so I leave enough room between me and car in front so he can safely overtake and I can safely perform overtake manoeuvre. Other than that can't say the tailgater gets a reaction.

Excellent answer.

Welcome to my life.

I have 3 of these on the back of my cars:

It's a tailgater magnet.

Everyone sits 2 car lengths behind regardless of speed. You want to see what happens when a learner goes into 1st gear at 70mph instead of 6th. :eek:

I gave up taking any notice 4 years ago.

Edited 24 December, 200817 yr by DriveMeBananas
found out how to edit images :)

Bigger!

And, if you're in a VAG car don't - whatever you do - try the "left foot on the brake just enough to light the brake lights, while accelerating hard with the right foot" trick.

I tried that one in a 9N Polo a few years back. I don't know who wound up with the browner pants - me or the white van man a couple of feet back.

(It's a good trick in Fiats, mind...)

And, if you're in a VAG car don't - whatever you do - try the "left foot on the brake just enough to light the brake lights, while accelerating hard with the right foot" trick.

It works fine - you just need to retrain your left foot to be more sensitive :P

Chris

VAGs don't do left foot braking - they "get all confused" and cut the throttle...

VAGs don't do left foot braking - they "get all confused" and cut the throttle...

You have to re apply the gas immediately after touching the brake, the idea is the car thinks you have hit both pedals by mistake. It's good for me as I use the dual brake and clutch pedals to stop the car and the pupil doesnt blow my engine up as the car cuts the power to the engine!

VAGs don't do left foot braking - they "get all confused" and cut the throttle...

If you press it enough to just activate the rear lights it won't cut the throttle.

Chris

Hmmm... As soon as I get mine fixed, I must investigate...

If you press it enough to just activate the rear lights it won't cut the throttle.

Chris

Bit of a risky strategy that. My advice would be just leave enough safe stopping distance between yoy and car infront for both you and numpty tailgater.

Having been on the rather painful receiving end of a tailgater, there is no excuse for doing it, ever!!!

I reckon one of thoe cheapo text scrollers in the rear window with a choice message would do quite nicely:

"Back off you B*^*&*&*...." and the rest is a Phoenix Nights classic which ends in "legs"!

i found the more space you leave the car in front to compensate the car behind the closer they get trying to intimidate you to tailgate the car in front of you cause they dont like the fact they are within a couple mph of the speed limit. Royal Mail van tried this earlier on me when i was in the lorry but found the air brakes can lock the vehicle quite quickly when someone pulls out at the last minute

Slow right down on corners and speed up on straights, noughtlike a little road rage go get the juices flowing

A couple of times i have been in situations where the tailgater has been up close behind me and i'm sticking to the speed limit.The tailgater pulls out and accelerates past me getting into the lane of oncoming traffic to over take me. A very dangerous and stupid thing to do. On a couple of occasions when i have seen this coming i've waited just as the car pulled out from behind me and just as this is done I start accelerating. The car's tried to get past me but couldn't and then gave in when he or she realised on coming traffic and they can't keep up with me.

the two occasions i've done this is when the tailgater has been a much slower car to my vrs.

I'm usually a very prudent driver

A couple of times i have been in situations where the tailgater has been up close behind me and i'm sticking to the speed limit.The tailgater pulls out and accelerates past me getting into the lane of oncoming traffic to over take me. A very dangerous and stupid thing to do. On a couple of occasions when i have seen this coming i've waited just as the car pulled out from behind me and just as this is done I start accelerating.

This suggests you do two dangerous things. Speeding up when you're already at the speed limit. Increasing speed in order to prevent someone overtaking can also be very dangerous. Let them overtake, better miles in front than an inch behind.

Why make it your responsibility to police the roads and prevent people from travelling over the speed limit? I'm betting it's far safer to let the tailgater continue at 70 or 75mph on a 60mph decent A-road, than to speed up whilst he/she is overtaking and potentially cause either a very nasty head on collision with an innocent party or a road rage incident where one of you gets hurt.

And anyway, 60mph on your speedo may in fact be closer to 55 or 56mph, maybe the person overtaking would like to go a true 60mph and progress 4 miles further in every hour?

On a couple of occasions when i have seen this coming i've waited just as the car pulled out from behind me and just as this is done I start accelerating.

