How do you handle EXTREME tailgaters?

[CigaR007]

I enter DFCO while in 5th gear. They notice me slowing down without using the brakes; they usually get my drift and overtake me.

[Cd]

Clue me in on something guys : if I have a guy two feet from my bumper,- and I check that there is no one behind him - I then stomp on the gas to get at least a car length ahead of him, swerve to the right and slam on the brakes, will the tailgater not be ahead of me ... or would I just wreck ( or cause a wreck )
I always wondered in the movies why the good guy didn't just swerve and brake to lose the bad guys.

[Frank Lee]

Like Cruise did on "Top Gun" only laterally on the ground...

[Cd]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Like Cruise did on "Top Gun" only laterally on the ground...

Yes, exactly.
Right after I posted, I remembered that scene.
Why don't you see that more often in movies involving car chases ?
Would it actually work ?
I had a couple of kids tailgate me at 4 in the morning going to work. They decided to play games and started shining a spotlight at me. I tipped up my mirror and kept on.
They moved to my left and started shining it in my face. I tried this trick - but gently.
It seemed to work - except that now the kids were ahead of me shining it right in my face.
I tried to pass them, but they would speed up each time all the while shining that spotlight at me.
They slammed on their brakes and had the light right in my face.
I picked up my cell phone ( which didn't even work at the time ) it seemed to scare them off.What surprised me was that I kept my cool. I almost laughed it off and went on my way.

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by Cd

Clue me in on something guys : if I have a guy two feet from my bumper,- and I check that there is no one behind him - I then stomp on the gas to get at least a car length ahead of him, swerve to the right and slam on the brakes, will the tailgater not be ahead of me ... or would I just wreck ( or cause a wreck )
I always wondered in the movies why the good guy didn't just swerve and brake to lose the bad guys.

You are confusing real life with the movies.

Why not just ignore the behavior that is irritating you?

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by Cd

Clue me in on something guys : if I have a guy two feet from my bumper,- and I check that there is no one behind him - I then stomp on the gas to get at least a car length ahead of him, swerve to the right and slam on the brakes, will the tailgater not be ahead of me ... or would I just wreck ( or cause a wreck )
I always wondered in the movies why the good guy didn't just swerve and brake to lose the bad guys.

They don't do that in movie car chases because it doesn't help. Depending on the road and the character's route/time requirements, it could make things worse by the automotive equivalent of giving up the weather gage, putting the antagonist in a position of greater power.

In real life against a crazy driver who hates you for doing less than 20 over the limit, you should be able to encourage a pass much more easily than by taking evasive action. Against a carload of idiots out to screw with people (or an actual criminal who stalks his prey by car), congratulations: you've just put them in a blocking position. If you've got somebody too stupid to take a hint and pass or if the road conditions actually won't allow one, your best bet would be to hit the flashers and take the next wide spot on the shoulder or just take the next turn/exit yourself. If a couple stupid turns don't take you out of his path, get to a store. There you've got lights, witnesses, security cameras and phones.

Oh, and don't brandish weapons. I don't care how much range time you have.

[larrybuck]

I have been driving slower than most for yrs. now! I have had many times on freeways, when 18 wheelers come up from behind, turn their lights on, lay on the horn, and just generally make a fool out of themselves.
I have come across mean people in the Boston area, and particular in the Chicago area which was the first time I was passed on the right shoulder of the freeway.

Altogether, passed on the right "off the road" (them) has happened about 6 times so far.

Another time on a freeway, I was traveling to work at about 3 AM. Empty freeway, was driving a '79 Ford Fiesta. An 18 wheeler came flying up, started the honking thing, passed and intentionally cut me off so had I not braked, I would have hit his trailer.
It's the first time that I ever called in on someone. I had a good talk w that companies safety rep. I explained to him that I knew I was only going 45-50mph in a 60mph zone; but w an empty freeway, there was no reason for him to go wacho!
I even brought up the comparison to the movie DUAL w Dennis Weaver. The guy totally agreed w me, and had seen that movie as well.

I guess I might have gotten slightly redneck after that: I had a custom sign made, and mounted behind a '78 Datsun B210 hatchback. It had the golden yellow reflectorized base color like the this lane ends ahead color w black lettering which read: ( first, at the top is a huge black arrow pointing to the left) " PASSING LANE!"

