What do you do when being Tailgated?

[FAS33]

on a single lane road

1 slow down even more
2 speed up
3 brake test
4 windscreen washer

[OzJavelin]

Maintain consistent speed .. usually on cruise control. If they are are "tailgating 'cos you are holding me up" they will pass you when they can .. usually blind corner over double white lines.
If it's night time and in rural area with roos, I'll usually slow down significantly to force them to pass so they aren't behind me if I have to emergency brake.
If they are one of those people who can't read a speedo and rely on tailing other cars, eventually I'll usually catchup to someone else and pass them .. usually leaving the tailgater behind that car ..

[chrisandsharon]

If they are straight out crazy and agitated I’ll just pull over - let em’go. If they’re happy to sit on my speed I’ll just carry on as normal. Main thing is don’t react - it ain’t worth it

I had a Holden V8 Ute overtake double whites to sit on my ****. I’m guessing he saw the F6 and wanted to play. I burst his bubble when I pulled over and just let him go

[commodorenutt]

I'm the same - but then you usually find they slow down once they're in front of you......

Some people just have to be the first car in the line of traffic.

[Tassie f100]

If it happens to me I just ignore it.Watch where you are going and don,t worry about the mirror.Advantage is,if the other driver is silly enough to run into you,it will be a very low impact with no real damage,which is the tailgaters fault anyway.

[40RDT]

Nothing...

[Vesper Martini]

You really have to assess what sort of tailgater they are. often can be done by the type of car they are driving.

If I can see somebody is in a hurry & I'm not ill let them past any chance no qualms.

however if they are one of the ones like OZjavelin says and just need to follow the car in front with near sightedness. if you let them past they will likely slow down and become your problem..

The last is when they are using deliberate aggression. so many factors on this but if I'm feeling like a challenge the get the wipers (spat on). bearing in mind the safest thing to do is let them go, but its not always that easy.

[BENT_8]

I wipe off 5 which is well within what Govco accepts in everyday driving and my insurance company will regard as safe driving.

Once the tailgater gets the message that intimidation wont get them there any faster, they back off and I feel safer, i'll return to the posted limit...

[Kil4Collingwood]

I just move over as far left as I can so they can actually see around me, not many people do this see, around shepparton, especially tatura where I'm at, you ALWAYS get people doing 70 in 100 zones and they ALL hug the middle line of the road.
Drives you nuts.

[DJM83]

My old focus st had headlight washers. So turn lights on, wash windscreen a few times till headlight washers went off.
Now I just maintain speed and let the passed me when I can.

[Streets]

These days it's hard to tell if tailgaters are trying to be intimidating or whether they are just stupid. I do the speed limit and get tailgated most days; I think people just have no idea anymore. People drive right up your *** because they are just dumb and they don't think about things like reaction time and stopping distance.

I don't get a lot of tough guys when I'm driving my Falcons but on occasion I find myself in an i20 and then there are a lot more tools in tradie utes or jacked up bush bashers thinking they can be intimidating because it's a "girl's car".

[Wretched]

If it is a dual carriage way i move over to the left, otherwise i maintain speed.
When they have an opportunity to overtake they can. Otherwise i just ignore them.

[mike_nofx]

When I’ve run out of windscreen washer fluid I usually tailgate cars so they provide me with free washer fluid.

[NTF6]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

If it happens to me I just ignore it.Watch where you are going and don,t worry about the mirror.Advantage is,if the other driver is silly enough to run into you,it will be a very low impact with no real damage,which is the tailgaters fault anyway.

Not at 100kph it won't.

I had a bloke in a Mitsubishi Canter work truck that was consistently lane changing in front of me to block me from getting past him for about a kilometer on a dual carriage way, so when I had the opportunity to do so I shot past him. Then that upset him big time, he tailgated me to the point where I reckon he was 2" off my rear bumper and I'm pretty sure he was trying to tap me. All I could do was go faster and faster to avoid being tapped, finally I floored it and was able to read his number plate and when he finally gave up and turned off I could also read the companies name on the side of the truck.

I rang the police and made a report and I also rang the company and they were able to tell me who was driving that truck and where at that time. The police rang me back a few days later and told me that the company he worked for sacked him, that brought a big smile to my face.

[SensationFG8]

This is a complicated question and I dont believe there is one single answer...

1. If I'm in the right lane overtaking doing the speed limit I complete the overtake at a constant speed and move over for them to let them overtake. Keep left unless overtaking people PLEASE!!!!!

2. If I'm on a single lane road or in the left lane I slow down to allow them to overtake where it's safe to do so. If they dont want to over take I will keep a gradual slow down happening until they do. This is the 2nd worst form of tailgater, you want to be in front, I want to let you, please take the opportunity.

3. If it's a single lane road and no safe spot to let them past all of my cars stop much faster than almost anything else on the road, if I need to emergency brake I dont want them running into me. I usually drive slower to cater for that. For the most part in this situation I lose them at corners then go back to the speed limit, then they come flying up behind me again later and force me to slow down again.

