Tailgaters
 

Hi guys,

I was wondering how you deal with tailgaters. Most of time when I drive, people keep a safe distance behind me. And I always keep good distance between the car in front of me as well. But in the last 2 days, there were 2 cars tailgating me. I was driving a little bit over the speed limit 50km/h, but when they tailgated me, I just let off the gas and kept at 50km/h the whole time. I was wondering what should be the proper response to them? Can some police officers offer some advice on how to tell them to back off? It's really annoying, I don't want to slam on the brake, teach them a lesson, someone gets hurt which is not good. But I don't want them walk over me like that as well.

You only have 3 or so options as to what you can do...just pick whatever you think will work best for you.

I change lanes if I can, or if I can't, speed up a bit so they distance themselves. If they speed up as well just to tailgate me, then...:troll:

^I do exactly what inv4zn said

Thanks for replying. But if I speed up, I lose because I did what the tailgater wanted me to do. Plus, I have heard some unmarked police cars sneak up on your car from behind, so they trick you into speeding, so I think speeding up isn't the right decision to do.

come to a complete stop, get out and do the harlem shake.

Don't mean to be rude, but do you really need to start a thread asking the obvious? You may as well have asked something like "I just shit in my pants, what should I do?"
Maybe go change your underwear?

Get out of the way?
Stop on the sidewalk and cry?
Call your mom/dad?

spray your windshield washer fluid for an extended period of time, they usually get the idea.

cruise control 50km/h

did that when a cop was riding 1m from my ass :troll:

If you're expecting someone to give you some magical brilliant answer that no-one's thought of before, then I don't know what to tell you lol.

Install a bypass valve in your fuel lines that is activated with a switch, and install a hydraulic rod on your exhaust hangers, also with a switch.

Then if you have a tailgater, you can press the first button to spray fuel behind you, and then create sparks with your exhaust with your second button.

Change lanes and be on your own way. Tailgating doesn't necessarily mean they want to "walk all over you".... Sometimes people just need to GTFO really fast. Let them be.

Brake check is stupid. Have fun living with the injuries for the rest of your life if they plow your ass. Worst if you play any sport at all.

get out of the left lane lol

Brake check, get ICBC pay out, go to jy for replacement/cheap bumper, go out drinking with extra monies.

usually i slow down even more

- Leave a bigger gap from the car in front of you so u have more time to slow down when u need to so the tailgater doesn't hit u

- change lanes and let them pass

- Don't speed up unless your going under the speed limit. A police officer isn't going to care that u were getting tailgated when they pull u over for speeding

If u want to troll them:

- slow down more

- pace the car in the lane beside you

if i'm in the right lane and somebody is tailgating me when the left lane is open i usually slow down more like 50-30 km/h

Just be careful of going about intentionally going under the speed limit on tailgaters because you could get pulled over for impeding the flow of traffic.

Like I said, I usually drive at 60km/h. If they tailgate me, I let off the gas and drive at 50km/h never below. And I forgot to clarify, I was driving in a 1 lane area when I got tailgated. And yes I drive on the right if there are two lanes. I understand, but tailgaters gonna tailgate...

You will never go fast enough to make a tailgater happy...trust me on this. They don't want you to speed up, they want you the ^$%$^&&!!!!*( out of their way. Just ask them or read their lips. They are a huge risk when they follow you so slowly that they cannot possibly stop.

If you want to be safe rather than "right" then get them off your back as soon as possible. While you are doing that, slow down so you will have some ability to not have to stop suddenly if something happens in front of you. While you are doing this, some may back off a bit if you tap your brakes or hit your 4 way flashers but most won't. Better them in front of you and no longer causing you danger, than behind you and preventing you from driving safely. BTW..I have been frequently tailgated in a fully marked Police Car...so figure your odds.

hid reverse light wired to a switch! :troll:

i drive a small car so i get tail gated often, if its by a big truck i remind them how quickly i can stop "not violently enough to cause an accident" just so they get the idea that they could do real damage if i had to stop.

if im in a bit of a lazy mood ill switch lanes, or press the brake lightly for a while just so the brake lights come on so they can see i have no intention of moving


and on the police car comment, you do gotta be careful, last week we dropped of an unmarked elantra, sonata and caravan... completely stock looking cars they use for the hwy

first ask yourself if you're being a douche like driving slow in a fast lane or whatever

then just proceed to troll them in whatever way you want or you could be mature and just ignore them and let them tailgate

He never said he was in the fast lane, nor a 2 lane street. This happens to me when I decide that I'll drive at 50 down Kerr Ave. It's one lane only and I'm going 50 - 55 and they'll tailgate me and eventually pass me illegal on the left. If I'm being tailgated and it's a 2 lane street, I'd try to get out of his way somehow by either speeding up a bit so he can pass me if there was a car beside me or I'll just get out of his way and move back over after.

I'd much rather have him in front of me than behind.

However, my friend's car has the rear foglight, so what he'd do to tailgaters is just flip the light on and you'll see the tailgater disappear in your rearview mirror cause they think you just stepped on your brake and they slow down while you're maintaining your speed.

:troll:

A less extreme alternative to reverse HID's is to wire your brake lights to a switch.

Press the button, your brake lights light up without you slowing down. Relatively easy to do as well.

or press lightly with ur left foot? :badpokerface:

^Yeah but pressing a button is easier :P

Did you pull them over?
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I heard one of the manufacturers, which I believe is was Toyota (for the Japanese market anyway) that they were going to implement a feature (which can be turned on or off) in their cars to make the brake lights automatically go off when a vehicle behind them gets too close.

Maybe we should see this plausible feature in the our cars.