Being tailgated

[Sru_1980]

Does anyone else here sometimes think they create more of a danger by sticking to the speed limit in built up areas? Today I came into Farleigh Hungerford, 30mph limit, slowed to 30, and had a very aggressive white-van-man up my backside, I mean, he was practically in my boot! I felt a bit rattled so I pulled over (signalled to pull in although the road wasn't particularly wide) and just as he went past a car came into view from the opposite direction. Felt as if I'd nearly caused a collision, which obviously as an advanced driver one wants to avoid at all costs! Should I have "put up with" being tailgated or did I do the right thing by pulling in to let him past?

[driverpete]

Absolutely the best thing to do is let him get on with his very important journey. Pull over, go all the way round a roundabout, pull into a petrol station, anything that gets him out of your hair. Above all don't engage with him and don't let him push you into breaking the law. If you have no immediate opportunity to let him go then increase the gap between you and the vehicle in front to give yourself more space in the event of a sudden stop.

[akirk]

tailgating is more of a psychological issue than a physical one...
- you feel under pressure
- there need be no physical issue, you simply have to drive to allow a stopping distance which can be covered without his parking in your boot.

This generally means dropping off some speed and opening up the gap between you and the person in front... On the motorway I will drop back and one the space is big enough I will move back into the middle of it - in effect having forced a space behind me - keep doing this - usually the car behind starts to get the hint... obviously helped by the fact that I am making progress generally so this only happens where I am otherwise held up - the tailgating is often the following driver's inability to drive / lack of attention / lack of spatial awareness - rather than deliberate agression...

where they continue to tailgate, continue to slow down - there is not much tailgating they can do once you are stationary - well they can, but it is called parking

Alasdair

[TheInsanity1234]

I used to get really intimidated by tailgaters, but now, I've driven in Essex a couple of times, tailgaters don't bother me.

I check my mirror to see it's full of the radiator grille of a Range Rover Sport in Essex white, and I take a breath, slow down a tad and pay more attention to my surroundings.

I just handle it with the minimum of fuss required, though I'm sure my subtle slowing down to increase the following distance in front of me has been picked up by a fair few drivers thus leading to them getting p!ssed off.

I just ignore them anyway.

[fungus]

I used to get really intimidated by tailgaters, but now, I've driven in Essex a couple of times, tailgaters don't bother me.

I check my mirror to see it's full of the radiator grille of a Range Rover Sport in Essex white, and I take a breath, slow down a tad and pay more attention to my surroundings.

I just handle it with the minimum of fuss required, though I'm sure my subtle slowing down to increase the following distance in front of me has been picked up by a fair few drivers thus leading to them getting p!ssed off.

I just ignore them anyway.

Good on you

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

As we discussed earlier:

- drive your own drive, as far as possible.
- if you decide you've had enough, pull over, but put a bit of thought into where.

Occasionally the odd little flash of brake lights (just enough of a touch on the pedal to light the lights, not enough to actually slow the car) can be enough to encourage them to drop back a little. I had the most amazing (and unexpected) success with this at about 5 p.m. today with an apparently aggressive Micra driver - I decided after this that perhaps he was just inattentive, because his behaviour improved noticeably, and he didn't appear to react badly at all. You can't always rely on this - some drivers will become even more aggressive. Don't actually brake - if they run into you, it might be construed as partially your fault - not what you want!

[kfae8959]

There's a subtle (or perhaps not so) variation on this, which is to use those occasions when you do need to slow or stop to give the tailgater a bit of an alarm, perhaps by braking slightly sooner or more firmly than they might expect. Wait until you're sure the driver behind is also on the brakes, though!

David

[trashbat]

Do you ever find your windscreen needs cleaning?

[Sru_1980]

Thanks for the replies - have always found them tricky to deal with (distraction and feeling under pressure mostly is what bothers me about them) but will try to incorporate them into my driving plans - ie, they're (sadly) a fact of life, so need to formulate a driving plan to deal with the hazard presenting itself. Not always easy...!

[Horse]

Do you ever find your windscreen needs cleaning?

I did this one day recently when being tailgated on the M4 by a guy driving a soft(folded-down)top car . . .

Strangely, he didn't seem best pleased by me being able to better see where I was going - I'd have thought he would have preferred me not to have to brake sharply . . .

[fungus]

Do you ever find your windscreen needs cleaning?

I did this one day recently when being tailgated on the M4 by a guy driving a soft(folded-down)top car . . .

Strangely, he didn't seem best pleased by me being able to better see where I was going - I'd have thought he would have preferred me not to have to brake sharply . . .

That is what I do, and it usualy works. It worked particularly well on the idiotic youth clad in shorts and tee shirt riding a scooter right on my bumper.

[skodatezzer]

As we discussed earlier:

- drive your own drive, as far as possible.
- if you decide you've had enough, pull over, but put a bit of thought into where.

Occasionally the odd little flash of brake lights (just enough of a touch on the pedal to light the lights, not enough to actually slow the car) can be enough to encourage them to drop back a little. I had the most amazing (and unexpected) success with this at about 5 p.m. today with an apparently aggressive Micra driver - I decided after this that perhaps he was just inattentive, because his behaviour improved noticeably, and he didn't appear to react badly at all. You can't always rely on this - some drivers will become even more aggressive. Don't actually brake - if they run into you, it might be construed as partially your fault - not what you want!

Oh, vanman down in your part of the world, was he?

[Pontoneer]

While I don't normally have a problem being tailgated , I did experience it a week or so past , and I'm afraid it brought out a little bit of badness in me .

Heading home on the A737 , I was coming to the end of the dual carriageway where it becomes a single carriageway A road . Just before the end of the DC , where the road effectively splits into two , I passed a very large tipper truck which was tailgating an Audi very closely .

The Audi went the other way and the truck came the same way as me , settling about a car length from me at the speed of about 50mph which traffic was flowing at . This was so close that all I could see behind was the front of this truck , and I was uncomfortable since there was no way he'd avoid me if I had to stop quickly for any reason .

What I did was to gently ease off and slow down until I heard him having to drop a gear ( I was in my convertible with the top down ) then accelerated gently away to catch up with the other traffic , but leaving more of a gap in front .
Of course he soon came back , but this time I waited until we came to a steep hill , and I dropped right down to 30 on the approach , delighting in hearing him on his air brakes and changing down , then accelerated away up the hill . Further on , we came to a roundabout and I had him behind me again , but I timed my approach to get out ahead of a car coming round without him being able to follow , after which he was the car behind's problem .

He clearly just drove like that and was never getting the message .

[akirk]

nothing bad about that - very satisfying management of a situation
sadly the truck driver though will analyse that and assume that you were a bad / frustrating driver, not seeing their own issues...

Alasdair

[Rick101]

It's very frustrating. Mainly because it's these same idiots that often cause me hours of delay getting home.

My technique i to gently slow in gear with a very light touch on brakes to bring the light on. Hopefully they'll get the hint, if not, I let them pass.

For some reason I seem to get it a lot more when i'm in a bright yellow Elise rather than my 18yr old Volvo estate