I hate Tailgaters!!

[Alabex]

dont get me started on driving... i drive 100km to work each way everyday on freeway, country and city streets and the amount of crap driving out there is amazing..


one thing i was yelling about this morning. Trucks over-taking trucks.. both going at 60 in a 110km zone... one pulls out in front of you and begins overtaking at snails pace... so you have to change lanes VERY quick in peak hour or be stuck behind...

 

[Petal]

I think the number one curse on the roads by far is slow drivers hogging the right lane when they could just as easily be driving in the left lane. It's both highly inconvenient and dangerous. There are heaps of variations to this, with many just doing it from ignorance (it would seem) but quite a few also making particular effort to do it. I just can't understand why someone who has no desire to drive faster themselves, and could easily pull into the left lane, will sit in the right lane and make a conscious effort to stay beside a car in the left lane just so no one else can get through. Even worse, the moment a right lane becomes available they will pull into it and block it, with no intention whatsoever of overtaking anyone.

GP

Agree with this statement 1,000,000 %

 

[Alex P Keaton]

but - on that front - i haaaaate people that drive slow. 30 in a 50, 40 in a 60 etc. any one usually gets stuck behind them when in a hurry.

Wow never see that in Perth! That has only happened to me twice this year that i can remember.

Usually everyone is speeding past me. On my way to work in the morning peak hour I do 60, exactly on 60 and about 80% of the cars fly past me doing at least 70, and lots 80 even. Of those that do drive behind me in the left lane, most of them follow too closely and are impatient with me because I do the speed limit. Every now and then i'll get someone behind me leaving a good distance which is a surprise.

 

[fernfurn]

The worst case I ever came across (andstill boils my blood when I think about it 20 odd years later) was in a boat. We were on Lake Eppalock and teaching my daughter only about 8 at the time) to ski and these idiots drinking and yelling came up in a speedboat and tailgated us for miles. We were terrified my daughter would come off and there was no way they would have avoided her. I was furious and rang the water police but without id they couldnt do anything

 

[BayView]

I soooooo ****** hate tailgaters



On my way home today I was driving down a residential street (50 Km) speed limit doing 50 km and this car came speeding up from a distance and tailgated me, but wouldnt overtake me. I wouldn't have minded it all for them to overtake me. There were no cars coming from the other direction. I had to put up with this for a couple of minutes until they got their chance to get past me as we got to a t junction.

Hmmm perhaps the only way to get them to overtake me is if i slow down to about 30 or 40 and start blincking to turn left or something.

Anyhow just came on here to vent.

What kinds of behaviour do you see on the road?? Share


Anyhow I gotta get outa here, I'll go take the doggies for a quick walk, poor things have been in all day by themselves.

seeyas

What you do is put your left foot very lightly on the brake pedal - just hard enough to make the brake lights come on, and at the same put your right foot a bit harder on the accelerator.

The tailgater panics because they see brake lights and slam on their brakes, while you are accelerating away.

Great fun.

 

[BayView]

I hate seeng idiots who don't adjust their driving to allow for wet weather.

You and I might hate them but the body shop repairers LOVE them - and rainy weather.

 

[BayView]

but - on that front - i haaaaate people that drive slow. 30 in a 50, 40 in a 60 etc. any one usually gets stuck behind them when in a hurry.

When does this ever happen?

 

[GreatPig]

The tailgater panics because they see brake lights and slam on their brakes

Sounds good in theory, but no driver worth their salt reacts like that to brake lights, no matter how close they're following.

GP

 

[Alex P Keaton]

What you do is put your left foot very lightly on the brake pedal - just hard enough to make the brake lights come on, and at the same put your right foot a bit harder on the accelerator.

The tailgater panics because they see brake lights and slam on their brakes, while you are accelerating away.

Great fun.

lol might try that one day.


haha you know what i did yesterday. Well I was thinking about trying something different.... and when i saw two cars approaching from the distance, side by side. I just put the brakes on straight away, went down to 50 and he straight away moved in the other lane. The thing is though sometimes they come up so fast from behind that before you realise it they are in view and its too late to do this little procudure!

omg and the other day this twit on a motorbike decides to drive up the centre of two lanes. I'm at the front of the left lane and there is another car leading the centre lane and just as we were nearing the red lights to stop he cuts in front of the centre lane guy so he could turn right so that he could get into the right turning lane!! What a **** moron. This guy is going to kill himself one day or will end up at the Shenton Park Rehab unit!!

 

[BayView]

Sounds good in theory, but no driver worth their salt reacts like that to brake lights, no matter how close they're following.

GP

I guess it's in the interpretation of my use of "slam".

