tailgater gets owned

[OutHouse]

The entire point of the law is to keep people out of the lane and to get them out of it before they're stuck there causing a traffic jam.

so a traffic jam is made in the right lane, people move to the left so now the traffic jam is in both lanes.. that makes zero sense.

 

[jwhorfin]

I've learned to be a calmer driver. There are way too many idiots on the road. I only need 20 min max to get to work but I leave 45 min early. By leaving earlier I can take my time and cruise in the far right lane. Leaving earlier there's less traffic and fewer idiots on the road. I also get better fuel economy and am less stressed out by the time I get to work.

Thank you!.... May your path always lead you to be ahead of... or behind me

 

[soulcougher73]

Both are asshole moves, but one is more asshole. That's the tailgater. He caused this all in the first. No tailgate, no break check.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Both are asshole moves, but one is more asshole. That's the tailgater. He caused this all in the first. No tailgate, no break check.

That's backwards. 2 wrongs don't make one right. Again, one is irresponsible, the other is malicious.

 

[SearchMaster]

doesn't matter if people are being aggressive or not, if you are getting passed by people on the right, you are going too slow for the lane you are in.

how people cannot grasp this basic concept just bottles my mind!

You're being obtuse.

You're in the left lane in the middle of a line of 10-20 cars driving the speed limit. In the right lane, there is some space just to the right of you but there is a slow pack up ahead. You're driving the same speed as the guy in front of you and the guy in front of him and the guy in front of him, etc. but you have a 30 foot distance behind the guy in front of you instead of 10 foot like most people. The guy behind you just absolutely cannot stand the fact that you have a safe-ish distance (in reality it isn't, but...) so he speeds up to pass you on the right and squeeze into your 30 foot buffer. 9/10 times he has to do an emergency swerve to the left because he's now driving 20-30mph faster than the slow pack he's approaching in the right lane. Now he has just swerved like a moron right in front of you, driving 10-20mph faster than you and the guy in front of you, and has to slam his brakes to get back down to the right speed.

So you, as a safe-ish driver, have the following choices to prevent this situation:
1. Instead of a 30 foot distance, stay less than a car length behind the guy in front of you. But hey, the jackass behind you is more important than your safety, right?
2. Move to the right, even though your intention is like everyone else's - pass the slow-moving pack of cars in the right lane. You will now sit there with your left turn blinker on until the last of the 10-20 cars passes you, but by this time another 10-20 cars have filled in behind them. But hey, the jackass behind you is more important anyway, right?

And if you think this is some sort of strangely concocted scenario, it happens to me at least all the damn time. So generally I will choose option 1 and pass in the left lane with an unsafe distance. But believe me, *I* am not the problem in this scenario, it's the jackass behind me who is absolutely incensed that I have a safe-ish distance in front of me and thinks he'll get to his destination 3 hours earlier by being one car ahead.

 

[Raduque]

In Cambodia you can't turn right on red. Since this happened in Wisconsin I think it's an important point.

I was just about to call him out on that "in Illinois blah" shit. too.

While this could have turned out worse, the only person who got messed up was the idiot tailgating. I'm glad he wrecked. Give the break checker a medal.

The guy behind you just absolutely cannot stand the fact that you have a safe-ish distance (in reality it isn't, but...) so he speeds up to pass you on the right and squeeze into your 30 foot buffer. 9/10 times he has to do an emergency swerve to the left because he's now driving 20-30mph faster than the slow pack he's approaching in the right lane. Now he has just swerved like a moron right in front of you, driving 10-20mph faster than you and the guy in front of you, and has to slam his brakes to get back down to the right speed.

Downshift and speed up quicker than he can get around you. THEN he's stuck in the slow pack. That's highway justice.

 

[soulcougher73]

That's backwards. 2 wrongs don't make one right. Again, one is irresponsible, the other is malicious.

I like to use algebra. Two negatives make a positive But i hate tailgaters and i'm okay with what happened. That'll learn em'. Which might actually be true. That person probably wont do that again. They may have never learned if not for the school of hard knocks

 

[ImpulsE69]

I like to use algebra. Two negatives make a positive But i hate tailgaters and i'm okay with what happened. That'll learn em'. Which might actually be true. That person probably wont do that again. They may have never learned if not for the school of hard knocks

Except that it could have ended badly for the person doing the checking. There was absolutely nothing dangerous happening until they did that.

