering of the headlight in the mirror of the followed vehicle.
- was he/she just moving from follow to overtake position as the sight line developed?
- bikes will (and should) move around the road a lot more as they can pick up potential sight lines that simply aren't available to a car driver.
Does sound like your guy was in the first category but, as motorcyclists, even when riding to spec, we need to do a little to manage the perceptions of those who range from ignorant to actively hostile.
TripleS wrote:In normal cases of tailgating the important thing seems to be to ensure that you do not place yourself in situations where you may need to brake suddenly and/or heavily, so you keep well back from any vehicle you may be following.
In this particular case it would also be prudent to avoid making a sudden change to your chosen course or position, given that the biker is, at times, not only following closely, but also moving about laterally quite a bit. This could lead you to wonder which side he's going to use to get.
kwaka jack wrote:TripleS wrote:In normal cases of tailgating the important thing seems to be to ensure that you do not place yourself in situations where you may need to brake suddenly and/or heavily, so you keep well back from any vehicle you may be following.
In this particular case it would also be prudent to avoid making a sudden change to your chosen course or position, given that the biker is, at times, not only following closely, but also moving about laterally quite a bit. This could lead you to wonder which side he's going to use to get past.
Completely agree there, which is why I was in 2 minds as to weather to continue moving to gain the best view so I wouldn't need to brake suddenly or keep a neutral positions . Even tho I was changing my position very early and making it obvious what I was doing/intending to do I still felt uneasy about it.
kwaka jack wrote:There were several opportunities for him to pass either overtake/filtering through at traffic lights. At points where he was riding very close I couldn't see his headlight over the top of my boot lid. I've been a biker for over 7 years now I agree with your points the pitching etc of bikes can throw off some drivers but I'd like to think I would be able to see "through it".
Ancient wrote:kwaka jack wrote:There were several opportunities for him to pass either overtake/filtering through at traffic lights. At points where he was riding very close I couldn't see his headlight over the top of my boot lid. I've been a biker for over 7 years now I agree with your points the pitching etc of bikes can throw off some drivers but I'd like to think I would be able to see "through it".
In that case rather than allowing him to sit in my boot, I'd be tempted to move left and (gradually, safely) slow until he took the hint and overtook.
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