By slam, I mean they don't go into a wheel lock skid, but you will definitely see the front of their car lurch downwards a bit - they have hit the brakes with a bit of force. This would only occur when the tailgater is too close of course.

What actually happens is they hit their brakes reasonably firm with the foot, and your picking up speed becuase you've touched the accelerator a bit, thus the gap between you and the knob behind you widens considerably. It's a joy to behold.

And, any driver worth their salt doesn't tail-gate. That's for d*ckheads who think they are immune to road carnage. Good drivers drive defensively.

What intelligent person would willingly sit 10 metres (or less) from the car in front at 100km's or more because the driver in front is holding them up? I see this all the time.

What's worse, the left lane is often clear, so if the tail-gater is in such a big hurry, then why doesn't he/she simply pull into the left lane and go around the problem in the right lane, instead of being a stupid pr*ck and endangering everyone?

Yeah the driver in front may be going too slow (often they are at the speed limit or higher), but does that mean it's ok to sit on someone's backside?

If I apply the 2-second rule for distance away from the car ahead, at 100km's I reckon I need to be about 40-50 metres approx to be safe.

 

[BayView]

omg and the other day this twit on a motorbike decides to drive up the centre of two lanes. I'm at the front of the left lane and there is another car leading the centre lane and just as we were nearing the red lights to stop he cuts in front of the centre lane guy so he could turn right so that he could get into the right turning lane!! What a **** moron. This guy is going to kill himself one day or will end up at the Shenton Park Rehab unit!!

My wife is a theater nurse, and the stories she tells me of motor-bike rider surgeries would make your skin crawl. Many of them their lives are ruined.

But of course; it's never the bike riders' fault; it's us knuckle-head car drivers that don't look for them - right?

Well, if that's the way it is, then ride accordingly; assume every car driver is a knuckle-head, and drive defensively so they can't kill you.

Sorry to tell you bikies, but we don't drive around looking for bikes to avoid, and we certainly don't expect a bike to be chopping lanes and speeding as well.

So, slow down, use some brains, and drive as though you will come off second-best in a collision - because you will. Guaranteed.

 

[imonmyway]

If i am tailgated this is what i do and i find it very effective

with my left foot i lightly touch the brake peddle not enough to actually brake and slow down but enough to have the brake lights go on. You continue at your normal speed but they have to keep backing off.

i really enjoy doing this,

 

[GreatPig]

any driver worth their salt doesn't tail-gate ... Good drivers drive defensively.

Good drivers use judgement and awareness to facilitate the flow of traffic and avoid being involved in an accident. However, that alone would allow many things that are illegal and preclude quite a few things that are legal. The risk involved in any particular scenario is highly dependent on the specific situation and a multitude of related factors. Only the driver can assess that, based on their level of knowledge and experience.

Also, a good driver being tail-gated will realise the potential danger they are contributing to by remaining in front of the other vehicle and attempt to remove that risk by whatever means possible (eg. changing lanes or pulling over to let them pass). They would certainly not increase the risk by stepping on the brakes (unless of course they had to for other reasons). While the tail-gater is the instigator of the risk, the tail-gatee usually has the ability to mitigate that risk and is therefore complicit if they fail to do so. Defensive driving means being aware of and minimising all risk, including the risk to yourself caused by other road users.

Personally, whenever I get a car pull up behind me that is obviously travelling faster, I always try to let it pass at the first opportunity, no matter how fast I'm going myself. On single-lane country roads I will even pull over onto the shoulder if that's safe to do.

What's worse, the left lane is often clear, so if the tail-gater is in such a big hurry, then why doesn't he/she simply pull into the left lane and go around the problem in the right lane

That's exactly what I would do, but in many cases the slow driver in the right lane will then speed up - just until (s)he catches up to the next car in the left lane and then fall back to match speeds with that car.

I have this rule of thumb: the best way to get a slow right-lane driver to speed up is to change lanes and attempt to overtake them. Works nearly every time.

GP

 

[pennyk]

I spent a couple of months in Germany last Christmas, and one of our observations was that the absence of speed limits seemed to encourage safer driving rather than more reckless driving. everyone stayed in the outside lane unless they were overtaking. No one tailgated. Everyone drove at the speed that they were comfortable with - generally ranged from 130km/h up to 200km/h, with just a few going up to 250km/h. But they seemed to find their own speed and stick to that. I only saw 2 idiots the whole time I was there, and I drove 8000km in 8 weeks.......... one of the idiots was from France and the other Swiss.
So, I think there is merit in lightening up on some of the road rules here!

