The definitive road rage POLL........someone's tailgating you......what do you do??

[NikPreviousAcct]

When it comes to driving, and you start acting like an ass, you'll get 2xAss back at you. Tailgate me, and I'll throw you a couple seatbelt checks. Keep diong it and I'll slow down and change lanes whenever you do to keep you from passing me.

nik

 

[SHoddyCOmp]

I out run them. HOWEVER, the only reason anybody would be on my tail in the first place is because the person that I am on the tail of wont move the hell over! If there is a gap in traffic i take it, im usually either by my self in the middle or on the tail end of another. I picked the last option but that sort of makes it sound like there was a gap in front of me in the first place and they want to go faster. If im just driving along between packs (fast[er]) and someone comes up on me they will either usually go around me or i'll move over.
On Edit: I myself dont tailgate though, but if they get any closer than 5' off my ass i'll move over but anything else i'll ignore em and do what i said above

 

[Hammer]

I'll maintain or slow my speed. I'll also clean my windshield for a while.

 

[SHoddyCOmp]

Originally posted by: hammer09
I'll maintain or slow my speed. I'll also clean my windshield for a while.

AHHHH! People cleaning their windsheild pisses me off! Even sometimes when im the second or 3rd car back! :| especially if it is a van, and not doing it because someone is tailgating them, just because, the damn water goes QUITE a ways back. Generally though, unless they are in a higher car than you and they are tailgating you they wont get much spray on their windshield....

 

[Gaard]

Other - If I'm in the fast lane and I notice them catching up to me I pull over and let them by. If I don't notice them until they're already behind me I'll still pull over...providing they aren't being a jackass and riding a foot from my back bumper. When that happens it's the rolling roadblock and you can all say what you like...if someone's a dick to me, they get it right back.

If on a regular 1 lane in each direction and I get a tailgater I put the brakes on. I don't stop but I go slower and slower until they get the message and back off or pass.

Bottom line. I don't care if you drive fast but treat me with respect and not like I'm some kind of inferior driver because I drive slower than you. There's a difference between letting someone ahead of you know that you want by and being a jackass tailgater.

 

[Bulk Beef]

I thought this had already been settled. Dumb drivers suck, be they tailgaters, brake-checkers, speed-keepers, or whatever.

Grow up. The people that do that sh!t are really behaving like children.

 

[amnesiac]

I dont get tailgated that much; I have a full size pickup so people usually give me wide berth.

Yesterday, though, some tool in an old CRX was not just on my ass, he was nearly wedged under my truck. I could barely see the rear of his car through my mirror. I just slowed down tons to piss off the jackass "azn ricer boi" .. I mean even if he DID get around me, there was a ton of traffic (surface streets) so he would have gotten, I dunno, like 20 feet ahead before he had to tailgate another person.

Even if I did slam the brakes, he's just end up shoehorning himself underneath me. That would have been funny.

 

[JohnCU]

I turn on my windshield washer fluid, if you are going along at 55 or so it'll spray back on their windshield and they'll get the idea.

 

[TheOmegaCode]

I usually pull over to another lane, if I can. Every now and again I'll just speed up.

The only reason I do that, is because there isn't anything I hate more than some wanker driving under the speed limit...

 

[LordMaul]

Pray that they hit me in the back so I can sue and have them work for me for the rest of their stupid lives.

 

[Lucky]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Seriously though, I just maintain my speed. There isn't anything you can do about a tailgater.

Couldn't you just pull to the right, let them pass, and be done with it? Why keep your speed constant and have them continue to tailgate you?

.
Hello, this thread was originally about TWO-LANE highways. Obviously pulling off to the right is not always an option.

 

[Balthazar]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
Funny, I never have that happen...course I always drive 90-95mph on the highway, so I rarely "hold traffic up"...LOL!

However, I admit I will be the tailgater, and I never understand why people will not just pull over. If you want to avoid a road rage incident, it seems strange that you would slow down or slam on your brakes as that would just serve to increase the "rage" of the tailgating driver. It's just so much easier to pull over and let the person go by...

How about screw you I'm not pulling over just because you can't drive.
I dont mind doing WELL over the speed limit however I respect someones right to drive the speed limit, the ONLY time I will tailgate or bitch is when people are going WAY under the speed limit (hell even 5 under your ok to bitch I guess).

Why don't you try taking your drivers exam again and catching up on a few rules of the road, just because you want to do 85 and I want to do 55 (or whatever the speed limit may be) doesn't mean I automatically forfeit the right to drive without someone up my ass.

Why don't YOU pull over and wait for me to get far enough ahead of you that you dont have to worry about it?

 

[TheOmegaCode]

Originally posted by: LordMaul
Pray that they hit me in the back so I can sue and have them work for me for the rest of their stupid lives.

