I can see speed being a factor, since MOST drivers do it. How much of a factor is inattentiveness?
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How do YOU deal with tailgaters?
- Thread starter Bad Brains
- Start date
I can see speed being a factor, since MOST drivers do it. How much of a factor is inattentiveness?
Depends...
If I'm in the fast lane, and someone comes up behind me, I just get out of the way.
If it's a one lane street, and I'm doing the usual 5 over the speed limit and someone wants to get RIGHT on my tail, I'll slow down a little. That just annoys the heck outta me. Now this is just on a one way street... like I said, if I'm in the fast lane I get out of the way. But I'm not going to speed more just because someone behind me wants to go faster.
I'm with you on that one, I've seen a lot of wrecks. Most of the calls my fire dept. back home responded to were MVA's (motor-vehicle accident). I've seen some pretty messed up stuff... really makes you re-think a lot of stuff.
If I'm in the fast lane, and someone comes up behind me, I just get out of the way.
If it's a one lane street, and I'm doing the usual 5 over the speed limit and someone wants to get RIGHT on my tail, I'll slow down a little. That just annoys the heck outta me. Now this is just on a one way street... like I said, if I'm in the fast lane I get out of the way. But I'm not going to speed more just because someone behind me wants to go faster.
I'm with you on that one, I've seen a lot of wrecks. Most of the calls my fire dept. back home responded to were MVA's (motor-vehicle accident). I've seen some pretty messed up stuff... really makes you re-think a lot of stuff.
It has nothing to do with it, until they try to pass me illegally.What does the acceleration of a 350 have to do with it if you want to go slower than the car behind you?
If he's passing, why not? He has every right to be in that lane, as much as the people behind him. And, as he stated, he moves over when he can.So you decide how far above the speed limit you're currently breaking everyone behind you can go?
Sweet. It almost makes sense.
+1. People don't realize the aftermath of their stupid driving. Wait until it kills someone you know.
How much of a factor is simple reaction time from being way too close to the guy in front of you?
I retract the idiot thing, sorry... however, if your driving 47 in the passing lane...
Why not drive 47 then move right when you overtake the guy going 45 in the driving lane right? Allowing other drivers to pass?
It must be a daunting task, indeed, to maintain the levels of sheer manliness some display here. The intarweb, an awesome thing indeed.
+1. And, while moving 47, you're not going to be passing very many people. Maybe a couple of trucks, while going up a steep incline...
If I'm doing 80 and someone behind me wants to go faster, some folks including myself jokingly refer to that as a "rabbit" or "biscuit" and love to have them in front of them, as a potential sacrifice to the radar god Stalker III. Let them feed the monster, not me
Haha. Yeah, I've been known to pull that one too. Just last night, in fact, I followed some guy that I let pass me for about ten miles at 90 mph. He got popped right in front of me.
No, not because I need to go faster. Because you deserve it for being an anchor on society.
LOL...You gotta love Karma.
We had a snowstorm last night and the highways weren't completely cleared off. Traffic was pretty heavy this morning on the way into work.
We were all driving about 50mph (which was about right considering the conditions...not too terrible really, just bad in spots). But I had this guy in a big pickup tailgating me (he was hauling a construction trailer). He was tailgating me close enough to look like I was pulling his truck like a trailer.
Now it's fairly typical for guys (around here anyway) in 4 wheel drive pickups to drive in the snow like there is none (who cares if everyone around them doesn't have 4 wheel drive, right?). Well there were cars in front of me (I was in the right lane of a 4 lane highway...two lanes in each direction) and cars around me in the left lane going slightly faster, but not by much. Well, he finally had a chance to pass me in the left lane (I, like most of us in the right lane, were waiting for our exits).
Off he goes and I don't see him for a while. Finally, a few miles later, there he is...his big, fast, powerful, 4 wheel drive pickup (along with his trailer), in the ditch facing the opposite direction. He was fine, just sitting there stuck in the ditch having to wait for a tow truck, as I cruised past him still doing about 50 mph.
There is NEVER a good reason to tailgate. If someone is in front of you and driving slower than you, keep a safe distance until you can pass. If you think tailgating is your idea of saying "Excuse me, would you mind letting me pass?", think again. It's your way of declaring yourself a self-important jerk who cares nothing for the safety of anyone else. It doesn't matter how slow someone is driving, tailgating puts yourself and others' safety (and lives) at risk.
But if you think you're more important than everyone else, you won't understand this anyway. You'll still find a way to rationalize your behavior. I'm sure someone will reply to this and give all kinds of reasons why it's OK to be irresponsible and selfish by tailgating. I'm sure someone will point out that it's also unsafe to drive too slow (and it is, no argument there), and therefore your tailgating is appropriate. One wrong behavior does not make another wrong behavior, right. Go ahead, prove my point.
We had a snowstorm last night and the highways weren't completely cleared off. Traffic was pretty heavy this morning on the way into work.
We were all driving about 50mph (which was about right considering the conditions...not too terrible really, just bad in spots). But I had this guy in a big pickup tailgating me (he was hauling a construction trailer). He was tailgating me close enough to look like I was pulling his truck like a trailer.
