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When I tailgate someone I'm not trying to teach them a lesson. It's just my way of saying you need to get out of the way. When someone comes up behind me, I don't act like an ass and slow down, I just get out of the way. Courtesy extends both ways. BTW, I'm retired, but that doesn't mean I'm entitled to hold up others.
When you are in a mall and people in front of you are walking too slowly, do you take out a gun and point it at the back of their head just as your way of letting them know they need to walk faster to accommodate you?
Tailgating is threatening someone's safety and/or life, just as much as point a gun at them is. Do not be surprised if someone acts accordingly.
Tailgating in traffic is bad driving and dumb, no exceptions, no excuses. It is dangerous for both parties. If someone tailgates me, I slow down, not to teach them a lesson, but to reduce our speed until it is reasonably safe to proceed with someone that close to me. A general rule is one car length per 10 MPH is safe, thus if you are within 1 car length, 10 MPH is the appropriate speed. When someone threatens my safety and that of my passengers in traffic, I will do whatever it takes to eliminate that threat and restore relatively safe travel, and if that means slowing to a safe speed for how close they are, then that is what it takes. If you tailgate you are a bad driver and needlessly endangering people's lives. How often has tailgating ever gotten you anywhere more quickly or allowed you to travel at a more fun speed for any distance? Most tailgaters want the car in front of them to move aside so the tailgater scan go tailgate the next car that is a hundred feet or so more ahead. There is no sense to it whatsoever.
I drive 5-7 over on side streets, I do 8-10 over on freeways. In Wisconsin depending which county or city or township that you are in 5 over can be ticket time or 20 over can be just warning time. BTW in Wisconsin we have a ton of cops doing speed control and clocking people even out in the middle of nowhere. It's not uncommon to pass 2 cops clocking speeders and not pass two cars.
It's been that way for decades, must be their only source of revenue in cheese land.
Stay out of the passing lane and worry about yourself, problem solved.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nov3
The misconception that 'MY' time is far more important then yours.
Once you lay off the pedal...and value your time along with others...you learn to take it easy on the roads so you CAN get safely to your destination. Practice patience...it's lacking on the roads.
And you bet I laugh at the red light racers. Hey! You beat me to the red light. Gosh so now I can enjoy watching you rant at the red light. How's that stress going?
How do spirited drivers affect your time? Really, how? They are the ones moving PASSED vehicles, out of the way, not the dawdling inconsiderate drivers impeding traffic behind them. Don't apply your standards of how to value time to others, such a typical trait of your type. I prefer maximizing my time at the destination, not in traffic.
I am not usually in a hurry, but I always drive with a sense of urgency. People have places to be and people to see. I don't play on my phone, look around aimlessly, etc.. I focus on driving. I always leave early for my destination because for me being on time is late, but regardless what my time frame is to arrive at my destination I drive there with a sense of urgency.
Really? For every erratic driver I see, there are at least 100 speeders.
Kinetic energy increases by squaring velocity, folks. It's basic physics that many people don't seem to recognize.
You are assuming every speeder has a stationary object appear in front of them too close to stop or even slow down. However the reality is virtually none do. Speeding does not make a car hit things. Bad driving or texting does. If you hit a stationary object, it does nto much matter whether you are traveling at 65 MPH or 80 MPH. Dead is dead. You may die faster if you are going 80 and die slowly going 65. I prefer not to bleed out screaming in pain.
Driving in an unsafe manner is NEVER an appropriate way to communicate with another driver. Tailgating is dangerous!
Honk your horn and flash your lights if you like, but keep a safe following distance.
Why not just slam your car into the back of theirs? that will get their attention for sure. Tailgating, they may not even notice you until you hit them.
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