So..... later on, I'm going to work some 20 miles of freeway between 9-10 AM. Two guys in some car start honking, pull up along side, sticking their head out their window trying to get me to pull over. They pass, speed up, then park on the right shoulder waving at me to join them. They did this twice during which I just ignored them.
I was not too comfortable when I saw them follow me down the offramp I needed to go to work, thinking what now! I came within 200 yards of where I worked, turned off to the other side of the street and stopped right by the lobby front entrance of a large motel so other people would be around. I was relieved to find out that they were friendly nuts who just wanted close pictures of how REDNECK my car was.

Soon after that time, a cop gave me a warning saying my sign looked too official, and that I must remove it!

Sorry for long story, but my advice is to ignore when many other people are around. When NOT; when you know the situation is instantly radical; do whatever is needed to rid these ones preferably within the first 10 seconds. It takes alot of mirror driving.

Some of you are in large PU's, so you feel relatively safe to PLAY w the person.

No! Too many wacho's out there! It's not worth the risk.

Vinny; you need to can option 2, and 3. Escalation will not help.

It takes swallowing pride to pull over, stop, whatever to get rid of a creep.


Anything to difuse! 4way flashers, pull to side, lift your hood, pretending something the matter w your darned car!..... get creative!

Though I'm not much of a gun guy; I appreciate your freedom and rights to carry. Most of the time, I can see that as bottomline security.


But what if YOU are the only one w a gun; the WACHO gets your license # , and claims a false story that you are the bad guy, and it's YOU thats terrorizing HIM?????


It can be a very ugly world out there! Inflaming a situation, will just make it worse.

What if you blow up on a guy, and commute wise, he'll be around everyday, somewhere??? Not too pleasant!

There is more discussion of similar matters in the thread: Getting the bird at on ramps!


The economy, and people's (animal?) attitudes are only going to get worse, and worse; so we all need to come up w individual plans of action ready to go for almost any weirdness that comes along.


My favorite car chase defensive move I've seen in movies, is after the creep has bumped the good guy twice hard in the side, and is setting up for the third whack. the good guy brakes hard, as the lateral hit is just about to happen, leaving the creep surprised so that he over corrects, and rolls himself, or at least leaves the roadway out of control over embankments or whatever!!

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by drv2die

i have had my ccl for 5 years this is the first time i have had to pull my weapon. since i moved to little rock i have carried my weapon almost everyday. i dont like this city but my economic situation have me here. i will move as soon as i can. this is the only place i feel i need to carry to defend myself.

Oh, ok.

[user removed]

The unknown is how far will the idiot tailgater go to satisfy his rage at your "failure" to do what he thinks you should. This is the unknown factor. Maybe in Europe people just aren't as crazy as they can be in the US.

I am not going to allow some idiot to endanger my life, period. If they want to go around me, I will do everything within reason to make it easy for them to get away from me and end the situation they created. I do not drive in a way that obstructs the flow of traffic. When I see someone tailgating, me reaction depends on what I am driving or riding. On the motorcycle or in the truck I do not carry, so the untimate option of defense is not available. The truck is a pretty good weapon itself. I could just slam on the brakes and call the cops. On the bike that would get me killed, and the odds are the driver that killed me would not even stop. I can tell that by the fact that 65% of my motorcycle insurance premium is the uninsured motorist portion of the premium. That's right 65%. That fact alone tells you that on the bike my odds of being left in a destroyed heap on the side of the road are truly greater than all other odds combined by a factor of 10 to 1 or more.

So on the bike I do not act to instigate a tailgating situation. Sometimes that involves some high speeds or other acts of self preservation that prevent any potential escalation, by preventavie situational awareness.

I dont automatically agree or disagree with any one posting here, every situation is unique.

Just look at what happened in Norway and you can see how much damage one lunatic can cause. In the US my experience has been there is no shortage of that type of personality. You see it every day in drivers who take astronomically stupid chances for virtually no real gain.

regards
Mech

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by larrybuck

I was not too comfortable when I saw them follow me down the offramp I needed to go to work, thinking what now! I came within 200 yards of where I worked, turned off to the other side of the street and stopped right by the lobby front entrance of a large motel so other people would be around. I was relieved to find out that they were friendly nuts who just wanted close pictures of how REDNECK my car was.

Why didn't you just murder them in cold blood? In some fantasy worlds that would be the Right Thing To Do. Also, the guys down at the range would have been impressed with your manliness and determination to stand up for your rights.