[brucepick]

My response to these situations is a question:
"Is that person going to buy my gas so I can go faster to please them?"
Yeah, right.

That said, I do make an effort to not obstruct people, or not too much anyway. Mostly I drive on interstates with enough lanes so that I can be passed, and many of the local and city roads I use also have multiple lanes. Pass me if you want to; fine by me.

Sometimes another driver will stay behind me and not pass; so I figure that was their decision. Sometimes a driver will pull out from behind me, put the pedal to the metal and get away from me as fast as they can. Ho hum. Can't please everyone.

The guy who tailgates and then stomps on the gas is being almost legal - tailgating isn't legal so far as I know. If I'm driving a few miles under the limit and some think I should be over it, well, "and your point is????" would be an appropriate response. Getting out of your way is NOT my job. Staying out of accidents is.

As for tailgating, the worst offenders in my state are often the police. They seem to think nothing of following less than a car length behind the car in front, at highway speeds, in the left lane. Of course it usually only takes a few seconds for the lead car to get out of their way. But what kind of example are they setting?? I can see police officers speeding with lights on to catch up to an offender or to get to an accident scene. But tailgating?? My guess is they've each tried safer and more civil approaches to the problem but were not rewarded by getting what they wanted.