Getting rid of tailgaters without road rage, any advice (ngc)

[Gliderjohn]

Quote from Lannis:

Maybe everyone in the country ought to have to have a year on a motorcycle or scooter before they can get a car driver's license.   I'll bet that would fix it!

And I would add that everyone should have to have some experience driving a heavy truck, even if just for a day with an instructor along.

Another favorite is entering an interstate on the ramp while looking over your shoulder for an opening than look forward to find out the car in front of you just stopped completely at the end of the ramp instead of merging.
GliderJohn

[Caffeineo]

As long as we're on a roll with other drivers' habits, here's one I hate as much as tailgating.

That's drivers who are waiting on a side road to make a right or left turn onto the road you are on, who WILL NOT STOP their cars prior to pulling out. 

As you approach, even a hundred feet away, they start rolling toward the intersection you are approaching.   Now how am I supposed to know if this guy is trying to get a "hole shot" on his take-off, or if he's an alcohol, drug, or cell-drunk who can't see me coming and is going to keep rolling? <snip>

Lannis

I was riding down a main road at 55 when one of those "can't come to a complete stop" drivers was at an intersection on the right side. I slow down expecting him to pull out but he just keeps slowly rolling. I start weaving side to side in my lane and he still does not come to a complete stop. I pull to the far right of my lane as I pass the intersection and notice a LEO behind the car. Thinking he is going to stop me for unsafe driving or suspected DUI I am planning on how to explain my actions to them. To my surprise the LEO followed the car and pulled them over. 

[Orange Guzzi]

Coming home from the Kentucky Rally on Saturday night, I was being tail gated by a pickup truck with no head lights on.  I had know idea the truck was behind me.   

I-64 between Louisville, Ky and Lexington, Ky is like the AutoBahn.  Unlimited speeding and no Police.  I was traveling between 80-100 mph.  The truck hit their headlights and passed me.  I had followed the truck previously and the truck had followed me for a while.  For a beat up S-10, it was extremely fast. 

[Groover]

You can mount a luggage trunk on a spring system (bobblehead style) - I'm sure that will freak them out. Actually, I might do that myself 

[Nic in Western NYS]

As long as we're on a roll with other drivers' habits, here's one I hate as much as tailgating.

That droid Google car creating a safety problem for others by driving too cautiously. 

[twhitaker]

You can mount a luggage trunk on a spring system (bobblehead style) - I'm sure that will freak them out. Actually, I might do that myself 

With a release switch for the 'Jack In The Box' surprise. LOL

[Penderic]

How about some Inflatable Butt Cheeks?


 

[LowRyter]

the next worst thing to being tailgated is someone driving in your blind spot.   I usually wave them around me, wave, slow down, anything to get their attention.  Many times, they don't understand. 

I used to just hit the throttle to get away from blind spotters or tailgaters but the local enforcement won't allow it.

[Groover]

With a release switch for the 'Jack In The Box' surprise. LOL

Even better! I think we are getting somewhere on this now 

[Shorty]

People used to leave me alone on the highway when I wore a helmet that looked like a cop helmet. Then they would figure  it out. Too late, respect already given.....

[oldbike54]

 Yep Shorty , I rode a white airhead RT for years , don a black leather jacket and an open face helmet, watch the cars move over , slow down , panic , kind of puts a lie to the idea that motorbikes are invisible . In Oklahoma we have a few Troopers mounted on 'Busas , mostly out around OKC , bet they can put a scare into cars drivers 

 Dusty

[willowstreetguzziguy]

Over the last year, I've kept track of who tailgates me on my bike and in my car... 70% female & 30% male.

[Triple Jim]

Pull over, let em go...not worth the hassle......

I agree, but I found that you need to wait a couple seconds before you get back on the road, or the driver can get the idea you're trying to get even.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 I had a friend in Oregon in the seventies who used a .357 with great success.
 His wife in the sidecar handed him the pistol and he twisted in the saddle and put a round in the center of the windshield between the two a$$h--es who had been badgerig him for miles.   He handed his wife the gun and opened the throttle.
 The car was still sitting where it had stopped when he went out of sight.
  I would call that successful communication.

[oldbike54]

 I would call that a felony .

 Dusty

[normzone]

The ones that amuse me the most are the nose gaters. These are the people that follow you like a puppy dog, then when you shoo them past you into a wide open set of lanes they balk at being first. They slow to your speed and just stay a little ahead of you.

This is a common horse behavior  - being prey animals being out in front can make them nervous. Probably the reason the winning jockey still has to remind his mount that the race needs to be finished.

[LowRyter]

funny. 

today I was driving to the gym when a woman pulled up into my blind spot on the right lane and was simultaneously tailgating the car in front of her.

I blew my horn and she jumped a mile, she didn't know where it came from.  I pulled ahead (about 10 over to pass both cars) while she stayed glued to bumper of the guy in the right lane. 

 

[Lannis]

Given that behavior like

1)  Shooting into a moving car from a motorcycle.

2)  Throwing a handful of nuts or ball bearings into a windshield

3)  Throwing a sparkplug into a windshield

would not only be documented these days on a dash-cam or would be photographed with a phone, but would ALSO be heavily reported to the police, and would undoubtedly make the news even if the perpetrator wasn't caught ...

