An Increasing Problem

[jdtate101]

I've found that since I've taken up cycling my driving has calmed down loads and I'm a lot slower and more tolerant , now if we could only convince angry drivers to do the same!!

 

[tyred]

The trouble with " getting your own back" tactics is how far do you go, and if you do get involved in an accident do you relly want to get involved in the hassle and the grief of sorting it out, dealing with the insurance, securing witnesses, poss finding a hire/loan car. Then there is the problem of arguing with the insurance about a no claims bonus [not as simple as it may seem] and the definite likelyhood of future increased premiums. It may be fine for you to say "Oh well I'll use the bike" but does this include everybody in the family for every school run,shopping trip B&Q garden kit collection etc. Remember WVM and his like may well be in a company vehicle and really not care about insurance or repairs.
Leedsbusdriver is right, this is no macho trip, just get out of the way and let the loonys get on with it.

I used to always try to wind idiots like that up but as I've grown older and wiser, I don't. It's not worth it. I wouldn't pull out of the way but I certainly wouldn't brake test them or slow down or anything of the sort like I used to. Not worth it, you never know what kind of nutter you're dealing with.

 

[Boris Bajic]

If I get someone tailgating me on a road where they can't overtake, I do the following.

• turn side lights on
• slow down gradually untill I can see they are just stairing at me in rage.
• turn rear fog lights on (looks like brake lights) and accelerate away.
• Watch the monkey hit the brakes as you leave him for dust.

If there is space for them to overtake then obviously the best course of action is to let them pass (as said above) it is better to have an idiot infront of you rather than behind.

It can be quite unnerving being tailgated, but there are some responses that might just antagonise a motorist who is already perhaps slightly frayed in the nerve department.

Slowing gradually is usually effective, but somehow trying to incite rage (as Gaz jokingly proposes) is not going to help.

The rear fog light can also be more of a temperature-raiser than a solution. It will be quite apparent to the following driver why this is being done and it may encourage similar 'annoying' behaviour from him. It may encourage worse...

Also, encouraging someone to brake sharply is not likely to increase the overall safety of our roads. Sorry, I sound like a bad cross between Confucius and Great Uncle Bulgaria here, but there is a serious point in there somewhere. These responses to tailgating can cause or encourage mayhem and peril as alarming as that which the followed party was trying to avoid. They may not, but they may.

The above bullets are all things that many of us have done, but there is an extent to which they involve the perpetrator taking his or her attention off the road. This, for example: "slow down gradually until I can see they are just staring at me in rage". We may be talking just a second of looking away to gauge the rage, but is it worth that?

I realise that tailgating in itself is MASSIVELY dangerous, but responses that involve concentrating on the responses of another driver or may involve another driver's rage being ignited do not float my boat. Similarly (even though I am a former sinner in this area) responses that cause another party to brake sharply do not amuse me.

I realise that the ideas I'm dismissing emenate from the esteemed Sir Gaz, but those are my thoughts and I temper my disagreement by adding that everything else he says makes sense to me.

I do not type this from a lofty moral fortress. My first few cars were little 60s French jobs and the brake light switch in those days was commonly on the pedal box. Movement of the pedal closed the circuit and the brake lights came on. I bent the switch so it closed the circuit if I brushed the pedal - so I could flash the brake lights while still on the loud pedal. Very childish, very wrong, but I was young.

 

[HLaB]

What irks me is on a Motorway/DC when there's roadworks and a 50mph limit, the large artic that sits 2foot off my rear bumper and finally overtakes to sit at 55mph before and after the restriction!

 

[Sheepy1209]

What irks me is on a Motorway/DC when there's roadworks and a 50mph limit, the large artic that sits 2foot off my rear bumper and finally overtakes to sit at 55mph before and after the restriction!

That artic will have a calibrated tachograph and is likely to be doing 50 when you think he's doing 55 - most car speedos overread.

