S.O..problems with tailgaters

[michael newport]

Her indoors gets quite a bit of hassle from tailgaters - esp. white van apes and artics who "park" about 10cm behind her, (admittedly small), car. She's not the world's best driver but is not a slowcoach - and she is conscientious in her driving. Her car rear window is clear glass so just thought to ask opinions about fitting a heavy tint replacement or film to help by obscure driver? Also thought to fit a very obvious rear-view cam (with continuous record) - just in case. I know that nothing will stop some cretins tailgating - but maybe this will put off a few. Waste of time?

[fred]

Flash her side lights a few times. They will look like he brake lights and hopefully get the morons to back up. Personally I just slow right down.

[Bill Wright]

Far be it from me to advocate dangerous or aggressive driving, but I have heard that the following can be effective. Slow down very gradually so it is possible to engage a lower gear. Maintain speed for a little while then simultaneously press the brake pedal just enough to bring to brake lights on and accelerate away rapidly.

A friend of mine who lives out in the country is repeatedly tailgated all the way along the lane from town, the lane being too bendy to allow overtaking. After three miles of this there is a straight bit followed by a sharp and deceptive bend. My friend admits that on occasions, when especially infuriated by bullying tailgating, she has accelerated on the straight bit rather more her previous sedate driving would suggest was likely. This is, of course, her right. Should the tailgater be in the act of overtaking he will put his foot down, determined to get past no matter what. This could result in him losing control on the sudden bend and turning his car over.

Bill

[Paul Herber]

Get a policewoman's cap and place it on the rear parcel shelf.

[Nightjar]

Not sure what the logic behind that is. The driver of a small car won't be visible from the cab of a large van or lorry that is following at a safe distance, let alone tailgating.

If it is a regular problem, it would probably be more useful to treat her to an advanced driving course, so she can find out what particular aspect of her driving is annoying the drivers behind her.

[Chris J Dixon]

A good few years ago I was driving my red Volvo 245 to a fancy dress party. I had on a black jacket and flat hat, devoid of any significant markings (Postman Pat was the idea). It was noticeable how courteous other drivers were.

Chris

[meow2222]

I've no idea how that would help. Just slow down gradually to a then safe speed. Tailgaters soon overtake and sod off.

On old cars with manual choke one could always pull the choke out and put foot down, the only effect of which was to engulf the tailgater in smoke.

NT

[michael newport]

Driver is easily visible on approach.

Being female I think answers your point. So she has to be trained because of their intimidating driving!

Maybe I could have put it better - it's not every driver that does it

- but is pretty unnerving when it does happen. Case in point: on the way home from work there is a dual lane flyover ending in quite a severe curve that itself in joined from the left by another dual carriageway. It is signed at 40mph - yet 80% of drivers like to take it at 60 mph. She is obviously holding them up - at the speed limit.

[The Medway Handyman]

Many years ago I worked for Karcher. They used white Ford Sierra's with a wide yellow stripe down the side and the Karcher name & logo in a small font at the end.

Again, noticeable how courteous other drivers were.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Some years ago, I had one tailgating me heading north up the narrower part of Archway Road hill (A1, London), and then down the other side. Traffic was heavy, and nothing could move much more than 15MPH, and there was no way he could overtake (not that it would have got him anywhere), but it didn't stop him trying. Continued doing so around the triangular roundabout/junction at the bottom of the hill, until we turned off (continuing on the A1 north) where it opens out into dual carriageway. I kept my speed down so he'd overtake, which he did, probably at about 50MPH in the 30MPH limit, right past the central reservation mounted speed camera which duely flashed. Oh, how I laughed when I saw his brake lights come on in response...

[Sam Plusnet]

Dunno about the lights & obscuring the rear screen is unlikely to do anything positive.

If the following vehicle will not keep a distance which is safe at that speed, the only practical answer is to adjust your speed to suit the separation - i.e. slow down.

[Nightjar]

I very much doubt that any following driver is going to know that, unless she drives an open car with the top down, or a very old car without a head rest.

Common reasons that drivers get tailgated is that they are either driving significantly slower than the rest of the traffic on a single carriageway or they hog the outside lane on a dual carriageway.

The fact that she gets tailgated often enough for it to be a concern suggests that improving her driving might avoid the problem.

That must be a very unusual 40mph limit. Government figures show that, in a 40mph limit, the average free traffic speed of cars, vans or articulated lorries is 35mph. Fewer than 15% do 40-44mph, fewer than 6% do 45-49mph and only 2% do 50-59mph.

[David]

I'm with Nightjar on this one.

Your SO feels intimidated by other drivers under certain circumstances.

We don't know if she feels intimidated in a situation where others would not.

We don't know if there is something in her driving style which marks her out as different from the 'average' driver.

We have no real evidence that she is being treated differently because she is being identified as female.

So the sensible thing is to have her driving assessed by an expert, who can also teach her coping strategies for when she feels intimidate.

It may be just that she lacks the confidence to ignore them with the attitude "If you want to ram me from behind and get caned by your insurance company then help yourself."

Advanced Driver training seems by far the most sensible suggestion so far in this thread.

Cheers

Dave R

[Bill Wright]

Nightjar Common reasons that drivers get tailgated is that they are either

Neither of which is a reason to tailgate.

Bill

[charles]

There is a common 3rd reason. Driving at, or very close to, the speed limit on a road that the following vehicle should not have that speed limit. The road between my village and the next one has a 40mph speed limit. Police monitoring shows the median speed to be 48mph.

these figures obviously don't apply around here, see my comment above.

Out with Community Speed Watch last week, we recorded 15 vehicles in a hour doing over 36mph in a 30 mph zone - one was doing over 50mph!

[charles]

I forgot to say that most of the offenders had children in the car. This was obviously "the school run". (8am - 9am)

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

Indeed. And one of those deliberately deceptive Horse riders jackets hooked over the passenger seat

High vis. Yellow is a mentally conditioned colour of "authority". Add chequered squares with a splash of blue and you're utilising a powerful, subliminally encoded response used primarily for population control.

[ARW]

You forgot to say that they were the same people who complain about the speed of other drivers outside their own home.

15 wanks an hour is good going during the school run as most schools have traffic doing 5mph due to women drivers blocking the road whilst they try to park.

[ARW]

On a dual carriageway it is a reason to tailgate. And the correct procedure is to blast your horn and put on the main beams. If the wanker does not move then you undertake them.

[Tim+]

Quite a bit? Heaven knows there are enough bad drivers for us all to have experienced this occasionally but if it's happening frequently you have to wonder whether her driving style is a factor.

Does she drive the same when you're not in the car?

Tailgating is never excusable but it much more likely to happen if one is either inadvertently driving obstructively or not keeping up with the average flow of traffic. Of course there is no legal requirement to drive AT the prevailing speed limit but if you drive at speeds that most drivers consider just too slow for the prevailing conditions then your chances of experiencing tailgating go up greatly.

Well it's hard to make any clear judgment based on he information supplied but I would hazard a guess that she's not a confident driver. Rather than looking for ways to scare off tailgaters I think some advanced driving lessons might be a much better investment.

Tim