Michigan Tailgators (Aggressive Driving Report Form)

[ps2fixer]

I have been having a lot of issues with tailgaters lately. I don't have another option for a new route with out having the use the free way for 80% of the trip to/from work. Normally on back roads I drive 45mph, and NEVER had problems, the people just pass. On the main road (55mph speed limit) I drive 50 in good weather, and if it is foggy or unsafe to pass, I drive 55mph to help the ones behind me from wanting to pass. If they do, I'm watching closely. This does not cover snowy situations. Just to be clear, I'm not talking about ones that are riding closer than they should, but people that are less than 12 inches away from your rear bumper.

Now to the point of the thread, I finally found this form to report people for bad driving within Michigan. Only requirement is you must be willing to testify in court if there is an arrest.

MSP - Aggressive Driving Form

Here is the back story if your interested...

I'm at a stop light behind a truck with a boat, and a guy pulls up and stops pretty close to me which is pretty common. Light turns green, and the guy in the truck takes off slowly (ecomodder member? lol), and turns into the gastaion on the corner. The guy behind me is about hitting me when I slowed down. Once the truck was out of the way, I took off like I normally do and watched the one behind me.... inches away. Way too close for what I can tolerate (too many close calls at 40+mph), so once I hit 35mph, I tap my brakes wtih my left foot to signal to back off.... well all that did was make them get closer. Took the situation into my own hands and pulled off the road to let them by. They wanted to signal they didn't like me/my drving or something, so they stopped next to me and flew the bird, then took off.

After that I pulled off to where I was going (not far away) to let me catch my nerves etc. People that drive like that is going to kill someone....

Sadly I didn't get the license plate, but I should have, if I knew this form existed.



What do you guys do to deal with tailgaters (SAFELY!). My mom is the one that suggest pulling off the road after I had a guy that wouldn't pass me, and was inches away as well. Slowly slowed down to 30mph, and a big ford truck just about went off the road slamming the brakes on nearly hitting the car behind me, can't believe they couldn't see their brake lights, or the fact they were coming up super fast on the car.

[HypermilerAX]

I fully sympathize with your feelings. I, and probably a lot of other members here, know how oppressing it is to be tailgated.
It is true that I'm sometimes driving well under the limits (70 km/h for 90 limit) but it's not a reason to tailgate dangerously close.
My reaction will depend on my current mood and whether he could overtake or not :
1) I do nothing. I (try to, and it's not easy) ignore him and keep my speed.
2) I go on the far right of the road, to make him understand he can/should pass.
3) Same but I act as I would turn or search something.
4) I reduce my speed, not necessarily by braking aggressively, even more.
5) My favourite. As I seldomly drive above 2500 rpm, carbon builds up a bit in the engine and exhaust line (I have an old diesel). And I usually keep my decarbonation sessions for the tailgaters. I put the neutral gear and press the throttle fully to 5000 rpm (if my engine is warm of course). A huge black smoke comes out of my exhaust line and it works, tailgaters most often take their distances. I can guarantee they wouldn't want to breathe that a second time in their life.

Also very annoying, are the lights when being tailgated at night. I always have some sunglasses in the car.

[Sven7]

Call 911 and ask for the local hwy patrol. Tell them the plate number and your current location/direction. They may be able to stop the guy.

Otherwise,

Best Ecomod Ever by Tyler Linner, on Flickr

[Arragonis]

If you think it is a serious issue day in and out then I would suggest fitting a camera or a mobile phone mount and videoing what happens. If your camera is good enough you can pick out plates too after the event If nothing happens then delete the film (or move it off to another device) and repeat - kind of like a car black box.

There was a long thread on tailgaters a while ago - it got a little rough including dropping stones, marbles or spraying stuff - all sorts.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ters-5214.html

Personally I try and find something slow to follow, then people know you are not in a rush. Also on single lane roads leave a gap so people passing can pull in between you and the vehicle in front - when I drove for speed one of the most frustrating things was the challenge of having to pass all 3 in front of me vs just one at a time.

And finally, just let the others "win" their race - who cares, you are fighting physics and not other drivers.

