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Aggressive Sunday evening tailgaters ....


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Old 01-01-2017, 20:09
Andrew1954
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Several times recently I've experienced aggressive Sunday evening tailgaters. It happened again tonight. Same scenario. I'm driving along at the speed limit. Very few cars on the road. They could easily overtake if they wanted to. Tonight I felt they were being aggressive, intimidating. The driver kept driving up until his lights disappeared beneath the view of my rear mirror. In the end I indicated and slowed to pull over into a lay by, but he was so close he had to slowdown too, but in the end swerved out and accelerated up to maybe 80 mph in a 30 mph limit. What is the problem with such people? Are they being intentionally intimidating or are they just stupid? Or are they trying to set up some kind of insurance scam? What do you do or would you do in this situation?
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Old 01-01-2017, 20:16
CravenHaven
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you shouldn't have held up Percy and Vera on their way home in the Morris Minor trying to catch Doc Martin on the telly, then.
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Old 01-01-2017, 21:15
Finglonga
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What do you do or would you do in this situation?
Just ignore them, if they wan to pass then they can if they don't then they can sit behind me.
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Old 01-01-2017, 21:34
Thine Wonk
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There's a 40Mph road near me that drivers 'think' they are driving at the speed limit on when they drive at 30, I do get annoyed and try and give them a bit of a clue that they are driving far too slow but I think they are so bad at actually looking at the road signs they drive too slow and hold everyone else up because of their incompetence. I have overtaken 1 or 2 and then driven at 40 ahead of them.
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Old 01-01-2017, 21:40
Lou Kelly
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Drivers like this aren't confined to one day a week, they are out in force al the time. The best solution is to (continue to) be a defensive driver, not an offensive driver.
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Old 01-01-2017, 21:42
Andrew1954
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Just ignore them, if they wan to pass then they can if they don't then they can sit behind me.
Point taken. But when the tailgater is clearly driving aggressively and not overtaking when they easily could ...?
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Old 01-01-2017, 21:49
Andrew1954
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Drivers like this aren't confined to one day a week, they are out in force al the time. The best solution is to (continue to) be a defensive driver, not an offensive driver.
Yes, it's absolutely the right thing not to respond. Frankly I rather have such idiots in front than two feet from my rear bumper.
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Old 01-01-2017, 21:54
bluewomble88
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I slow down to encourage them to overtake.
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Old 01-01-2017, 21:58
Andrew1954
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There's a 40Mph road near me that drivers 'think' they are driving at the speed limit on when they drive at 30, I do get annoyed and try and give them a bit of a clue that they are driving far too slow but I think they are so bad at actually looking at the road signs they drive too slow and hold everyone else up because of their incompetence. I have overtaken 1 or 2 and then driven at 40 ahead of them.
Not relevant to this situation. I'm driving at or near the speed limit and, as I said, they have every opportunity to overtake and exceed the speed limit if they want to. Their behaviour is irrational
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Old 01-01-2017, 22:16
jaycee331
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I saw some terrible driving on the motorways travelling back from family after Christmas.
It was like Sunday drivers on steroids. I would have to assume it's folk also doing long christmas journeys whom aren't used to long travel, the elderly, or tired drivers.

And mixed in with the above, yep I had an aggressive tail gater. I checked my speedo, I was in the middle lane, overtaking trucks etc in the left and was doing about 75. AND maintaining the speed/flow of the traffic in front of me. It was cold, dark (no street lighting) and I ain't taking my chances with the boys and blue during the season of prime pickings looking for drunk/drug drivers etc.

The right "fast" lane was empty. All I could think was, overtake me, or STFU.

The cool thing is my car has an auto-dimming rear view mirror, so if they think flicking on full beam or flashing at me is going to disturb or phased me in the slightest, they can think again.

I hold my lane and course and will never give way to such assholes. UNLESS, having evaluated the situation I have appreciated that yeah, I've spaced out a little bit and shouldn't be in this lane at this speed, then I will move in and give way. But I'll be the judge of that. The assholes can sit behind me and flash away all they like, I hope they get wound up even more and work themselves up to a heart attack.
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Old 01-01-2017, 22:23
Andrue
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Yes, it's absolutely the right thing not to respond. Frankly I rather have such idiots in front than two feet from my rear bumper.
Yup. That way you can control the gap between you.
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Old 01-01-2017, 23:05
charlie-chan
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I was driving back Friday evening and I had said to my boyfriend about the car that was really close behind me. I couldn't see their licence plate as they were that close. I was doing 30 mph on a 30 mph road. All of a sudden, the car behind me decided to overtake me (!) and they must have been doing about 40 - 50 mph. They even turned into a side road with no indication.

