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I assume that the objection to tailgating is that it is unsafe. I can't really see how trying to seek revenge on people for violating your personal space ups the safety quotient. Let me guess, if the windshield washer fluid doesn't work, you slam on the brakes to "really teach them a lesson!"
It's not necessary to slam on the brakes. Just turn your cruise control off, give it no gas, coast, until your speed finally gets down to below their IQ. And it's not revenge. The closer they are, the slower you have to go for the distance between you to be safe. If you want to tailgate, your best bet is to take a bus, so you can tailgate the person in the seat in front of you.
I go the speed limit , that's the law.
I am not law enforcement nor authorized to act as law enforcement .
I get people driving slow in front of me all the time , I live in wine country , so the drunks are driving from one winery to another I just as soon they drive slow .
And perchance an officer happens to see the trail of cars behind the guy in front, he has reasonable suspicion to pull him over and deal with the problem.
From my understanding, one must maintain the same speed as traffic , and obstructing traffic is as illegal as speeding.
An officer gave my wife a ticket for having pulled into traffic too soon, causing traffic to slow down.
Perhaps instead of thinking about how to "punish" the tailgater, you should be thinking about why they're tailgating in the first place?
There are some obnoxious drivers that will tailgate anyone anywhere for no reason. From my perspective, most of the obnoxious people are in front of the tailgater doing one of the following things:
Sitting in the left lane going whatever speed they feel like and sentencing every other driver to their chosen speed.
Going too slow on a road with no passing lane.
Aggressively pulling out in front of a would be tailgater and then going really, really slow.
Not maintaining a consistent speed and/or randomly hitting their brakes every 30 seconds when there is no one in front of them.
Talking/texting and not paying attention to anything around them.
Yeah, except no.
My daily commute involves no interstate, I always do between the speed limit and 5-10 over depending on the road, when I drive that's all I do, well that and watch the texters driver over the center line or drifting off the shoulder. Usually once a week I get a tailgater that isn't happy doing 5 to 10 over the speed limit. Oddly they are usually even less happy doing 5 under the speed limit...
The argument that it's OK to tailgate because someone is "sitting in the left lane going whatever speed they feel like" is childish. If you cause an accident, are you seriously going to go to court and go "hey, the other guy was going too slowly??" No, of course not. You just go and start lying about it and act like you were being a great driver. It's fascinating how some people never grow up. So someone's driving slowly in the left lane ...and then that means that you can pretend they're not there and accelerate through their spot where they aren't in your mind ...gotcha. And then what? You pull over and your mommy changes your diapers?
Regardless of tailgating or not, have you not thought of the effects on all the cars behind you and the potential hazard this causes? I have seen cars do this to another in an adjacent lane in relatively heavy traffic and each successive car has to then use their sprayer to clear their window and suddenly you have 5 cars all hitting the brakes and taking their attention off the road to deal with the wipers, right at a time when their visibility is compromised.
There is a very simple test to separate good and courteous drivers from the oblivious, obnoxious and entitled. It's just a little impractical.
Go to the U.K. and rent a car. (Germany works too and probably many other places.) Drive around for a week or so in cities, on highways, in the countryside etc.
If you are constantly amazed by the flow of traffic and how efficient and courteous all of the drivers on the road are, you are probably a good driver.
If you are constantly amazed by how rude and belligerent everyone on the road is and are greeted by flashes, finger flips and fist shakes? Well, then you are probably on the internet right now plotting a strategy for revenge on the drivers that hurt your feelings because you were doing everything wrong.
The reason this test works is that the places I mentioned take the rules and courtesies of the road much more seriously than we do in the U.S. If you follow the rules and courtesies and stay out of everyone's way, they will kindly return the favor. If you obstruct traffic, people will not hesitate to let you know.
Regardless of tailgating or not, have you not thought of the effects on all the cars behind you and the potential hazard this causes? I have seen cars do this to another in an adjacent lane in relatively heavy traffic and each successive car has to then use their sprayer to clear their window and suddenly you have 5 cars all hitting the brakes and taking their attention off the road to deal with the wipers, right at a time when their visibility is compromised.
I can honestly say I havent seen a huge pile of traffic behind me. Its one moron who wants to speed riding my ass and everyone else leaving a safe distance between their vehicle and the next in front. I've never seen anyone else forced to turn on their wipes because i'm hitting a tailgater. If it's a dual carriageway then they switch lanes as soon as you turn on the wipers. Their tailgating is far more dangerous than someone dealing with water on their window - especially when you can see they are clearly not paying attention, having their wipers turn on automatically can really wake them up and get them to pay attention.
There is a very simple test to separate good and courteous drivers from the oblivious, obnoxious and entitled. It's just a little impractical.
Go to the U.K. and rent a car. (Germany works too and probably many other places.) Drive around for a week or so in cities, on highways, in the countryside etc.
If you are constantly amazed by the flow of traffic and how efficient and courteous all of the drivers on the road are, you are probably a good driver.
If you are constantly amazed by how rude and belligerent everyone on the road is and are greeted by flashes, finger flips and fist shakes? Well, then you are probably on the internet right now plotting a strategy for revenge on the drivers that hurt your feelings because you were doing everything wrong.
The reason this test works is that the places I mentioned take the rules and courtesies of the road much more seriously than we do in the U.S. If you follow the rules and courtesies and stay out of everyone's way, they will kindly return the favor. If you obstruct traffic, people will not hesitate to let you know.
Sounds like all you did there was suggest we go to a place where people drive like you. Clever! By the way, in case this guy almost fooled you, the reason he told you to go to Europe is because in Europe it's commonplace to run people off the road if they drive slower than you. There are even warnings about it. There are also places, such as in Germany, where there are no speed limits. He didn't want to tell you that, of course, since he's trying to portray Europe as "civilized" and therefore imply that anyone who gets in his way should be run off the road like they do in "the civilized country."
It's not necessary to slam on the brakes. Just turn your cruise control off, give it no gas, coast, until your speed finally gets down to below their IQ.
Keep in mind, it may take a while to get that low.
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