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What are you supposed to do when you are tailgated on a rural 2-lane road?
I don't know much about rural driving because I'm a city kid. But, for now I have to drive on a rural highway every day.
It's February so the weather has alternated between rain, fog, snow, and ice. When there's bad weather, the maximum I will go is the speed limit (55) and sometimes I will go 45-50 if the visibility is poor and the conditions warrant it.
When the weather's clear I'll go 55, 60, or even 65 sometimes.
The problem is, on the bad weather days, going 50 or 55, I get tailgated. It's hostile tailgating, like, the guy will be on my tail for the entire 10 miles between one town and the next town. Sometimes it's trucks doing the tailgating. I've also seen other people get tailgated badly, I even see school buses getting tailgated bad on this road.
There's no shoulder on this road. There's not many good places to turn off, except in the towns. I will sometimes pull into the town gas station just to let the tailgater pass me.
Going faster isn't an option because I could skid and the visibility isn't that great. The road is a highway, but it isn't up to modern standards.
I honestly don't know what to do about this, other than reporting it to the police department or the highway department. They're not going to be able to respond to it immediately, but perhaps a phone call or a letter would get them to step up enforcement by making them more aware of the situation. Any ideas?
So there's absolutely no way to let them pass safely?
If they're tailgating to an extent that puts you at risk, reduce the speed to a point where an accident would not cause severe injury or damage to your vehicle until they get the point, outside of that traffic enforcement is the Police's job so contacting them would the the appropriate action, memorize plate numbers and give it all over. Probably won't do anything, but that's really all you can do.
That being said, pretty much any traffic law I've ever read (and I'll be more than willing to admit I don't know if this is the case in every single state) states that you should not drive faster than conditions allow, if someone's all the way up on your bumper I'd argue the conditions don't allow much more than 40 mph until they ease off a bit.
I slow down until I feel (relatively) safe with the distance they are behind me. The closer you come, the slower I go. If in relatively heavy traffic I yo-yo so as not to inconvenience other drivers overly much until they get the hint or go around. Usually that only takes 2-3 times. I've gone 25 mph on Highway 12 (2 lane road, physically divided, no shoulder) at 2 a.m. because some redneck in a lifted truck wanted to ride my ass strobing his high beams.
Most states do have basic speed laws which include traffic (eg the guy doing pogosticks two feet of your bumper).
The problem is, on the bad weather days, going 50 or 55, I get tailgated. It's hostile tailgating, like, the guy will be on my tail for the entire 10 miles between one town and the next town.
If they are too close, I slow down, just to **** them off. If the speed limit is 55, I'll be going 40. Sooner or later they will get pissed and pass weather its safe or not.
Ahh the stories I hear on the phones at work... I work in the Claims Department for an insurance company. If you're being tailgated I'd suggest a few ideas, when you pull out onto the highway look and see if there is any cars coming for a while. If it's wide open then you should be ok. If you do get someone tailgating tap your brakes twice, if they don't get the hint pull over onto the shoulder and let remaining vehicles pass until it's safe to merge onto the highway. As another forum member mentioned write down plate numbers, some departments will follow up, some won't. Good luck drive safe, and please don't brake check!
I honestly don't know what to do about this, other than reporting it to the police department or the highway department...
Yeah, there's always that. It's pretty much the only choice if your goal is truly safety.
If your goal is vindication, you can always revert to the mentality of a ten year old, "teach the tailgater a lesson", and see how that works out for you. Maybe they'll fly into a lake. Maybe they'll rear end you and send you into the path of oncoming traffic. Maybe they'll have video rolling in their car as a lot of people do today, and you'll end up talking to the police trying to explain why you stabbed the brakes and extended your middle finger repeatedly. The sky's the limit!
One thing I miss about my Saab was having rear fog lights. I put a bulb in the right side (it only came equipped with a left-side bulb) so that both worked. Flipping them on worked 95% of the time. Most other times slowing down gradually until they went around worked. For those one or two occasions where neither worked, a 4 million candlepower spotlight flashed at 'em got the point across.
I don't do anything.
I drive like I usually do.
If they don't like it they can go around.
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