How do you handle EXTREME tailgaters?

[99metro]

I agree with ac7ss. I don't do ANY brake checks - I don't want to be part of the problem and all it will do is cause an accident - and I really like my little commuter car.

I have been using my flashers on certain parts of my commute and hug the fog line to encourage passing. I drive my drive and don't let the a-hole behind me dictate how I drive. I will use right turn lanes in rural parts of my drive as a pull-out to let folks pass. I might even time the big rig approaching behind me so that he can get by me in a passing zone without him having to "power" around me - momentum is their friend.

Overall I'd say that 90% of the people pass in no passing zones. About 1 in 20 pass me through an intersection. About 1 in a 100 will pass me through an intersection with cars in cross traffic waiting to turn. The rest (the VERY few) will pass me safely and legally.

[Ecobalt]

I check my mirrors to see who is "coming up at me". If I am on a freeway, I make sure that I am not "pacing" somebody in the other lane: that way any followers have another lane to drive in to pass me.

On a two lane road, I still check my mirrors to see who is coming. If they are catching up to me in a "passing zone", I can slow down a bit more to make it easy for them to pass. If somebody is following for a while, I drive a bit faster, then slow down in the passing zones.

There have been occasions when I just slowed down to a stop on a quiet road. Got funny looks.

If somebody insists on tailgaiting me in the dark and in a fog on a road with no passing zones, then I slow down even more. They can go off into a ditch for all I care. Spend the remainder of their dumb life in a nursing home.

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by Ecobalt

There have been occasions when I just slowed down to a stop on a quiet road. Got funny looks.

I don't think I would slow to a stop but I think it is polite to allow a 'slower car going faster' to pass by slowing on an empty straight part and using my indicators to signal to the side.

The last time I went down the A702 (twisty but with overtaking places in Scotland) I let a Ford Ka (75hp 1.3 Petrol) pass me (140hp TDi) - she was enjoying her small car and the corners, I was in no rush saving fuel. She waved, I was happy. Job done. She wouldn't have made it safely otherwise and all I would have had was a tailgater.

In the old days this pulling over was part of the learning process of driving in the UK but unfortunately it seems to have been removed.

[Ecobalt]

I said that I slow down in "the passing zones".

[Arragonis]

Apologies if I misunderstood - on 2 lane roads here (see my quote) people are allowed to pass as long as it is safe - broken white lines - these tend to be those quiet roads. A solid white line indicates no passing. I thought you meant the former when you tapped quiet roads.

[Ecobalt]

No problem. Happy motoring

[ShadeTreeMech]

I finally got to use my friendly back off device; namely the back window washer on my van. I turned it to face the rear, and the other day I had a black pontiac g6 right up my trumpet. I know I was going 10 over but he wanted to go faster still and seemed intent on giving me some free acceleration assist. So I turned on the rear window washer, and in the rear view saw the washer fluid gracefully cleaning his windshield. (and yes, it was washer fluid--I even buy the Rain-X brand too, not just the cheapo blue stuff!) He was so close I could make out individual droplets glinting in the sun. About 5 seconds later he turned on his wipers and gave me about a car length of room (@55-60 mph!!!!) which was better than driving in my future boattail section.

[Arragonis]

For tailgaters I have considered a seperate reservoir full of something a little less helpful.

[06colorado]

I just let off the gas a little to slow down. Usually it irritates the person and they speed around me. I have tapped the brakes to make the lights turn on, but dont anymore as I dont want them to run into me. If they just wont backoff on the local highway, I'll keep pace with someone next to me just to irritate them.

[FlashT]

When someone is tailgating me, I downshift and get the rpm's near redline, which causes a rich mixture at WOT, which in turn, results in a large cloud of soot being produced, as I speed off into the wild blue 'yonder . I can only guess how much soot the fellow behind me ingested into his cabin...

Needless to say, he will, hopefully, think twice about ever tailgating a car with a TDi badge on it.