How do you handle EXTREME tailgaters?

[jared1970]

Originally Posted by TKWPrime

3. Road trains. A semi pulling three trailers in tandem doesn't burn significantly more fuel than a semi pulling a single trailer.

Road trains are incredibly dangerous in windy, snowy, or icy conditions. No way do I want to have multiple trailers behind a big rig when I've seen how dangerous just one is.

[kYLEMtnCRUZr]

I am more bothered with them passing at speed within a foot of my left rear corner. That pisses me off. If I had a beater, I could make a living off of rear ending claims. Seriously I could make someone rear end me EVERY day if I wanted. I have E braked a few (no brake light warning) and it is pretty funny to watch them freak out. What did they expect?

[Snax]

I don't care what your motives are. Causing an accident this way is a great way to cause serious problems.

I happily denied paying for an insured customer's insurance claim on their $10k car because she pulled that trick. Her car was a total loss, as was the one for the person to which she inflicted this psychopathic behavior. Not to mention that there were injuries.

Not only did she not get her injuries or car paid for, but the person she brake checked ended up suing her for about $30k.

It is low. Don't do it!

[Formula413]

That sounds dubious at best. If you hit someone from behind you are responsible, period.

[Fat Charlie]

So... Driver A harassed and threatened driver B. Driver B reacted by hitting the brakes. Driver A hit driver B.

I'd be real proud of penalizing driver B over it, and even more proud of saying driver B caused anything.

[kYLEMtnCRUZr]

How was this "Brake check" proven? Did brake checker admit guilt?

I'm not stupid enough to do a full pull on the ebrake but I sure let it drag enough so they will think twice about tailgating again. Worked for me when I was younger and driving like an idiot, someone pulled the same trick. I never tailed anyone again.

Tailing in heavy traffic is fine and acceptable, shoot even medium/light traffic. But when you are tailing me one car length in the slow lane with no cars around for 100 yards and you have every opportunity to pass, you're asking for me to slow down for imaginary squirrels and/or jackrabbits.

[Xist]

We had a bus driver that was suspended because a car cut him off and hit its brakes. I once had a Neon do the same. I do not have any idea what they did wrong, I came to a full stop from 45 MPH in a school bus and did not hit the Dodge.

My coworker's incident happened at a yellow light, but mine was several blocks from any light.

[Snax]

It is not automatic that it is your fault if you rear end somebody who does this.

In the case I mentioned, there were very credible witnesses not known to either party. The woman in front intentionally caused an accident. That is negligent behavior, and if you are caught doing it in a way that causes an accident, you can be hammered financially - or even criminally, depending on the outcome. There is nothing dubious about that.

Had this woman actually killed somebody, a manslaughter charge would have stuck on the witness statements that I alone obtained. She got an attorney to try to sue for coverage for her damages. I never heard another word from him after witness transcripts were provided.

[campisi]

Agree with Snax. No brake lights? Either because they were non-operational or you e-braked? I think you might have a problem.

[Snax]

To be clear, prima facie evidence often prevails to support the notion that if you rear end somebody, it is your fault, but depending upon the liability law in your state, if you cause an accident and are stupid enough to have multiple people witness obvious intent, you can be held up to 100% responsible for it. Even having malfunctioning brake lights is sufficient evidence to reduce the amount of damages you may be entitled to. In Oregon, that's a standard 20-30% fault when it is just the insurance companies involved.

And more food for thought on this issues is that passengers and acquaintances are generally disregarded as witnesses unless there is a jury trial, so don't count on a friend in the car being able to help your case.

And yes, I was very proud to deny that woman every penny. It could have been much worse. She should have gone to jail for assault with a deadly weapon in my opinion, but the cops didn't bother to ask questions because they shared the same wrong-headed attitude about fault. (They aren't looking out for you at all in such circumstances.)