Tailgaters

[Snakebyte]

I just wanna know one thing: was OP in the left lane?

I worked with a young engineer who liked speed as I did, and we both ran a track day at Nashville Superspeedway. His passion for fast on the speedway was just as passionate on the street. He even applied a windshield banner saying "MOVE OVER" applied in reverse so people could read it in their mirror.

Witnessing his passion resulting in a cringe moment on the way to work one day, I realized he could benefit from someone who had been there, done that. I explained that the left lane was not an open license for us to break the speed limit.

Back then Tennessee's wording for permitted left lane use was "travelling at least the speed limit". That translated to a minimum of 70 mph in most rural interstates. But then "at least the speed limit" in some people's minds seemed to mean warp speed, no matter what the person overtaking another car is going (even when the car ahead was overtaking at a speed into ticket range).

I'm guessing we've all witnessed that in the last couple years. I recall NASCAR's late Davey Allison, had a sign on his dash, "THINK". Good advice for us. May we all create fewer cringe-worthy moments in doing so.

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[Weyland-Yutani]

In Atlanta I am surprised just slowing down 10 MPH would not work well, everyone there is always doing way over the speed limit trying to be the first inline.

I always dread having to go thru any big city because of crazy drivers in them. It seems like you are in a race everywhere you go in a big city.

Just a small town person myself. and used to the old days of far less cars on the roads than there are today.

BD

It's a weird phenomena and I don't think it's a city-folk thing, necessarily. I think it's more about being boxed in and feeling trapped. I use to do a lot of long driving trips for work and found that people (including me), were pretty chill on stretches between larger towns. There's also seems to be less speed disparities when people can spread out. When in congested areas though, personality dynamics take over and things get weird.

 

[Hack]

Human nature is good and bad. Everyone wants to win the race to where ever they are going.

 

[Oakley]

I worked with a young engineer who liked speed as I did, and we both ran a track day at Nashville Superspeedway. His passion for fast on the speedway was just as passionate on the street. He even applied a windshield banner saying "MOVE OVER" applied in reverse so people could read it in their mirror.

Witnessing his passion resulting in a cringe moment on the way to work one day, I realized he could benefit from someone who had been there, done that. I explained that the left lane was not an open license for us to break the speed limit.

Back then Tennessee's wording for permitted left lane use was "travelling at least the speed limit". That translated to a minimum of 70 mph in most rural interstates. But then "at least the speed limit" in some people's minds seemed to mean warp speed, no matter what the person overtaking another car is going (even when the car ahead was overtaking at a speed into ticket range).

I'm guessing we've all witnessed that in the last couple years. I recall NASCAR's late Davey Allison, had a sign on his dash, "THINK". Good advice for us. May we all create fewer cringe-worthy moments in doing so.

think is good advice. think about this: speed limits kill

https://ww2.motorists.org/press/montana-no-speed-limit-safety-paradox/

 

[Buldawg76]

I am as guilty of wanting to win the race as anyone else for sure, but it has more to do with not being comfortable being stuck behind a slower driver than having to be up front of the pack. I set my cruise and prefer to have a free and clear road ahead of me so I can see if there is some situation, I need to be able to react to in order prevent being involved in an accident or create one. I do not like being boxed while in heavy traffic situations and try to avoid it, if at all possible, it just seems much more difficult today in big cities then even just 10 years ago. People just don't have the driving skills that I grew up being taught and learned when I first started to drive.

I learned within the first year of driving how to put a car into a 360 degree spin or power slide and be able to bring the car back under control and safely pull out of the spin or slide without panicking or loss of control. It has saved me more times than I can count in my 50+ years of driving. I very strongly feel that it is a skill that needs to be taught to all drivers in order to be given the privilege of a driver license. If every driver on the roads had these skills, there would be far less fatal accidents on our roads today IMO. Granted there would also be far less drivers on the roads today if this was part of the driving test to get a license. I still practice these skills today out on deserted dirt roads to keep myself sharp and ready if the situation is encountered.

Just my personal feelings and opinions.

BD

 

[joe603]

Yup, happens almost every morning because I wont do 60 in a 45. So if they are really aggressive, I'll just downshift to get them to back off. That and pickup truck headlights/lightbars are the bane of my commute.

 

[Strokerswild]

I am as guilty of wanting to win the race as anyone else for sure, but it has more to do with not being comfortable being stuck behind a slower driver than having to be up front of the pack. I set my cruise and prefer to have a free and clear road ahead of me so I can see if there is some situation, I need to be able to react to in order prevent being involved in an accident or create one. I do not like being boxed while in heavy traffic situations and try to avoid it, if at all possible, it just seems much more difficult today in big cities then even just 10 years ago. People just don't have the driving skills that I grew up being taught and learned when I first started to drive.

I learned within the first year of driving how to put a car into a 360 degree spin or power slide and be able to bring the car back under control and safely pull out of the spin or slide without panicking or loss of control. It has saved me more times than I can count in my 50+ years of driving. I very strongly feel that it is a skill that needs to be taught to all drivers in order to be given the privilege of a driver license. If every driver on the roads had these skills, there would be far less fatal accidents on our roads today IMO. Granted there would also be far less drivers on the roads today if this was part of the driving test to get a license. I still practice these skills today out on deserted dirt roads to keep myself sharp and ready if the situation is encountered.

Just my personal feelings and opinions.

BD

Well put.

When I was a kid with a learner's permit, my Dad would take me to empty, icy parking lots during winter to teach me vehicle control. And, of course, I continued to do it to this day decades later A) because it's good to stay in practice, and B) it's fun.

