Revenge of the tailgated!

ahillsy · 28 February 2010 at 1:47PM

olly300 wrote: »

Not all the time though.

I've seen a woman in a small car being tailgated by a large lorry. If he hadn't tailgated her he would have been stuck behind her for the time she decided to drive at 30mph or whatever along that stretch of road.

As he was tailgating her someone allowed him to pull out into the other lane to let him over take her.

Passing the woman she had both hands glued to the steering wheel, was white in the face and looked like she was physically shaking.

It was broad daylight, the road was dry and straight, there was no sun in your eyes and on a route where lorries and those that don't break the speed limit use the left most lane and those who want to drive faster use the right hand lane.

Good thing she wasn't driving on the road at night as she would have caused an accident for going too slowly as the road has no lighting.

Don't get me started on lorries!!

That example does demonstrate bad driving on both party's parts IMHO. "If he hadn't tailgated her he would have been stuck behind her for the time..." - but at the same time, a lorry tailgating a car is bad driving. No matter how annoying/frustrated the lorry driver is, doesn't make it safe/right for them to tailgate. They have far lower chance of stopping in an emergency and a far greater chance of killing someone.

And at the end of the day, it probably doesn't stop the lorry driver blocking the outside lane when he decides to overtake up a hill causing the same problem himself.

iamana1ias · 28 February 2010 at 2:10PM

MrsE wrote: »

I had a focus for a week while mine was in the garage recently.

I realised how much "space" people give you in a 4x4.

That's because they (rightfully) expect you to drive as if there's no-one else there

olly300 · 28 February 2010 at 2:25PM

ahillsy wrote: »

Don't get me started on lorries!!

My pet hate with them is when they tailgate each other.

I try and get away from them as quickly as possible just in case the car in front of them has to hit the brakes. :eek:

MrsE_2 · 28 February 2010 at 2:35PM

Creditcruncher wrote: »

Probably for the same reason why I never park next to a 4x4 in a supermarket carpark.:)

Some car park spaces are so narrow that with todays wider cars door opening is tricky when all the spaces are filled. If I have passengers I will usually let them out & then park.

joyfull · 28 February 2010 at 7:00PM

MrsE wrote: »

Do you drive a small car? I have a (small) 4x4 & tailgaters are much less of a problem than when I drove my tiny Toyota.
My driving hasn't changed.
When I'm with my DD in her car (ka) I notice people do it to her more too.

I think its something men (usually) in bigger cars do to smaller cars (often driven by females).

Yes I drive a small car. Yes I'm a woman. In a small car, when you're low down any larger vehicle (& lets face it anything is larger!) can look big & threatening when tailgating. I do feel that a woman alone can be an easy target for someone who wants to tailgate in order to demonstrate frustration or employ bullying tactics.

It still happens of course to men in larger cars though.

cyclonebri1 · 1 March 2010 at 9:58AM

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

So, there's nothing I can do about it. Slow down, he gets more !!!!ed off. Speed up, the danger level increases. Pulling over isn't always possible.

So I just ignore what he's doing. !!!! him.

Yes, that just about sums it up, what else can you do. Give in and speed up or slow down and he/she has got thier way and will continue the tactic. Do nothing and hopefully they will get the ideal that it's a futile action and back off.

I still maintain tho' that there is a proportion of drivers that do not even realise they actually are tailgating, that's a worry:eek:

Flearoy · 1 March 2010 at 10:05AM

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Also total bullshgit/bollox, :mad::eek::A:T:j:beer:

In what sense is my post bullsh1t? I agree it is a stupid thing to do, that was why I posted it. Have a nice day, and make sure you drive safely.

cyclonebri1 · 1 March 2010 at 10:35AM

Flearoy wrote: »

Never ceases to amaze me how otherwise reasonable people decide to vent their frustrations at life at other road users while driving.... Sad.

A guy I used to work with really hated tailgaters. He had great lane discipline - he wasn't a lane hogger at all. He also liked maltesers. He found one day that opening the sunroof and ejecting a malteser resulted in a spectacular, but non-damaging explosion of biscuity honeycomb on the windscreen of the tailgater.

I must at this point stress that this was an insane response and could have caused a huge accident if the tailgater panicked.

Because what the hell does it matter if he has great lane discipline if as you are suggesting he has one hand on the wheel, is opening the sunroof and firing off sweeties at the car behind, and watching the result. He would know what !!!!!!! lane he was in whilst doing all that :mad:

I apologise if you haven't made that up, I was and still am insensed that someone could behave in that way and could not believe such idiots exist.

Flearoy · 1 March 2010 at 10:42AM

Cyclonebri1, I think you misunderstand me. The guy I know was normally a sound driver. Unfortunately, when someone tailgated him (which is not a good idea), he did something very stupid too - namely drive with one hand on the wheel ejecting sweeties from the sunroof. My point was that it's best to try to keep your cool and pay attention, rather than do what he did. I am in no way condoning his actions, far from it, I told him he was a nugget when he told me.

[Deleted User] · 1 March 2010 at 1:03PM

Tailgating mostly happens to me late at night when I'm driving through a town at 30mph with no other cars on the road in both directions. Meaning it would be so easy for the tailgater to just over take but they never do!