Tailgaters! What Can Be Legally Used To Dissuade The Morons ? Discuss

[catch]

As the title suggests, tailgaters really wind me up, anybody else hate them with a vengeance like me?

Does anybody fancy designing an illuminated sign actuated by an ultrasonic type sensor [as used in rear parking aids]

Works a bit like this, it sensors the car is not in a reverse gear yet picks up an incoming TGT [short for Tailgating ...........] is right up your rear. It then triggers the rear screen message ..............

GET BACK YOU TAILGATING TWerp........................

[Stoney871]

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=281391817777&alt=web

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[catch]

trouble with that Clive is you would yourself be a danger to other road users when fumbling about with the remote trying to switch it on.

It would be cheaper and easier to wire in a dash switch to activate the brake lights. Of course as you would not actually be braking no collision would take place. Well I say no collision...............if the tailgater themselves were being tailgated!

Be intresting to see how that action would be construde in relation to road traffic regulations. As the onus is on the driver to the rear to stand off a safe distance from a vehicle in front of him in relation to the speed he/ they collectively are travelling at.

Some times I depress the brake pedal with my left foot whilst still having my right foot on the gas pedal, to get the idiots to back off.Because as sure as eggs is eggs, if I have to slam all on, and me on good tyres the idiot behind me has no reaction time or space to avoid stuffing me up the backside.

[gregers]

you coud always have a sticker saying there being filmed.

actually i might do that myself as my dash cam has a rear mounted camera anyway.

[SandyCat]

I don't do anything that would cause an accident but I tend to start driving unpredictably by slowing down when they expect you to speed up and vice versa. Also press the brake pedal lightly so the brake lights come on then progressively brake heavier which stops them from predicting your braking rate etc. After a bit of that and staring at them in the mirror they tend to hang back.

Obviously the safe option is to simply make them overtake you.......................

[Stoney871]

With the led sign just have a pre-programmed message.

I'd recommend only using it when you have a passenger to activate it though.

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[Stoney871]

There is this option as favoured in Russia :)

How to keep an aggressive driver at a safe distan:

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[MartynS]

I generally do 1 of 2 things, either lightly touch the brakes so that the lights come on or, on occassions when we're not doing the speed limit such as after a roundabout, wait until there's a decent gap ahead of me then floor it up to the speed limit to get away from them. Generally they don't catch up after doing this, but the ones that do normally stay back a bit from then on. It's surprisingly effective actually, and much safter than braking in front of them too.

[Stoney871]

I find that the judicious application of blues and two's works best ;)

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[SeanW]

I find that the judicious application of blues and two's works best ;)

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Unfortunately, not all of us have that option available to us :(

I do like the Russian approach...

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[Stoney871]

Blues & two's is also great fun when you're in an unmarked ST estate and some chump wants a race :p

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[catch]

A generally do as Rick does, they than sit back abit as "they" think your the "idiot" and give you space. But it erks me that I have to drive like an idiot to get an idiot off my back. Push me and I go even slower

I like to use my brakes when I come to the end of my journey, not spend brass pumping expensive fuel into the engine only to dissipate the said energy produced on my brake pads. That way my wallet, tyres, brake discs and pads stay healthy for longer.

I'm amazed watching cars in a line of traffic on a busy road all sat up each others backsides, brake lights lighting in unison. It must be a very stressfull way of driving.

The other day I was in a convoy of cars, up front was a slow moving heavy goods vehicle, that was passable in places. but there was a car right up its @rse stopping this from happening. And there was noway the car could see anything other than the back of the HVG, I said to the wife that motor is stuck like a limpit it must be on a tow. Eventually we came to a roundabout and being about tenth car back I could see as both the HGV and the car made the same right turn around the roundabout there was no tow and less than 5 foot between them.

As I've held a clean licence for 50 years, I've witnessed alot of bad driving, done a bit myself if I'm honest in my yonger days. But I see car safety improving at the same time as bad driving becoming more prevalent to the point of being aggresive at times.

If somebody wants to turn right and is causing an obstruction to the flow of traffic, I'll let them make the turn, But I see people closing of that option by closing the gap needed only to sit on the tail of the car infront of them in a stationary line of traffic. Not sure if it's just plain old stupidity or indifferance.

Rant Over :)

[catch]

Greg I've just ordered a Mobius for the dash, I may do something in relation to the rear.

Always being told by the PM to be proactive in promoting the society we all wish to live in.