The nannies in modern vehicles, some of which can't be defeated entirely in some cases, take a lot of the fun out of such frozen hooning.

 

[Bullitt0819]

Humans are pack animals, and drive in packs, even on open roadways. I always sit at the rear of a pack, usually in the #1/fast lane--in California, they're pretty much in use all the time--far enough back so I don't have to hit the brakes or downshift every time some twit taps his/her brakes for no reason. Someone camps out on my ass I just ignore them; I figure if they're inches away they're at least paying attention--it's a calculated risk--because every time I've been rear-ended it's been by somebody a couple car lengths back who assumed they're 'safe' and wasn't paying attention (they'd have hit me even from 200 feet back). I don't play 'leader of the pack;' I'll let the leader get the ticket.

People are like sheep; as my late sheep rancher uncle one said: 'They stick their noses in the butt of the sheep up front.'

 

[DGoldstein62]

I experience this every now and then (I assume the car attracts dopes like that) but it has happened a lot the last 2 days. Yesterday afternoon on my way home with my daughter from school, a brand new M2 (ugly as sin BTW) decided he needed to be right on my a$$ for almost the entirety of our 10 minute ride home (and half that trip is on 4 lane roads so he could’ve gone around if he was in that big of a hurry). Encountered 2 more on my way to and from taking my daughter to school this morning, Altima and an Infiniti G37. I don’t drive at the exact speed limit so it’s not like I was impeding traffic or anything.
Anyway, especially with my kids in the car, I have zero patience for people like that so I finally lost it and decided to keep up foreign relations (if you’re old enough you’ll get the movie reference). I try to control that as much as possible because you never know what someone will do but I was especially irritated with these latest tailgaters for whatever reason.

So PSA, don’t be an a$$hat and tailgate people. That is all, have a lovely day!

Personally, I like to get extra passive-aggressive and I slow down considerably just to piss them off.

 

[MAGS1]

Personally, I like to get extra passive-aggressive and I slow down considerably just to piss them off.

I’ll slow down to see if that gets them to change lanes too, but I also fear that if I slow too much too soon they’ll end up in my trunk, which I do not want.

It happened to me again this morning, another BMW who appeared to be running late for work. Again, I was in the right lane and couldn’t shake him so I just moved to the left lane and he went flying by and gave me a dirty look . I was in a good mood this morning so I just waved and went about my business.

 

[MachNroll]

I experience this every now and then (I assume the car attracts dopes like that) but it has happened a lot the last 2 days. Yesterday afternoon on my way home with my daughter from school, a brand new M2 (ugly as sin BTW) decided he needed to be right on my a$$ for almost the entirety of our 10 minute ride home (and half that trip is on 4 lane roads so he could’ve gone around if he was in that big of a hurry). Encountered 2 more on my way to and from taking my daughter to school this morning, Altima and an Infiniti G37. I don’t drive at the exact speed limit so it’s not like I was impeding traffic or anything.
Anyway, especially with my kids in the car, I have zero patience for people like that so I finally lost it and decided to keep up foreign relations (if you’re old enough you’ll get the movie reference). I try to control that as much as possible because you never know what someone will do but I was especially irritated with these latest tailgaters for whatever reason.

So PSA, don’t be an a$$hat and tailgate people. That is all, have a lovely day!

I understand the irritation as I have experienced what you have described. For example. I once had a guy super aggressively ride my bumper in his piece of garbage Honda to the next red light. Then when we were stopped he repeatedly inched forward intending to make contact which caused me to move forward into the intersection to avoid said contact. When the light turned green I pulled over and let the driver pass because I was about to lose my mind but knew that I would probably catch an assault charge if I did.

From my perspective, if something goes sideways in a tailgating/road rage type of situation, the police will look to determine what caused the "thing" to happen. Not so much the initial act (i.e. the other person's tailgating action) but what specific factor in the entire situation caused the "thing." Where did it really go wrong? Who was the one that escalated the situation? A tailgating act is nothing compared to someone getting pummeled in response to it.

So, I don't brake check, suddenly/gradually reduce speed significantly, flip the bird, mouth well known insults etc. because it is really easy to go from being (for a lack of better words) a "victim" to a "suspect" who could have simply gotten out of the way by changing lanes, taking an off ramp then getting back onto the highway, not reacting, and simply removing oneself from the situation.

 

[K4fxd]

So, I don't brake check, suddenly/gradually reduce speed significantly, flip the bird, mouth well known insults etc. because it is really easy to go from being (for a lack of better words) a "victim" to a "suspect" who could have simply gotten out of the way by changing lanes, taking an off ramp then getting back onto the highway, not reacting, and simply removing oneself from the situation

I don't necessarily brake check but I do brake for animals. I don't flip the bird or offer insults.

A few months ago a deer ran in front of me while the tailgater was sipping what I think was coffee, I'll bet money she did not learn a lesson and still tailgates.

 

[hlh1]

I added a rear camera, to go with my dash-cam, because of tailgaters. It doesn't seem to stop them from tailgating, but I'll have the tag number if they rear end me.

 

[stannypack]

everytime I pull up behind someone in the left lane 9/10 times they move over for me lol. Might have to do with the ford performance banner and straightpiped revving

 

[Buldawg76]

everytime I pull up behind someone in the left lane 9/10 times they move over for me lol. Might have to do with the ford performance banner and straightpiped revving

Loud pipes save lives.

BD

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