I hereby go out on a limb and will say that these acts are CLAIMED about 10,000 times for times that they ACTUALLY HAPPEN.   

I didn't just fall off the turnip truck.   I've been on the road among bikers of all stripes since 1970.   I've listened to people talk about how fast their motorcycles will go, about how many fish they've caught, and how many wenches they've bedded.  I have a well-developed sense of smell as a result.

I'm calling B.S. on the "sparkplug/ball bearing/bullet from a motorcycle through the windshield" smack.   If someone has a news article or police report in this all-information-available age corroborating (corroborating, not just shouting it louder) that it has EVER actually happened, much less the THOUSANDS of times I've heard it CLAIMED to have happened over 46 years, I'm glad to listen and be educated.

Lannis

[Lannis]

The ones that amuse me the most are the nose gaters. These are the people that follow you like a puppy dog, then when you shoo them past you into a wide open set of lanes they balk at being first. They slow to your speed and just stay a little ahead of you.

This is a common horse behavior  - being prey animals being out in front can make them nervous. Probably the reason the winning jockey still has to remind his mount that the race needs to be finished.

That's a good theory.   Mine has always been that it's part of the all-American "I Have To Beat You" mentality.   People will act like they're in a nell of a hurry while you're in front, but once "They've Beat You" they're satisfied, and slow to a reasonable speed.   There's no one to beat ...

Lannis

[Triple Jim]

I'm calling B.S. on the "sparkplug/ball bearing/bullet from a motorcycle through the windshield" smack.   If someone has a news article or police report in this all-information-available age corroborating (corroborating, not just shouting it louder) that it has EVER actually happened, much less the THOUSANDS of times I've heard it CLAIMED to have happened over 46 years, I'm glad to listen and be educated.

I used to have a riding buddy who once put a brick through the back window of a car belonging to a driver who had done him wrong, but he did wait until the guy got home and parked the car.  While working as a messenger in DC, he also punched out the driver's side window of a car that cut him off.  He was pulling little slivers of glass out of his hand months later, as the pieces worked their way to the surface.

But that guy was a friend of mine, so to you he's a friend of a friend, or a FOAF, so I don't expect you to buy the stories.  :)

[Lannis]

But that guy was a friend of mine, so to you he's a friend of a friend, or a FOAF, so I don't expect you to buy the stories.  :)

That's quite all right, and thanks, but (without passing judgment on an individual case of hearsay {"I heared him say it!"}, if these things happen even 1% of the times that they're told, there's going to be a report, or an accusation, or an angry driver calling the cops, and a reporter or a dashcam picking up the story ...

... and there never is ....

Lannis

[JJ]

On the bike, I just speed up but in the car I just pull over and let them pass.  Too many crazy people out there and I'd rather have them speeding away from me.

That's what I often exactly what I do...either speed WAY UP and leave them in the dust...or pull over and let them in front of me where I can watch them...

[Triple Jim]

Speeding up for tailgaters teaches them that tailgating works to get people to speed up.

[atavar]

In town at night I have had great success with a little gizmo that projects a red line on the ground a car length behind me.  I am amazed at how often the cars actually stay behind the line at stop lights. 


During the day and on the highway I find that randomly varying my speed as others have suggested works wonders.  The tailgaiters can't handle it if they can't set their cruise control.  The trick to doing this without triggering road rage seems to be to do it randomly, so you don't appear to be trying to take control but rather just casual about your speed. 

[atavar]

Please remember that throwing anything at a moving vehicle on a public road (much less shooting) is a serious crime and could put you behind bars for a *long* time.  Please don't do this, I don't want to visit friends in jail.  Even if you don't go to jail you may end up with a very annoying probation for some time and almost certainly lose your CWP forever. Is it worth it?
BTW, you don't even have to hit the vehicle, just throwing something *at* the vehicle with intent is enough. 

[Testarossa]

If it's safe to do I'll pass the guy in front of me. Otherwise I'll wave the tailgater to pass me. Either way, the next guy inherits the tailgater.

[atavar]

Another favorite is entering an interstate on the ramp while looking over your shoulder for an opening than look forward to find out the car in front of you just stopped completely at the end of the ramp instead of merging.
GliderJohn

This is my greatest fear riding, going right along with the deer jumping out in front of the guy I am going to pass just as I do my shoulder check.

[Triple Jim]

Another favorite is entering an interstate on the ramp while looking over your shoulder for an opening than look forward to find out the car in front of you just stopped completely at the end of the ramp instead of merging.

I used to have that happen fairly often on the DC Beltway when I rode my H2 to school every day.  The ramps were plenty wide to just pass the stopped car on the right with plenty of room between us.  I figured that if a cop stopped me, I'd just say that it appeared the guy stalled on the ramp.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Lannis likes to call bullshit about things he knows nothing about merely because he knows nothing about them.
 The guy who shot through the windshield was a personal friend of mine and Knowing him as I do I have no reason to disbelieve the story both he and his brother told me on different occasions.  It happened in the mountains of Oregon in the seventies with no other witnesses and in the days before dash cams and cell phones.  These were the days when I would go into a roadside bar and check my pistol with the bartender who would put it in his gun cabinet behind the bar with everyone elses guns then ask what I was having.  Lannis is an opinionated old fool who often operates his mouth before operating his brain.  I call bullshit on most of what Lannis says.

[atavar]