The only time I would consider this is entering a faster limit, mainly NSL, and I would begin my acceleration as soon as the car's indicator went on rather than when they were in the process of overtaking and along side me, with the view that I'm not going to be holding them up. If they keep pace and continue the overtake, I'll be backing off to assist them but most of the time they'll just pull in and follow at a good distance

However, contrast that to a similar situation entering a 30mph limit. How many hazards are there and what is an appropriate speed to allow you to deal with them and stop safely if you need to? Where are your escape routes to help you deal with them and would these be compromised by someone overtaking you? Is it worth going above the appropriate speed to (temporarily) deal with a tailgater?

Chris

A couple of times i have been in situations where the tailgater has been up close behind me and i'm sticking to the speed limit.The tailgater pulls out and accelerates past me getting into the lane of oncoming traffic to over take me. A very dangerous and stupid thing to do. On a couple of occasions when i have seen this coming i've waited just as the car pulled out from behind me and just as this is done I start accelerating. The car's tried to get past me but couldn't and then gave in when he or she realised on coming traffic and they can't keep up with me.

the two occasions i've done this is when the tailgater has been a much slower car to my vrs.

I'm usually a very prudent driver

What an idiotic thing to do. The last time I checked you had be at least 17 to drive so why behave like a petulant 7 year old? Grow up quick before you cause a serious accident you moron!

The only time I would consider this is entering a faster limit, mainly NSL,

Chris

I've done this to the same guy (Rover 25 "BRM", so, as there were only 400 of those made, I think I'm justified in claiming it was always the same one) 5 times in the course of one trip, and then he still insisted on being a tailg!t when he (by driving illegally through a village) caught me for the 6th time!

I can get pretty stressed with people on the roads but oddly tailgating isn't one of the things that annoys me.

I find that if someone does to me what I do to others I will do what I can to help them past.

That is, I come up behind them while "making progress", allow myself to get closer to them whilst I am braking than I would normally then drop back enough that I have enough space to run up to a decent overtaking speed while still in the left lane.

That way I minimise TED, I have always done this but now that I have a more powerful car I find that I don't need to leave a 3 second gap like I used to.

If I notice that someone has done that to me and I know the road I will check ahead as if I was overtaking myself and give a single flash of the left indicator when I think it is safe for them to overtake.

Likewise if they start an overtake move and I see a danger I will give them right indicator.

People who tailgate either through ignorance or arrogance don't bother me either, I have many years of experience in military convoy driving and I will quite happily flick the mirror onto anti-dazzle and ignore them.

Middle lane hoggers get undertaken, overtaken and cut really close or "lapped" depending on my mood. I find that as I have mellowed with age I hardly cut people close any more.

An ex of mine really hated being tailgated, so much that she ended up making up a big cardboard sign that said "**** off tailgating ****", it sat on the parcel shelf and she could pull a bit of string to make it fill the rear window. It hardly ever worked though.

What really grips my **** though are daydreaming idiots and inconsiderate drivers.

If I am trying to turn right out of a side street and they are trying to turn right into it, where is the harm of letting me out? I'm not going to be in their way. It winds me up even more if they see me there when they arrive at the junction and still block me off. I was there first dammit.

I nearly got killed the other day by a guy coming out of a petrol station, I was coming down the road, station on the left and he looked me in the eye before turning right into my path, it scared the hell out of my wife.

People who are turning right but don't go all the way into the filter lane so others who are going straight on can't get past.

Rrrrrrr. I hate inconsiderate drivers.

Tailgaters? meh. If they are genuinely travelling at a higher average speed I'll get out of the way, if they are an idiot I'll ignore them.

That is, I come up behind them while "making progress", allow myself to get closer to them whilst I am braking than I would normally then drop back enough that I have enough space to run up to a decent overtaking speed while still in the left lane.

That way I minimise TED, I have always done this but now that I have a more powerful car I find that I don't need to leave a 3 second gap like I used to.

If you're accelerating to an overtaking speed in the left hand lane do you think you are decreasing your TED or increasing your TED by committing to an overtake before all the information is available to you?

Chris

You can begin accelerating in preparation for an overtake without committing, no? The drive home last week was just this case, where there are only four proper opportunities so I was building speed and closing the gap just before the way ahead became clear. As it happened I wasn't able to get past at any of them, but I wasn't having to manoeuvre hard to abort the attempt.

I've no doubt the chap in the landcruiser thought I was being aggressive, but then if he hadn't been doing 45 regardless of the limit (60 -30 -60 -30 -60) I wouldn't have been trying to get past in the first place.

I can get pretty stressed with people on the roads but oddly tailgating isn't one of the things that annoys me....

....if they are an idiot I'll ignore them.

I'm sorry, but most of what you wrote concerns me greatly. I've completed both IAM and ROSPA and home-made pop-up signs with swearies on them, one-flash indications that only you know the meaning of, undertaking and lapping aren't on either syllabus.