Pen

 

[GreatPig]

There was an interesting psychological study (PDF) done with a driving simulator about 15 years ago, testing a theory called Wilde's Risk Homeostasis Theory (RHT). Essentially the theory predicts that increasing the cost of accidents will reduce the number of accidents, but trying to limit risky behaviours will not. From the abstract on the document website:

Consistent with RHT, increased speed limit and reduced speeding fine significantly increased driving speed but had no effect on accident frequency. Moreover, increased accident cost caused large and significant reductions in accident frequency but no change in speed choice. Results suggest that in contrast to motivationally based accident countermeasures, regulation of specific risky behaviors such as speed choice may have little influence on accident rates.

GP

 

[Perp]

Also, a good driver being tail-gated will realise the potential danger they are contributing to by remaining in front of the other vehicle and attempt to remove that risk by whatever means possible (eg. changing lanes or pulling over to let them pass).

I agree. I used to step on the brakes to make the lights come on when I was younger and angrier, but with each passing year, I find that I'm more interested in just chilling and staying safe.

With regards to pennyk's comments regarding driving in Germany: I learnt a lot about defensive driving from observing traffic in some third world countries, where the lane markings mean nothing, and the traffic signals are advisory at best.

Many of these countries, despite the apparent chaos, have very low accident rates; they were some of the best drivers, in terms of driving defensively and with precision (knowing exactly where all the corners of their vehicle are), that I ever saw. In some of the countries that I'm familiar with, I'm sure the fact that there's no insurance - because in Islam, insurance is viewed as a form of gambling - motivates their caution and skill.

We Aussies tend to rely too heavily on the rules to keep us safe rather than our driving skills; we rely on everybody else abiding by the rules. I agree that everybody should follow the rules, but the fact that people aren't "supposed" to do certain things doesn't mean that you shouldn't be prepared for it.

 

[our obsession]

Kim, do you personally think road behaviour like you describe might be on the increase? Just from personal observation?

I'm just curious. I had this idea, impatience, lack of courtesy on the roads might be on the rise...and then I wondered as to how that correlated with actual accidents and road fatalities.

Around the same time you started the thread, Cadel Evans, (bike rider), was quoted in press as saying:

"I drive on the road and I don't like people just not having respect for other road users," he said. "I spend half my year in Europe so I know what the traffic is like there.

"It is really strange, to be honest, the way Australian drivers are.

"Our roads have much less traffic, are far larger, and the drivers have much more space, but they are much more aggressive and negative to other road users."

from:

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24789053-952,00.html

Which I had kinda suspected a little from being in UK, and some European countries...my thought was generally how patient and courteous UK drivers were, relative to back home, here...(I'm sure some folk may have a different opinion ).

Which still didn't "for sure" answer my question (to myself, yes, we maybe throwing more hissy fits, but does that mean more fatalities and accidents occur?).

http://www.safecarguide.com/exp/statistics/statistics.htm

and:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2007/pr17/en/index.html

Excerpt:

"Road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death among young people between 10 and 24 years, according to a new report published by WHO. The report, Youth and Road Safety, says that nearly 400 000 young people under the age of 25 are killed in road traffic crashes every year. Millions more are injured or disabled.


The vast majority of these deaths and injuries occur in low- and middle-income countries. The highest rates are found in Africa and the Middle East. Young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are at greatest risk in every country. Young males are at higher risk for road traffic fatalities than females in every age group under 25 years."

Also couple of interesting read reports:

Jacobs/Aeron-Thomas's Review of Global Road Accident Fatalities:

http://www.transport-links.org/transport_links/filearea/publications/1_771_Pa3568.pdf

Australian transport accident fatalities compared with other OECD countries: 1980-1999:

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/safety/publications/2004/pdf/int_comp_5.pdf

 

[ianvestor]

We Aussies tend to rely too heavily on the rules to keep us safe rather than our driving skills; we rely on everybody else abiding by the rules. I agree that everybody should follow the rules, but the fact that people aren't "supposed" to do certain things doesn't mean that you shouldn't be prepared for it.

I agree with this. In Korea, you learn to expect cars to leap out in front of you at every intersection and hence avoid it.

In Aus it seems, as long as the light is green everything must be a-ok... no need to brake and check blind corners, etc! It's green that means it must be all clear!

 

[Alex P Keaton]

Just heard on the radio now coming home from walking the doggies, that 2 kids a 19 year old and 18 year old are in a serious condition in hospital. And the reason. They were driving along Wanneroo Road and got impatient because they were behind a line of traffic. The kid lost control and slammed into a tree. Stupid silly boys. Why do it!!

 

[GreatPig]

Stupid silly boys. Why do it!!

I think the first sentence answers the second.

GP