Now it's fairly typical for guys (around here anyway) in 4 wheel drive pickups to drive in the snow like there is none (who cares if everyone around them doesn't have 4 wheel drive, right?). Well there were cars in front of me (I was in the right lane of a 4 lane highway...two lanes in each direction) and cars around me in the left lane going slightly faster, but not by much. Well, he finally had a chance to pass me in the left lane (I, like most of us in the right lane, were waiting for our exits).
Off he goes and I don't see him for a while. Finally, a few miles later, there he is...his big, fast, powerful, 4 wheel drive pickup (along with his trailer), in the ditch facing the opposite direction. He was fine, just sitting there stuck in the ditch having to wait for a tow truck, as I cruised past him still doing about 50 mph.
There is NEVER a good reason to tailgate. If someone is in front of you and driving slower than you, keep a safe distance until you can pass. If you think tailgating is your idea of saying "Excuse me, would you mind letting me pass?", think again. It's your way of declaring yourself a self-important jerk who cares nothing for the safety of anyone else. It doesn't matter how slow someone is driving, tailgating puts yourself and others' safety (and lives) at risk.
But if you think you're more important than everyone else, you won't understand this anyway. You'll still find a way to rationalize your behavior. I'm sure someone will reply to this and give all kinds of reasons why it's OK to be irresponsible and selfish by tailgating. I'm sure someone will point out that it's also unsafe to drive too slow (and it is, no argument there), and therefore your tailgating is appropriate. One wrong behavior does not make another wrong behavior, right. Go ahead, prove my point.
I just love the 4x4 mentality. Just because you have 4 wheel drive doesn't mean you can go faster in snow/ice. They'll all spin and slide just as easy as my 2-wheel drive cars will!
I love seeing Karma in action. And agree with your last statement entirely.
If someone's driving slower than I want to go, I just pass them. I don't think tailgating is a very good way of getting to go faster, especially when on the freeways, it's pretty easy to just pass them and move on. But if someone tailgates me in one of the right side lanes, I know that's dangerous so I respond by driving cautiously, and maybe slowing down slowly to convince them to just pass. I'll drive the speed I'm comfortable driving, thanks.
There's two similar rules that are in place. One is "Slower traffic keep right" This is prefaced in our handbook with the caution that "speed laws apply in ALL lanes equally - there is no "fast" lane."
This is the rule in the Interstates and on two lane highways and roads in some states. It basically means that you can travel in any lane but you should yield to traffic traveling faster by moving to the right. fwiw, the driver's handbook states this rule applies in all lanes but the far right. So it would also apply to the center lane on a three lane Interstate.
There is no law against passing on the right, provided it is forward lane (not a turn lane or the shoulder) and it is safe to do so.
There are some areas where the law and signage is "Keep Right Except to Pass" This is the one the 'speeders' in this thread wish were in effect everywhere. It applies just as it reads, you must keep to the right unless you are passing.
Where it gets real tricky is when a car in the left lane IS indeed passing cars to the right but someone comes up behind them at a faster rate.
I asked a cop last night. In this situation, unless the faster vehicle is an Emergency Vehicle (Fire, Police, Ambulance and running siren/lights) there is NO requirement to move to the right IF you are traveling at the maximum posted speed limit. You are traveling as fast as the law allows in the left (or any) lane. However, (using an expression) "courtesy among theives" (speeders) is that one should always yield to the faster driver.
IMHO (this part is opinion with some attempt at explanation): Either one works well on the open Interstate and two lane roads and Highways. Neither should be applicable in cities/metropoliton areas where traffic is moderate or above in congestion.
As a matter of practicality - It would be impossible to follow the "Keep Right Except to Pass" rule through this city enroute from Memphis to Knoxville staying on I40 east bound. The interplay between the Interstates forces one to constantly move from one side to the other in order to stay on the same route.
IE. I'm headed east bound on I40 from Memphis. As I approach 440, I must move to the left to stay on 40. Then as I approach I65N I have to move back to the right. As 65south approaches in downtown I have to merge back over to the left lanes to stay on I40.. the same scenario plays out three more times as you approach I24 and 440 rejoins on the east side of town.
Hate to break it to you but if you're a car length back... you're tailgating.
I took a defensive driving course a few years ago, to lower my insurance rates. They told me that one must stay at least a car length behind the person in front, and that one should be able to see their mirrors in their entirety. If I am staying *at least* a car length behind them (I'm talking "in traffic" here), I'm doing fine.
Especially while having someone tailgating *me*, and having a cow because I won't pull closer to the person in front of me!
So *there*.
Cherie
In PA, if you're closer than 3 seconds to the car in front of you, on any road, you're considered to be tailgating.
Obviously, in heavy traffic/stop-and-go stuff, you can be closer.
Edit:
FWIW:
At 65MPH, you're moving at roughly 95 feet per second.
Average human reaction from eye to feet is 0.18 seconds.
In the time it takes you to react alone (to even begin braking) you've moved a hair over 17 feet.
At that speed, stopping distances vary, but are rarely short.
Food for thought.
That's the general rule in Michigan as well. Count a landmark as the car in front of you passes it. If you pass it in less than three seconds, you're too close.