Anyway; my wife recently qualified as a driving instructor, and her car is now fully liveried. When I drive it I believe my driving has to be impeccable at all times so as not to bring her and other ADIs into disrepute. This is an interesting experience; for one thing, there's no nipping over the speed limit for a bit, especially in some of the local 20s - it's brought home how often I would do just that. Surprisingly I've found that I get tailgated far less when I stick to the limit than I did when the car was just a plain colour; but I still get overtaken on the 30mph prom through Blackpool.

 

[HLaB]

That artic will have a calibrated tachograph and is likely to be doing 50 when you think he's doing 55 - most car speedos overread.

Anyway; my wife recently qualified as a driving instructor, and her car is now fully liveried. When I drive it I believe my driving has to be impeccable at all times so as not to bring her and other ADIs into disrepute. This is an interesting experience; for one thing, there's no nipping over the speed limit for a bit, especially in some of the local 20s - it's brought home how often I would do just that. Surprisingly I've found that I get tailgated far less when I stick to the limit than I did when the car was just a plain colour; but I still get overtaken on the 30mph prom through Blackpool.

Completely OT the news was just in Blackpool, it looked horrible today

 

[I like Skol]

me, i tease them a bit by slowing down to 20mph then as they moe to overtake i speed up again then when they are really about to blow, you know when they are trying to mate with your exhaust pipe. its time to hit the brakes. have had one guy lock his wheels and end up in the ditch. i stopped of coarse and said did you see that kid chasing his ball? lol

So, so wrong!

That artic will have a calibrated tachograph and is likely to be doing 50 when you think he's doing 55 - most car speedos overread.

All car speedos over read. I have yet to own or drive an unmodified car or van where the speedo isn't optimistic by a fairly uniform 3-4mph!

 

[HLaB]

All car speedos over read. I have yet to own or drive an unmodified car or van where the speedo isn't optimistic by a fairly uniform 3-4mph!

I can only go by my Yaris, it reads about 3-4mph below the gps (sat nav) tracked speed; explains why I've never been done for speeding

 

[gambatte]

Tailgating. I can't control what distance the drive off my bumper, but I am aware of what a safe braking distance is at particular speeds.
If I spot someone behind me with too small a gap, I'll adjust my speed to one appropriate to the gap thats being left.... seems sensible to me...?

IMO sat navs have been great in regulating speed compliance over the greater number of drivers - seeing the display go red or hearing a beep when you go over. The speed awareness courses are good too.

BTW anyone noticed that as the weather gets worse, rain etc, driving standards seem to get worse rather than better? You'd expect steadier driving, more considered passes. Instead you get reduced gaps, more tailgating, close overtakes. Most noticeable on the bike.

 

[HLaB]

IMO sat navs have been great in regulating speed compliance over the greater number of drivers - seeing the display go red or hearing a beep when you go over. The speed awareness courses are good too.

OT have you ever been on the A1(M) they are infuriating there (or at least the garmin Nuvi is), they/it beep/s consistently, even when you are 20mph below the speed limit, I don't know if it map is picking up cameras on side roads
Field tests with similar systems to regulate speed (audible ISA) have found that the folk liable to speed/ drive recklessly switch the system off.

 

[Norm]

As I'm not a traffic policeman, I don't consider that I have either moral or legal justification for imposing my expectations of road behaviour on others.

 

[Nebulous]

Anyway; my wife recently qualified as a driving instructor, and her car is now fully liveried.

My son recently did an intensive driving course in Blackpool. He claimed it was the cheapest place in the UK to do it. Accommodation was very cheap as well.

 

[BentMikey]

As I'm not a traffic policeman, I don't consider that I have either moral or legal justification for imposing my expectations of road behaviour on others.

Well, you don't seem to have any trouble doing so on here.

 

[Norm]

Well, you don't seem to have any trouble doing so on here.

Ah... 50 points for spotting hypocrisy in others.

Now, for the bonus question, can you spot it in yourself?

 

[eshroom]

Makes you me bit worried of cycling to central London every day...