Well I reckon there should be someting akin to "Crimestoppers" in that people can send dashcam footage of cars / people breaking the traffic regulations, likes of driving without due care and attention, overtaking into on coming traffic cause them to take avasive action, tailgating, and using a hand held phones whilst driving and the like.

[Ianb]

If you can afford 15 odd quid there are cheap dashcams available which you could in theory mount in the rear. Jeebo has a review under his name for the one he has, I've also ordered the same one but have not had time to collect and use it.

What I like to do with tailgaiters; especially if they're in expensive looking clean cars AND even better if they're convertibles, is slow down just enough so that they're really close, then go full whack on the windscreen washers!!!!!

They end up with your grubby water all over, they then can't wipe it away without having to use their own washing fluid :D Usually makes them back off....

...IF they back off, and then proceed to do it again, I repeat the procedure...again...and again...and again..and again... The washer costs peanuts, the amusement is priceless however!!

[Ianb]

Greg I've just ordered a Mobius for the dash, I may do something in relation to the rear.

Always being told by the PM to be proactive in promoting the society we all wish to live in.

Well I reckon there should be someting akin to "Crimestoppers" in that people can send dashcam footage of cars / people breaking the traffic regulations, likes of driving without due care and attention, overtaking into on coming traffic cause them to take avasive action, tailgating, and using a hand held phones whilst driving and the like.

One thing you could try is a name and shame thing on youtube, put the videos on their individually (so if 2 incidents occur say 10 mins apart on the same journey, just cut them out and make two videos), title them with the drivers number plate, get all us as subscribers and just spam the internet. If it's really dangerous then report it to the police, most of the time they'll probably be too busy to really act on it, but you never know...

[Hyrule]

Tailgaters so many options:

Extreme:

Moderate: Slap a rear facing Mobius dashcam.

Average: You can try the bumper/rear window sticker option. Something along the lines "If you can read this, you're too close".

Personally I'd prefer the extreme option if it were legal :D

[jeebowhite]

haha, love it!

and yeah the dashcams are a great answer, recently though I just havent had the time to get out the cam clip it and post the idiots online.

If anyone doesnt want to use their own personal youtube channel to host these video's I have setup a "wall of shameful driving" that can be used as a groupo login and you can host it up there :)

[Kye]

I have taken to using the rear screen wash to get people off of me. I have to be looking at them to know when to use it.

Some people have dropped back as a result.

Normally I just slow the car down until they get the hint or go around me. I do find that flashing a big smile at the offender and blowing them a kiss as they go by gesturing at me works well to wind them up.

I had someone tailgate me on the M25 once. I was keeping up with the flow of the traffic and that wasn't good enough for him. He undertook me in a gap that didn't exist (I had 20mph on the traffic on the other lane), came out of it, just, and buried the brakes on me. I had pre-empted this and flicked my vehicle into the gap while keeping my speed up. The car behind me must have filled his pants to suddenly see a car appear in my space under heavy braking.

This...twonk then kept following me and keeping in front and burying his brakes on me. A 8v 1.3 diesel Citroen Nemo has no power at all. A scary few minutes for sure. He came off at the same turn off at me and we both stopped in the accumulated traffic side by side. I looked and shaked my head while he was waving and all sorts. Then the smile and kiss came out. I heard the verbal explosion from behind two closed windows and the radio. :D.

One of my hairier moments on the road. I was thinking that he was trying to take me off the road. It did leave me thinking about my driving and what I might have done. I use my mirrors all the time, indicate my intentions (key in a van) and kept up with the traffic. I slowed down on him once before it came too dangerous due to the weight of the traffic. Maybe I should have moved over for a few seconds, but he would have gained nothing at all other than sit behind the car that I was following.

The car in all this? Not an audi or a Beemer! A crummy gold Renault Megane drop top!!

[Ianb]

Definitely windscreen washers (tend to use the front) for me... I said before, I just do it over and over and over... normally the first spray they back off a bit, then if they come back I repeat until the message gets through...