4. If there is a "slow vehicle pull out" I use it. I hate getting stuck behind a caravan going through the black spur, slow vehicles means you SUV's, if you cant maintain the speed limit you're a slow vehicle, pull the hell over.

5. If the tailgater over takes me and slows down... well this is the worst form of tailgater... that's just crappy driving and they probably need to think about why they were tailgating in the first place... Chances are I will over take them again at the next safe opportunity to do so.

[ronwest]

Not too often I get tail-gated on the highway... but I'm thrilled to be overtaken when it happens. They're going to have to be doing +20 to stay in front of me so I'm happy to follow along and let them find radars etc.

In city traffic, I make it as easy as possible for them to get past.

I want those morons in front of me not behind me.

Originally Posted by Bevsta007

You really have to assess what sort of tailgater they are.

The last is when they are using deliberate aggression. so many factors on this but if I'm feeling like a challenge the get the wipers (spat on)

For the ones that are too close but not realising it, I mostly ignore it and hope I don't have to brake suddenly for a kid or something on the road.

For the aggressive ones... sometimes I like to provoke them into having a meltdown. I like to pull alongside another car (if we're on a two-lane road) and mirror the other car's speed for as many KMs as I can get away with so that Ol' Cranky has to just sit there behind the both of us. If you then watch him in your rear view mirror, 10 times out of 10 it results in the tailgaiter bubbling over until steam comes out his ears, his hands start waving, he's screaming until he's red in the face and just generally loses the plot.

And then when he gets a free lane you better get the **** out there fast 'cause by then he's so far out of control he's likely to shoot you
Flame suit on, flame away.

[TRAU BLAU]

I have learned to ignore the tailgater but it can be un-nerving & intimidating,especially in bad weather & treacherous conditions(road-works,darkness etc.Yeah,"Just let 'em go"is the correct advice but as has been already stated it's not always that easy!Sometimes I think that my speedometer is not reading right when I'm a few clicks over the speed limit & they're killing themselves to get past(usually to be caught up with later.)Is it their way to prove that their vehicle or skills are superior or their life-style is more urgent than mine?

[Pedro]

I just ignore them, but if I'm approaching a roundabout, I do a full 360 and rejoin behind them thus alleviating the situation.

[Mercury Bullet]

Lol I might have blocked tools once or twice on multilane roads. As Tonz said it can be fun watching these people implode. I unwittingly did it to a young bloke on crack/ice once, that was interesting. Young fella was apoplectic!

I hate it when people get too close to trucks though, the low pressure area behind is dangerous and when I was a kid I saw a guy in an mg get decapitated doing it. Has stayed with me forever. So now I tickle the parking lights on and off mimicking brake lights. If that doesn't move them I slow down to 30.

[Qwerty321]

I'll usually just do nothing and just wait for them to pass me in their own time. If they're so close that I'm concerned they might rear end me I'll just pull over and let them past. Not worth getting angry about it, at most I'll note the number plate and *555 them like the good little snitch I am

[nitro50th]

A long time ago I was going to be late for work and came up to a slow car, I honestly didn't even think I was tail-gating until the driver in front flipped me the bird and started waving his arms about.

I quickly realised what a tool I was being and backed off, gave a wave to apologise and had a long think about my driving habits.

This has stuck with me for all these years and I now hate being tailgated and am more aware of the distance to the cars in front of me.

I think most people out there are just ignorant of the fact they follow too close to the car in front. Of course there are those who do it deliberately.

[Express]

Originally Posted by Wretched

If it is a dual carriage way i move over to the left, otherwise i maintain speed.
When they have an opportunity to overtake they can. Otherwise i just ignore them.

This plus if it's that bad I just pull over where possible and let them go by.




.

[Olbucko]

I once knew a bloke who lobbed his half eaten meat pie out the window, hitting the tailgater in the middle of the windscreen, one way of dealing with them.

[BPXR6T]

Around here 9 out of 10 times tailgaters are unmarked cops pushing you to speed. They trapped me once with that trick so now I drop 10kph off.

[NTF6]

Originally Posted by Olbucko

I once knew a bloke who lobbed his half eaten meat pie out the window, hitting the tailgater in the middle of the windscreen, one way of dealing with them.

Until they run you off the road and stab you!

[Beastie]

Originally Posted by NTF6

Until they run you off the road and stab you!

Or ram you...

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/48...ght-on-camera/

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by BPXR6T

Around here 9 out of 10 times tailgaters are unmarked cops pushing you to speed. They trapped me once with that trick so now I drop 10kph off.

Caltrops

[Maka]

Tow bars will fix them pesky tailgaters lol, i just try to ignore them & stick to the limit.

They will pass at the first opportunity, though its distracting seeing the commotion in your rv mirror before they pass.

cheers, Maka

[Smoke Pursuit]

Ignore and carry on most of the time (in my Ranger I typically don't get intimidated). Had one guy a few weeks ago swerve at me cause I was doing the speed limit in the middle lane and made him wait to pass (was overtaking a truck doing 97 - 98).

Brake testing is risky but I will sometimes touch them to wake them up...