I beeped my horn at them. All I could think about what idiots they were and what made them think they were so special to break the speed limit!
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Old 01-01-2017, 23:35
Andrew1954
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I was driving back Friday evening and I had said to my boyfriend about the car that was really close behind me. I couldn't see their licence plate as they were that close. I was doing 30 mph on a 30 mph road. All of a sudden, the car behind me decided to overtake me (!) and they must have been doing about 40 - 50 mph. They even turned into a side road with no indication.

I beeped my horn at them. All I could think about what idiots they were and what made them think they were so special to break the speed limit!
In my view some male drivers like to intimidate women drivers. I've noticed this when my partner is driving. She gets idiots driving too close far more often than I do.
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Old 01-01-2017, 23:43
babinaba
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Brake and hope they get the shit scared out of them
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Old 01-01-2017, 23:47
babinaba
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I saw some terrible driving on the motorways travelling back from family after Christmas.
It was like Sunday drivers on steroids. I would have to assume it's folk also doing long christmas journeys whom aren't used to long travel, the elderly, or tired drivers.

And mixed in with the above, yep I had an aggressive tail gater. I checked my speedo, I was in the middle lane, overtaking trucks etc in the left and was doing about 75. AND maintaining the speed/flow of the traffic in front of me. It was cold, dark (no street lighting) and I ain't taking my chances with the boys and blue during the season of prime pickings looking for drunk/drug drivers etc.

The right "fast" lane was empty. All I could think was, overtake me, or STFU.

The cool thing is my car has an auto-dimming rear view mirror, so if they think flicking on full beam or flashing at me is going to disturb or phased me in the slightest, they can think again.

I hold my lane and course and will never give way to such assholes. UNLESS, having evaluated the situation I have appreciated that yeah, I've spaced out a little bit and shouldn't be in this lane at this speed, then I will move in and give way. But I'll be the judge of that. The assholes can sit behind me and flash away all they like, I hope they get wound up even more and work themselves up to a heart attack.
Someone did that to me on the motorway once, we coincidentally came off at the same slip road (me behind him after he finally decided to overtake), came to some lights further down the road, he got out his car ranting and raving at me (I was a lone female in my car). I just looked at him like he was crazy, the lights turned green so I waved goodbye to him standing in the road, went round his car and went on my way. I have no idea what the tailgating and little show actually achieved.
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Old 01-01-2017, 23:55
SaddlerSteve
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Point taken. But when the tailgater is clearly driving aggressively and not overtaking when they easily could ...?
Were they actually being aggressive and trying to get you to speed up/flashing lights etc or just driving too close?

I ask because I've had several similar instances in the past.
An example was driving home fairly late in the evening on the A5 between Towcester and Milton Keynes. I'd only been in the road a few minutes when a car caught me up and proceeded to stay very close behind me so I was getting their headlights straight in my rear view mirror with a lot of glare which was getting annoying. I flicked the rear view down to stop this but I was still getting headlight glare from my wing mirrors. I was doing 60mph and they were maintaining the same speed behind me. It's a stretch of road that doesn't have street lights so the glare was even more intense. Being midweek and late at night the road was not very busy and there was no oncoming traffic do I was expecting them to overtake. They didn't though and just sat there.

After adjusting mirrors didn't work and they seemed to not want to overtake I gradually slowed to 40mph to encourage them to overtake and they still just sat there. In the end I pulled into a side street at the next village a few miles down the road and then pulled back out.

I don't actually think they were tailgating (which I consider to be aggressively trying to get someone to speed up or move out the way). I think they just thought the distance they were behind me was ok and were driving too close. That's why they had no intention of overtaking, even when we got to a perfectly straight section which goes on for a couple of miles and they could have easily overtaken me.
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Old 02-01-2017, 00:08
DadDancer
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I think one of the problems is setting speed limits too low, which has become a big thing with local authorities introducing new extended 30mph in non built up areas where the limits should really be 50mph. People just can't respect the limits anymore, it's the nanny state gone mad. So now they act all aggressive and bully people who stick to them religiously in a form of rebellion. I think Sunday winds them up even more, because of all the dozy Sunday drivers who are out in force.
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Old 02-01-2017, 00:54
MK184
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A problem I most often encounter are the idiots on dual carriageways who could overtake you, due to the right lane being free, yet choose to drive practically in your boot, all the time refusing to overtake. I had this the other day, when doing 30mph in a 30 limit.
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Old 02-01-2017, 07:22
Andrew1954
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Were they actually being aggressive and trying to get you to speed up/flashing lights etc or just driving too close?