[jeebowhite]

I would be tempted to install a miniature pump and new nozzle, where I put a faintly red tainted water spray in, get too close, spray them with the red water from a seperate pump :D that should teach em :D

I keep trying to figure out what could be done as an automatic method, but its hard to do, you could install an LED matrix board that you switch on and off remotely via a new switch on the dash? a simple toggle switch, when they get close, flick it and done)

[Ianb]

I would be tempted to install a miniature pump and new nozzle, where I put a faintly red tainted water spray in, get too close, spray them with the red water from a seperate pump :D that should teach em :D

I keep trying to figure out what could be done as an automatic method, but its hard to do, you could install an LED matrix board that you switch on and off remotely via a new switch on the dash? a simple toggle switch, when they get close, flick it and done)

The problem is that you end up with people that 'think they're hard' or trying to mess with you just so you do stuff like that. Or they go into super road rage mode and will smash into you.

I'm accustomed to a few fist fights, I've played rugby all my life and had drinks on the Sat night afterwards. trying not to get a life story in here and I'm not trying to sound like I hide behind people, but what I'm getting at is that if there is any trouble with anyone, you tend to stick up for your team mates and vice versa, they stick up for you, even if that is on the pitch or off it - most of the time it involves just splitting people up or pushing, shoving or worst worst case, fists, but when you're on the road you tend to be alone or with gf/fiancee/wife (all three if you're a bigamist) or kids in the car and the last thing you need is some raging twit who has access to a knife, pole, box cutter, hammer, screwdriver etc etc who has literally flipped his top. Least on a night out you can blame alcohol, these people tend to be stone cold sober and have lost their mind without any substance help...

I'd do my best to stay in the car and play innocent if anyone went ape over my windscreen washer trick, worse came to worse and they had a sharp implement and I was out the car I'd do my best to help them stick it in their backside.. but really who wants to be in a situation like that? I know it's a very worst case scenario, but I had a very real experience with someone who literally could not care less what they were doing, they nearly ran me and another car off the road, then proceeded to overtake into an oncoming protected lane which was FULL (A303 this was!), causing those cars to swerve - now this guy had a friend in the car and neither looked angry, so imagine if you did something to make them angry...

EDIT: The road is a dangerous place at the best of times, got to do everything you can to avoid confrontation with people that know no boundaries.

[FOCA]

A lot of times you could make the situation worse by the things you do

Probably the best thing to do is if there is someone following close behind is to leave extra space in front of you (i think its in the highway code, its called "driving on the brakes of the car in front"- as far as i remember)

I have heard of some people "brake testing" the car driving too close behind (by braking hard then letting the brakes off at the last minite to stop the car behind hitting them, or pulling the handbrake on in a similar way,

The trouble is that these things could be considered dangerous and you could be considered the "baddie"

Welike to consider ourselves good drivers but we all have things we do that annoy other drivers, for example, there may be other drivers that drive slower than you, and others that drive faster, i drive slowly/ carefully in built up areas, through town etc, but quicker on the "open road" - if i come across someone driving slower than me i overtake them, it there is someone to close that is driving slower than me, i "take off" , if they are driving faster than me, i let them past

Often we do things that we dont like getting done to us - (sort of do what i say, not what i do sort of thing) - i was sitting at a roundabout (no traffic lights) just about to pull out, when a car i thought was getting off the roundabout went all the way around on the outside right in front of me - i thought "what an idiot" - but i do that, it could have been me coming the other way

Same with tailgating - have you ever done it yourself - ever been a bit close to the car in front? - what? - never ever

[Maxxxykins]

After numerous attempts to tell the woman behind me she was up my ****, (Brake testing, going over the speed limit to get away from her, 40 in a 30, gesturing for her to overtake me which she blindly ignored) I went round a roundabout and she was about touching my bumper, so I went ahead, checked there wasn't much traffic, slowed to a stop and stuck the hazards on.

When I got out the car she looked at me as if I was an alien, I asked why she was so close to me and why she didn't get the message, she through her hands up in the air and said "I don't know"...

A white van driver behind was shouting the usual abuse... but at her..

Either way she still followed me but stayed a good 10 metres away.

The thing that ticked me off is that she did this for 10 minutes... When I sped up she did aswell, she closed any gap that I made and then she said she didn't know why?!?!?!

[SeanW]

I would be tempted to install a miniature pump and new nozzle, where I put a faintly red tainted water spray in, get too close, spray them with the red water from a seperate pump :D that should teach em :D

I keep trying to figure out what could be done as an automatic method, but its hard to do, you could install an LED matrix board that you switch on and off remotely via a new switch on the dash? a simple toggle switch, when they get close, flick it and done)

Hmm...I like where this is going...however, I'd want to include the run off from a fish wagon...that stuff stinks and doesn't go away, it stays in the AC for ages!!

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[jeebowhite]

that would definately work! :D