Tailgating should be made a criminal offence

martinthebandit

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

I have clearly stated I won't adjust my driving to deal with a tailgater, whether that be speed up, slow down or change lanes when it's not safe to do so. It is the responsibility of the car behind to maintain a safe distance, not mine.

This is clearly an example of what I mean, you refusal to compensate for someone else's bad driving means you are driving badly. You clearly don't like to think that but its true.

Have you not heard the saying 'two wrongs don't make a right'?

Gordon_Hose

Utter tosh.

Blackpool_Saver

jumperjohn wrote: »

Ignorance is bliss. What do you think would happen, a slight bruising, perhaps a little scratch. Read up boy, educate yourself, maybe your driving would improve.

I don't think you understood the joke did you? and I am not a boy I am a woman. Go back and read it again.... decapitation is the removal of the head, hence internal decapitation is only possible if the head is internal (head up the ars*) get it now?

Blackpool_Saver

Anyway, getting back to the subject in hand after realising once again that some on here are not intelligent enough to joke with at a higher level...... tailgating is NEVER acceptable whatever the circumstances as one is required to adjust THEIR driving according to the circumstances.

martinthebandit

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

Anyway, getting back to the subject in hand after realising once again that some on here are not intelligent enough to joke with at a higher level...... tailgating is NEVER acceptable whatever the circumstances as one is required to adjust THEIR driving according to the circumstances.

I entirely agree but because they are in the wrong does not absolve you or me from the responsibility to take action to make the situation safer.

Ideally both the tailgater and the person being tailgated should have taken action to prevent the situation happening in the first place.

Maybe this is why some people get tailgated more than others?

If something untoward happens while you are driving even if you believe it is not your fault, you should always think to yourself;

what lessons can I learn from that, and;
what could I have done differently to prevent the situation from occurring?

Blackpool_Saver

martinthebandit wrote: »

I entirely agree but because they are in the wrong does not absolve you or me from the responsibility to take action to make the situation safer.

Ideally both the tailgater and the person being tailgated should have taken action to prevent the situation happening in the first place.

Maybe this is why some people get tailgated more than others?

If something untoward happens while you are driving even if you believe it is not your fault, you should always think to yourself;

what lessons can I learn from that, and;
what could I have done differently to prevent the situation from occurring?

Agreed, this is why I remove myself from the situation as soon as I can, EVEN IF the temptation is to stay put and prevent them from getting past

martinthebandit

Gordon_Hose wrote: »

Utter tosh.

Oh dear, care to explain why driving in such a way as to make your journey safer is 'utter tosh'?

pinkteapot

What is the point in slowing down and winding the tailgater up even more?

I just pull in (when there's a reasonable gap - I'm not going to slam on my brakes from 80 down to 60 to squeeze in a 50 yard gap) and let them past. If they want to drive at dangerous speeds that's up to them. As countless road signs in Scotland say, "Frustration causes accidents".

NBLondon

Paperbird wrote: »

If I'm overtaking and a faster car comes up behind me I move over and let it past even if it means slowing slightly to the speed of the ones I'm overtaking.

Not specific to this poster but I think this highlights where the disagreement comes from...

If A pulls out to overtake and B comes up behind them at a higher speed before A has completed the manoeuvre - then maybe there wasn't room for A to overtake safely.

If B is travelling at below the limit, then maybe A has misjudged the gap, inconvenienced B and contributed to the tailgating. In this particular case, martinthebandit is correct and A should think about their driving style.

Idiophreak

Joe_Horner wrote: »

If we take tailgating (simplistically) as being "closer than the recommended 2 second minimum gap" for good conditions, if the vehicles in the n/s lane are doing 60 that means that if you pull into a gap of less than about 110 metres either you're too close to the one ahead, or you're moving in too close to the one behind and will be forcing HIM to slow down if he wants to maintain a safe gap.

Sadly, this is too simplistic a definition to be useful.

I quite frequently drive closer than a 2 second gap, but in no way do I consider myself a tailgater. I'm a firm believer in "car body language" and driving closer is, at times, part of that.

For instance, if I want to get past the car in front and I think there's space for him to move over, I will accelerate into the 2 second gap. BUT I don't get too close to the back of them, and it's not designed to intimidate people and force them to move over, it's just to say "hey, if you move over, I'll be past you by the time you reach the next car...letting me past won't slow you down!". If you maintain the 2 second gap, people think "it's going to take him hours to get past me...maybe I'll wait for a bigger gap to pull into".

Of course, if they don't move over, I drop back and wait for the next gap.