[ps2fixer]

99% of the time there is no one in front, everyone goes 60-65... including the semis (i pull off the road for them, they are a bit aggressive too). I was part of the thread above . yea I don't want to do something stupid to end up finding out they have a gun or something crazy like that.

For the passing stuff, on this road I use cruise control which keeps a very steady speed for me. I have tried to play around with my speed on this road, 55mph = no one passes, just rides behind, 45mph (my first eco modding speeds) - people go completely crazy and about kill their selves in head-ons almost every day, then happy in the middle, 50mph most people pass, and don't make such risky moves and such.


I have been wanting a camera for a while, a good security system would work great on an inverter if I can find one that uses little power, they hold months worth of video and support multi cams, some upto 16. Another option could be IP cameras which would require a computer network (router), each camera, and a laptop/tiny pc to record it. Total system usage would be like 50w if done right and I could put in any size of drive to record on.

The idea behind this type of system instead of a normal camera like a cellphone or whatever are...

#1 - better video quality, some can do 1080p lol
#2 - pretty cheap parts, probably could get the system running for around $120-150
#3 - It would be setup to record when the key is on (or a switch), so set it and forget it

I don't mind the cost since if I do end up in a wreck.... no one can fight video proof! Only down side is the fact laptop drives have spinning parts, the SSD (no moving parts) cost a bit more, but I shouldn't need much of a drive to support a month of diving at the best quality possible. Another plus to the computer in the car is the fact you can play mp3s off it though the sound system... yes I use my radio..

I guess the ecomodder way would be to get a deep cycle battery and charge the camera system from the grid.


Btw, i'm a computer tech they plays around with electroncis, engines, etc, none of this stuff is new to me besides the fact I never had it in a car.

[Arragonis]

I played with a few systems for cameras including a PC and several USB cameras but it was too much of a hassle to get going in between driving sessions. Simply mounting a phone or a cheap ($30) camera and micro USB card from Hong Kong worked nicely.

Good luck.

[ps2fixer]

Originally Posted by Arragonis

I played with a few systems for cameras including a PC and several USB cameras but it was too much of a hassle to get going in between driving sessions. Simply mounting a phone or a cheap ($30) camera and micro USB card from Hong Kong worked nicely.

Good luck.

Did I say I'm a computer tech and hobby programmer/web dev? Building the computer to auto boot when it gets power and start the recording isn't a problem at all for me. Turning it off might be a bit of a pain, a remote power button would work when I am close to where I'm going before I kill the engine (killing the power to the system). Thanks for the inside details though, I have a lot of research to look into yet before I decide.

[campisi]

I really don't understand why you can't just do your thing and let them do theirs? I drive fairly slowly but I'm not an ahole about it. If there's someone behind me I don't drive 10 or 15 mph less than the limit - have some courtesy for people that don't drive the way you do.

[Flakbadger]

Are we talking 2-lane highway here? If so that changes things. I have only had a few unpleasant experiences with extreme tailgaters. For the most part, I stay in the right of three lanes, and everyone else goes about their merry business wasting fuel.

I must say that it does scare me when someone gets right on my ass, not because of the risk of collision so much as the risk of them being some crazy who is going to beat or shoot me when the vehicles eventually stop.

[ps2fixer]

Originally Posted by campisi

I really don't understand why you can't just do your thing and let them do theirs? I drive fairly slowly but I'm not an ahole about it. If there's someone behind me I don't drive 10 or 15 mph less than the limit - have some courtesy for people that don't drive the way you do.

The road has fairly heavy traffic, in about 20 miles, i have 8-15 cars pass me. There are plenty of times they can pass excpt for weekends it is really busy.

I have tried the courtesy route... ends up with people trying to hit you as well. If I ride the side of the road, the car behind bearly gets over and about hits you at the rear and front corners, so I ride in the center. I tried riding the center a couple of times, but I personally hate when people do that, and it didn't seem to effect how people passed much. If I had another route to take with out all the stops, I would take it so I could do my 45mph and get 50mpg+ tank averages with a bearly modified car.


FYI to the other poster, it is 1 lane per direction of traffic like...


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(the arrows are cars lol)
Some sections have the left turn lane (when I used to go 45mph people pass there, it is also a school zone).

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