 

[cbrunny]

Except that it could have ended badly for the person doing the checking. There was absolutely nothing dangerous happening until they did that.

Again you defend tailgating.

 

[TechBoyJK]

How does Illinois reconcile a left lane camping law with a 65mph speed limit?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of Illinois.

Illinois and reconciliation don't go well in sentences together.

Very glad I'm moving out of the state next month. Illinois is a f'n disaster.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Again you defend tailgating.

I don't think its so much defending tailgaiting as much as its pointing out that not ceding the left lane to passing traffic (as is required by most state laws) is something that will cause anger in anybody that's made to slow down, regardless of speed.

Wouldn't you get angry if you pulled up to a stop sign behind another car, and that car just stopped there and didn't move? You'd be stuck behind them and would get upset. Being behind someone camping in the left lane is very similar. Both are examples of 'obstructing traffic' which is a punishable traffic offense.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Again you defend tailgating.

It's a fine line, but the fact is that the possibility of an issue and purposely causing an issue are two different things. Just driving close behind someone doesn't cause an accident. Purposely slamming your brakes on because someone is too close is actively trying to cause an issue can.

It doesn't matter if you think tailgating is wrong, if the person had taken the high road and just kept driving, nothing would have happened.

If more people thought like this, there would be much less hatred, accidents and war in the world.

Instead, everyone is HE WAS WRONG THEREFORE I'M RIGHT!

 

[cbrunny]

It's a fine line, but the fact is that the possibility of an issue and purposely causing an issue are two different things. Just driving close behind someone doesn't cause an accident. Purposely slamming your brakes on because someone is too close is actively trying to cause an issue.

It doesn't matter if you think tailgating is wrong, if the person had taken the high road and just kept driving, nothing would have happened.

If more people thought like this, there would be much less hatred, accidents and war in the world.

Instead, everyone is HE WAS WRONG THEREFORE I'M RIGHT!

So doing something that is incredibly dangerous is only bad if the result is bad?

 

[ImpulsE69]

So doing something that is incredibly dangerous is only bad if the result is bad?

I never said it wasn't wrong, but escalating the situation on purpose is worse.

If your friend is smoking crack are you going to lace it with rat poison just to prove a point and be like "Well he shouldn't have been smoking crack, it's bad for you"?

 

[BoberFett]

There is no right answer. If you do the right thing and leave a few car lengths between you and the slow asshole in the left lane, somebody is going to come up from the right and squeeze into that space. Happens EVERY time. There goes your safe distance, gone in the blink of an eye. Now you have the slow asshole in the left lane and another pissed off driver in front of you. Back off and leave some more space? Rinse and repeat.

Slow drivers hanging out in the left lane is becoming an epidemic. People just don't give a shit anymore.

Slow drivers? If I'm doing 5-10MPH over the limit in the left to pass some actual slow drivers doing 5-10MPH under the limit in the right lane, I almost guarantee there will be some asshole who wants to do 20MPH over and ride my ass. Are you saying it's my job to drop my speed by 15MPH and get behind granny so some tiny-dicked loser can blow by me?

Screw that.

 

[cbrunny]

I never said it wasn't wrong, but escalating the situation on purpose is worse.

If your friend is smoking crack are you going to lace it with rat poison just to prove a point and be like "Well he shouldn't have been smoking crack, it's bad for you"?

I just want to be clear that tailgating in any and all circumstances is a terrible idea and is definitively wrong. I'm glad that you agree completely.

 

[JTsyo]

A black SUV tailgating me, I would assume it was a cop.

 

[BoberFett]

Yes, but a clear distinction needs to be made here. If I'm in the left passing someone going 70, because the cars in he right are going 60-65, it is completely unacceptable to ride someone's ass as if "OMG you arent passing them quickly enough!" A lot of people that tailgate are like that.

Exactly. 70 in a 60 isn't enough for some people, they want to do 80, and expect others to clear a path for them. Screw those assholes.

 

[dainthomas]

Again you defend tailgating.