I wish I had a butler...

 

[J3anyus]

I wait until there's a no passing zone and then I gradually slow wayyyyyyy down. 20 in a 55 with a crazed dude behind you is fun

 

[Jzero]

It stipulated 2-lanes (one in either direction). If I am going at or above the speed limit, I'll just ignore you. I might slow down, if you're being enough of a jerk. I will not pull over and let you pass unless I'm lost and I'll probably be stomping the breaks every block to look for a street sign.

I respect your right to go the speed limit or below, so I rarely tailgate people on 2-lane roads.

On a highway, it's different. If there is a passing lane, I cruise in the right and pass in the left. If someone is tailgating and I'm not in a long line of traffic, then I move over. If there is 5 cars in front of me and we're all passing cars, you can flash your high beams all you want; I ain't moving over until I'm done passing.

 

[gopunk]

well here in washington, you HAVE to have insurance to drive.

anyhow, depends on my mood. they're always welcome to pass me, anyways.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: gopunk
well here in washington, you HAVE to have insurance to drive.

I thought that was pretty much every state in the union?

Not that that means anything. You also have to have a license to drive. Just because it would be illegal to drive without insurance is no guarantee that the idiot that rams you does have insurance and you won't be left holding the bag.

 

[Jumpem]

It depends on my mood and whether i'm driving or with a friend. It could be alot of things; such as slowing down to half the speed limit simply to irritate them, doing a "brake test", getting out the paintball gun, or just tossing a handful of change or a coke out the window at them. If I let them know to back off and they don't then they deserve what's coming!

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Seriously though, I just maintain my speed. There isn't anything you can do about a tailgater.

Couldn't you just pull to the right, let them pass, and be done with it? Why keep your speed constant and have them continue to tailgate you?

That would be going out of my way to reward somebody for being inconsiderate. You can't get mad at somebody for going the speed limit (though feel free to get pissed if somebody is going a ways under it). They're technically doing the right thing. If you want to pass them wait for a freaking passing zone rather then riding their bumper. I hate it when I'm passing somebody on a highway already going 15 over and somebody speeds up behind me and starts flashing his brights because I'm not passing the bastard fast enough even when I'm going 80.

 

[PsychoAndy]

Originally posted by: gopunk
well here in washington, you HAVE to have insurance to drive.

anyhow, depends on my mood. they're always welcome to pass me, anyways.

Exactly. You must have proof of insurance to buy/get a car titled in your name, but if you let it lapse after a month you are an uninsured driver.

 

[eLiu]

I don't drive particularly fast...(im 16, and in no hurry to die), so I usually stick to the right-side lanes. Though if people tailgate me, I'll tap the brake--lights come on, but I don't slow down. Eventually the impatient buggers drop back and give me some darn room.

 

[dolph]

straight up. changing lanes to let tailgaters pass you is a definite no-no AS LONG AS you are doing the speed limit. though this reminds me of a story...
my friend has an a4 with little headlight jets that come up and spray water at pretty high pressure to clean the mud/snow/whatever off the lights, and one time this really funny big fat guy in a huge truck cut us off on the freeway (on our way to fry's, of course ) and my idiot friend decided to get his automotive revenge by fvcking with him for a few miles (pulling in front, slowing down, just really dumb sh!t). man, did that piss him off, he would come really close to our car (like, what was he going to do, hit us intentionally? he had a pretty nice truck, i don't think he had any interest in seeing it hurt), but when my friend got in front of him and did the headlight cleaner, it sprayed all over his windshield... oh man, was it over then, he pulled up right beside us and was waving his hand over to have us pull over so we could fight... we couldn't believe it, we just laughed and sped off. he might have been pretty big and (somewhat)strong, but we were 4 6'+ early 20s old guys... the idea that a grown man more than twice our age would want to fight all 4 of us because he cut us off and my dumb friend responded was too much. anyway, just to relate to this story, there was a fair amount of tailgating involved and tailgating is dumb.

 

[JimmyEatWorld]

I usually downshift, so not only am I braking (slowly), but I doing it to where my brake lights don't go off....so they usually back off after they realize that either my brake lights don't work, or I'm downshifting...and that I'm prone to braking

buuuut, usually noone ever tailgates me, cus I'm goin to fast =)

 

[Cyberian]

Originally posted by: iamme
Ok, someone's tailgating you on a two lane normal road. You're going the speed limit. Their headlights are up yer rear bumper. What do you do?

iamme

There seems to be a lot of confusion here about what you mean by a 'two lane normal road'.
I assumed that you meant one lane in each direction, but you may have meant two lanes in each direction.
Maybe you could edit your first post or, probably better yet, make a new one.
I think that you have a real good question for all of us!

 

[ohtwell]

I slow down just to piss them off.






: ) Amanda