You can begin accelerating in preparation for an overtake without committing, no? The drive home last week was just this case, where there are only four proper opportunities so I was building speed and closing the gap just before the way ahead became clear. As it happened I wasn't able to get past at any of them, but I wasn't having to manoeuvre hard to abort the attempt.

If you're looking to complete an overtake, what information do you need? Imho, you need to be able to see where you're going to "land" after the overtake, including the condition of the road, any puddles, debris etc, which might affect things as well as entrances, junctions, driveways, etc that might present a threat during an overtake.

So stepping back, if I need to be happy with all of the above, I need to position myself on the road so that I have all the information and I almost certainly won't have all the information if I'm following a vehicle and accelerating towards it, effectively shutting down my view ahead on approach, especially with a larger vehicle.

The "banana" overtake is the traditional overtaking method but how about trying the following?

- Close from a following 2 second distance to a 1 second distance and position close to the centre line to give a view of the oncoming traffic

- If it's clear, without changing speed, move to the offside to assess the overtake and take in the full uninterrupted view ahead

- You are now presented with 3 choices, yes/no/maybe. If it's yes, then you can get the hammer down and complete the overtake. If it's no, you can pull back in behind the target car without needing to brake or change speed. If it's maybe you can stay out until it becomes a yes or no.

With this approach, you're not constantly on the brakes or accelerator which may be seen as intimidating and you also benefit from a view of the whole scene ahead of you before committing. Of course, the "banana" is still a useable technique, especially on open roads with excellent views, but in comparison, the point of commitment is far earlier so you have to have decided it's safe and that the target car is steady much earlier in the cycle.

Chris

i think the copper who was tailgating me, pulling back and then getting back up the ar$e of me on friday in a 30mph limit needs to be pointed to the dangers of following close, braking distances and that bullying drivers to speed is wrong. Just wished he pulled me in so i could ask him to what level he has been trained to to drive a diesel astra.

If you're looking to complete an overtake, what information do you need? Imho, you need to be able to see where you're going to "land" after the overtake, including the condition of the road, any puddles, debris etc, which might affect things as well as entrances, junctions, driveways, etc that might present a threat during an overtake.

So stepping back, if I need to be happy with all of the above, I need to position myself on the road so that I have all the information and I almost certainly won't have all the information if I'm following a vehicle and accelerating towards it, effectively shutting down my view ahead on approach, especially with a larger vehicle.

The "banana" overtake is the traditional overtaking method but how about trying the following?

- Close from a following 2 second distance to a 1 second distance and position close to the centre line to give a view of the oncoming traffic

- If it's clear, without changing speed, move to the offside to assess the overtake and take in the full uninterrupted view ahead

- You are now presented with 3 choices, yes/no/maybe. If it's yes, then you can get the hammer down and complete the overtake. If it's no, you can pull back in behind the target car without needing to brake or change speed. If it's maybe you can stay out until it becomes a yes or no.

With this approach, you're not constantly on the brakes or accelerator which may be seen as intimidating and you also benefit from a view of the whole scene ahead of you before committing. Of course, the "banana" is still a useable technique, especially on open roads with excellent views, but in comparison, the point of commitment is far earlier so you have to have decided it's safe and that the target car is steady much earlier in the cycle.

Chris

I like it. I am not afraid to learn.

like I said. Now that I have a more powerful car I am having to re-assess most of the things I do while driving.

My old swift was fast but you really couldn't slow down or you'd never get back up to speed.

The only other car I've had that was powerful was a modified range rover, bobbed, TVR engine and road tyres with stiffer springs. However the thing was still a death trap and I really tried to avoid overtaking.

I'm sorry, but most of what you wrote concerns me greatly. I've completed both IAM and ROSPA and home-made pop-up signs with swearies on them, one-flash indications that only you know the meaning of, undertaking and lapping aren't on either syllabus.

Good point, the sign wasn't mine and is not something I'd do, the indicating is something I picked up in India and although not "standard" the right indicate has prevented a crash at least once.

The "lapping" is wrong and I put my hand up to that, it feels good though.

Undertaking on a motorway however, I though was OK if the prevailing speed in the inside lane was faster than the prevailing speed in the outer lane.

Say I am doing 70 in the leftmost available lane and some oxygen thief is doing 60-65 in the middle lane, I thought it was OK to forgo the hassle of going two lanes out then back in just to get round the mouth breather?

Could be just another dangerously ill informed driver though...