And again you defend brake checking. Extremely reckless behavior that can result in injury to yourself and others. To what end? If you or your passengers end up with permanent injury what did you gain? A moral victory? Awesome for you.

 

[kage69]

Exactly. 70 in a 60 isn't enough for some people, they want to do 80, and expect others to clear a path for them. Screw those assholes.

My feelings on that as well, but I also resent the hell out of people who ignore that the left lane is for passing, and that they are entitled to cruise in it despite no vehicles occupying the lane to the right of them for some distance. To me that smacks of the same "everyone must accommodate me!" bullshit used by those who think your (or my) 10+ over the limit isn't brisk enough for their schedule. On the flip side, the person hitting the brakes in the passing lane strikes me as the same kind of douche who would veer his truck into a passing motorcycle 'to teach them a lesson.'

I like how the Germans handle it. Drive fast if you want, but tail gate someone (or flip them off) and Fritz is all over your ass.

I'm going to go off on a limb here and say that driver that wrecked won't be doing that again anytime soon.

 

[gururu2]

I don't move over if I am +10 speed limit. The worst is when people tailgate through construction zones.

 

[destrekor]

Exactly. 70 in a 60 isn't enough for some people, they want to do 80, and expect others to clear a path for them. Screw those assholes.

Doesn't matter what speed they are going - you are not the police, you do not have the right to enforce the law as a vigilante.

Move over, as is the right thing to do, and let them do their thing and perhaps get busted down the road.

Nobody should ever be cruising in the left lane. States have variable laws on the books for this, some are more lenient and basically just say clear the lane for those wishes to pass, as you must pass on the left. Other states, thankfully, are also starting to slowly enforce the "stay as far right as you can unless passing." So in a three lane highway (one direction), you are in the far right lane unless passing, and the only time one should be in the far left lane is when passing someone who is passing someone, essentially. It still works out that you may be in the left or middle or awhile because of a lot of traffic, but that's how it is supposed to work, and once you have clearance, you then shift back to lanes to the right until you are in the far right lane or there is more traffic.

You shouldn't ever require someone to pass you on the right, it creates too much risk for both parties when there is traffic. But people just like to cruise in the left lane and never move over.

I won't tailgate hard, but I'll get relatively close and slow down a little, giving them time to move right. But I won't slow down forever just to prove the point, not anymore, so if I don't see indication they are changing lanes, I make the pass on the right. I hate doing this, hate it, hate it something terrible, but I don't have a choice when assholes don't free up the left lane.

What I hear most often, usually sums up as: "I'm going above the speed limit as it is! How dare they get upset that I won't let them pass!"


As for the video, the tailgater is definitely at fault and that's the risk they take by doing that. Doesn't matter the situation on the road, you legally must always retain a safe distance between vehicles so as to react to absolutely anything possible. If you can't stop in time, you are following at an unsafe distance, and are 99.9% of the time held liable.


But the brake-checker should have a few citations as well: brake-checking is wholly unsafe for both parties, so some citation must exist for that; and failure to yield the left lane should be a ticketed offense. In some states it is, but even in those it is rarely enforced.

I think Michigan is starting to crackdown on it, and I wish more states, like Ohio, would change the code to be more strict and then act on it.

 

[destrekor]

I don't move over if I am +10 speed limit. The worst is when people tailgate through construction zones.

Why? You get to be the judge for what is and is not acceptable?

Would you be annoyed if someone is going the speed limit exactly and they have that same mentality? "I'm going the speed limit - you assholes can wait or go around me, I have every right to this lane!"

 

[glenn1]

And again you defend brake checking. Extremely reckless behavior that can result in injury to yourself and others. To what end? If you or your passengers end up with permanent injury what did you gain? A moral victory? Awesome for you.

If it came down to defending one or the other, you're damn right I would be on the side of the brake checker.

 

[SSSnail]

So doing something that is incredibly dangerous is only bad if the result is bad?

Actually, tailgating in and of itself it's NOT incredibly dangerous, look at auto racing for examples.

It's the abrupt, unanticipated action that's incredibly dangerous, such as brake checking (or an accident, then you'd get a pile up) but the catalyst in that chain isn't tailgating.

Interesting to see how your mind works.

To be honest, both of them are assholes, but the more dangerous asshole is the one doing the brake check.