driving in rush hour, am a bit 'frazzled' now !

ElkyElky

If it was me who had the tailgator behind.. I'd slam on my brakes forcing the tailgator to rear end my car thus causing me great back pain and whiplash which would result in a rush to hospital.

Why? That's what the tailgator deserves.

I couldn't give a hoot what peoples opinions of that are. I'd gladly cause a crash to spite someone else, someone else whom wishes to put my life at risk by tailgating me in the first place.

Strider590

ElkyElky wrote: »

If it was me who had the tailgator behind.. I'd slam on my brakes forcing the tailgator to rear end my car thus causing me great back pain and whiplash which would result in a rush to hospital.

Why? That's what the tailgator deserves.

I couldn't give a hoot what peoples opinions of that are. I'd gladly cause a crash to spite someone else, someone else whom wishes to put my life at risk by tailgating me in the first place.

What about the sharp rise in your insurance premium?

birkee

With tailgaters, I keep my foot on the accelerator, and keep lightly touching the brake pedal with my left foot, in the hope that they will get nervous, not knowing whether I'm braking or not, and back off. If that fails, I just allow my speed to bleed away without using the brakes, till they get fed up and pass.

One more comment. Driving involves a lot more than being able to handle a car. The number of incidents I've nearly been involved in where the driver just freezes, when the unexpected happens, is frightening. Lack of confidence can be as hazardous to other people, as bad driving.

p.s. Before people pop up with comments about MY driving being in question also, can I quote an example.
Driving on the open road at about 60mph, with nobody in front of me. Go round a blind bend, and find a one ton van on MY side, overtaking a line of traffic with nowhere left for him to pull back in. The driver just sat there with his mouth hanging open, and made no efforts to brake. I had to drive on the grass verge to avoid being wiped out. Anyone else fancy their driving skills on a grass verge at 60mph with a hedge two feet to your left?

Strider590

^^ Birkee I know of at least 3 folk who'll read that and throw snide remarks at you

As for people "freezing", seen it myself....... The worst is when they pull out in front of you without looking, hear you skidding to a halt and then just STOP! As if that's going to make things better!!!!

Lum

Strider590 wrote: »

What about the sharp rise in your insurance premium?

I'd be more worried about his back.

I suffer from lifelong back pain caused by a crash in 2004. Person in front of me turned right from the left hand lane, causing me to slam on, 50-0 in a very short space of time, guy behind me did not bother to brake.

Sure 3 1/2 years later I'm 9 grand better off, but I'd happily exchange that 9 grand for the ability to get a proper nights sleep.

birkee

Lum wrote: »

I'd be more worried about his back.

I suffer from lifelong back pain caused by a crash in 2004. Person in front of me turned right from the left hand lane, causing me to slam on, 50-0 in a very short space of time, guy behind me did not bother to brake.

Sure 3 1/2 years later I'm 9 grand better off, but I'd happily exchange that 9 grand for the ability to get a proper nights sleep.

Know where you're at!
Same problem, but for different reasons.
Been hit in the back twice, but escaped injury.

Forgot ONE beauty. My Daughter was born 5 weeks premature, and when she was five weeks old, we had her in a carry cot on the back seat. Cot secured.
We approached and stopped at a stationary line of traffic waiting to move, then I had to watch some young wazzack coming up behind for several hundred yards, with his head on sideways talking to his Mother.
Despite blowing my horn, he just drove straight into the back of us, and I had to watch as my five weeks old premature Daughter rose above the seats in my rear view mirror.

When driving, turning you head to talk to a passenger, isn't polite, it's homicidal!

Lirin

One I see fairly often on the motorway is an R driver (P? in England?) who panics, and slams the brakes on if someone comes up behind them. Usually, only ever seem to be minor enough accidents, thankfully.

Lum

^^^ The R plate scheme is unique to NI. For the rest of us, for the first year of driving you are required to display R plates and never exceed 30mph, even on motorways. The slamming on is most likely because they were exceeding 30 and think it might be a copper. Personally I think it's a stupid scheme as doing 30mph on the motorway, in a car, is suicidal.

birkee wrote:

We approached and stopped at a stationary line of traffic waiting to move, then I had to watch some young wazzack coming up behind for several hundred yards, with his head on sideways talking to his Mother.

That really sucks, especially when you can see it coming from such a distance.

I would probably have driven onto the payment or up the grass verge though.. can worry about digging the car out of the mud later.

Reminds me of a time my GF was driving, stopped at a red light which she then drove through to avoid being hit by the now that was skidding down the road towards her and ended up sideways on the stop line.

Almost a pity there wasn't a red light camera. I would love to have seen the resulting series of photographs.

ElkyElky

Strider590 wrote: »

What about the sharp rise in your insurance premium?

If I'm hit from behind, it wouldn't be my fault? My car was reared last year and the insurance never rose.

Strider590

ElkyElky wrote: »

If I'm hit from behind, it wouldn't be my fault? My car was reared last year and the insurance never rose.

Wrong, your classed as being more likely to have an accident in future and your premiums will go up accordingly.

There have been many, many posts on these forums about it.