I ask because I've had several similar instances in the past.
An example was driving home fairly late in the evening on the A5 between Towcester and Milton Keynes. I'd only been in the road a few minutes when a car caught me up and proceeded to stay very close behind me so I was getting their headlights straight in my rear view mirror with a lot of glare which was getting annoying. I flicked the rear view down to stop this but I was still getting headlight glare from my wing mirrors. I was doing 60mph and they were maintaining the same speed behind me. It's a stretch of road that doesn't have street lights so the glare was even more intense. Being midweek and late at night the road was not very busy and there was no oncoming traffic do I was expecting them to overtake. They didn't though and just sat there.

After adjusting mirrors didn't work and they seemed to not want to overtake I gradually slowed to 40mph to encourage them to overtake and they still just sat there. In the end I pulled into a side street at the next village a few miles down the road and then pulled back out.

I don't actually think they were tailgating (which I consider to be aggressively trying to get someone to speed up or move out the way). I think they just thought the distance they were behind me was ok and were driving too close. That's why they had no intention of overtaking, even when we got to a perfectly straight section which goes on for a couple of miles and they could have easily overtaken me.
Their behaviour were definitely aggressive. They were driving up behind, falling back a bit, then coming forward again so close on occasion I couldn't see their headlights in my rear view mirror. So we are talking a metre or so arn't we. I drove at the speed limit for maybe five miles through 30 and 40 mph speed limits. IMO it's always bad driving to force someone to drive faster by tailgating, but it's completely unacceptable to bully someone in this way to exceed the speed limit.

I take your point though, there are drivers who drive too close unconsciously. They're not being aggressive particularly, it's just the way they drive. They're bad drivers basically, thoughtless.
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Old 02-01-2017, 07:29
Andrew1954
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I think one of the problems is setting speed limits too low, which has become a big thing with local authorities introducing new extended 30mph in non built up areas where the limits should really be 50mph. People just can't respect the limits anymore, it's the nanny state gone mad. So now they act all aggressive and bully people who stick to them religiously in a form of rebellion. I think Sunday winds them up even more, because of all the dozy Sunday drivers who are out in force.
So why not just overtake? And if you can't why not just accept that others are perfectly entitled to drive within the law?
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Old 02-01-2017, 08:15
SaddlerSteve
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A problem I most often encounter are the idiots on dual carriageways who could overtake you, due to the right lane being free, yet choose to drive practically in your boot, all the time refusing to overtake. I had this the other day, when doing 30mph in a 30 limit.
That's similar to what I was describing and I've had this kind of thing also on the A5 but in the section going through Milton Keynes which is a dual carriageway.

You can be driving at 60mph with the right hand lane free and they'll be sticking to the back of you but not overtaking. It's at night when it becomes most annoying because you're getting the headlight glare. I've had to use the same tactic of gradually slowing down to around 45-50mph and then they get the messsge and overtake.

With these people it's simply that they have no idea of the suitable distance they should be leaving to the car in front so they drive too close.
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Old 02-01-2017, 08:26
plymouthbloke1974
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If idiots tailgate me, I just touch the brake pedal lightly. The brakes don't actually apply but the brake lights come on. That's usually enough to get them to pull back a bit.

Also, just because there is a 40 MPH limit on a road, it doesn't mean you have to go that speed. It's not a target. Sometimes I do a little less due to weather or road conditions but others roar past endangering others.
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Old 02-01-2017, 09:17
LakieLady
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If idiots tailgate me, I just touch the brake pedal lightly. The brakes don't actually apply but the brake lights come on. That's usually enough to get them to pull back a bit.
I find it more effective to just ease off the gas so you slow down a bit without them actually getting any warning.

After finding themselves unexpectedly getting close to your bumper a couple of times, they tend to leave a bigger gap. It works really well imo.
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Old 02-01-2017, 09:30
mushymanrob
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not read the thread.... so sorry if i missed this but

ive been plagued by slow drivers this crimbo. people driving well below the 30 limit. this is annoying because it means i have to drive in a lower gear (more fuel used, more pollution) when at 30 i could trundle along legally and efficiently.

so ive been made to tailgate, by slow drivers.
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Old 02-01-2017, 09:32
Hurlley
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They have introduces 20mph limits on x 30mph limit roads, when i say new limits these are across large areas not just one road. So me bumbling along at about 22 because honestly I am holding up traffic so I feel i have to go over a tad. A man came along side me gave me the finger and sped off. Diddnt go very far turned left and stopped. So I felt the need to confront him. When i did he turned to jelly, in any case im not threatening I just advised him that the roads are now 20Mph and since you clearly work around here you should know this and tell everyone else working here too. he just apologised and said ok.

In general though I think people just don't understand, just don't know and or just don't care. They just want A-B.

I've seen grannies have their fog lights on, i used to think its people using it as an intimidation tactic which they do but some people just have it on because their brain isnt.
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