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

[Lannis]

  In the south we try to defuse our anger with varying success by repeating the zen mantra "bless their hearts".
Wearing my gun open carry is rare and only when heading to my  volunteer job as rangemaster at our SO range or to the gun store I work at one day a week.

I rode this past weekend with a retired Army MP who open-carries his .45 ACP on the bike everywhere he rides, on a belt holster.

It's not really noticeable, though, since with his jacket on, only the bottom half of the holster and barrel is visible.    He doesn't take off his jacket in a restaurant until he sits down, and these days, people carry all sorts of things on their belts - smartphone carriers, Leatherman tools, small flashlights, that unless you're looking you don't even notice it.

Toting a highly visible gun as a "deterrent" isn't going to get you anywhere on the road except in trouble.   Personal guns are a last-ditch, no-other-choice way to defend yourself and your loved ones, not a "Look What I Got, Better Not F*** With Me" symbol like these "get-back whips" that the ball-less bad-arse biker boyz carry.

Lannis

[Kev m]

The funny thing is, I don't think that the PA State Police use motorcycles, at least not in our area, and the only bikes I ever see local LEOs on are Harleys.

I strongly suspect the general public has no idea if there are motorcycle cops in a given area, and if so, what they ride.

[SmokinJoe]

Both times I was hit I was riding a full dress electra glide with antenna , white helmet, leather leo style jacket, & etc. Having seen a Toyota ram a fire truck in full alarm status I just can't think of anything that will wake up a fully brain dead driver.

[atavar]

I rode this past weekend with a retired Army MP who open-carries his .45 ACP on the bike everywhere he rides, on a belt holster.

It's not really noticeable, though, since with his jacket on, only the bottom half of the holster and barrel is visible.    He doesn't take off his jacket in a restaurant until he sits down, and these days, people carry all sorts of things on their belts - smartphone carriers, Leatherman tools, small flashlights, that unless you're looking you don't even notice it.

Toting a highly visible gun as a "deterrent" isn't going to get you anywhere on the road except in trouble.   Personal guns are a last-ditch, no-other-choice way to defend yourself and your loved ones, not a "Look What I Got, Better Not F*** With Me" symbol like these "get-back whips" that the ball-less bad-arse biker boyz carry.

Lannis

I don't know, from personal experience it seemed that having even a couple inches of a holster peeking out from under a jacket got me noticed a lot.  I know it doesn't make any sense, but drivers seemed to give me a  much wider berth and a lot less harassment.

[JeffOlson]

[Lannis]

On the other hand, some people don't need a gun ...



and yet they get noticed!

Lannis

[atavar]

Well, I do have that scary ugly  thing going for me too..  lol

[normzone]

It's hardly a statistically valid sample size or method, but I have a piece of empirical data for the stack.

This morning on my interchange loop a driver got on my tail.

I did a dramatic weave - no response.

I tapped the brake lights - twice. No response.

I gave the hand signal - arm down at the side, palm to the rear, ALL fingers spread wide. He backed off and slowed down.

I don't think it was any one of those - more likely just an accumulation of clues in a system unaccustomed to collecting and using them 

[guzzipete]

I don't know if this has been posted already (didn't want to read the whole post).

When I notice someone tailgating me I weave back and forth in the lane. That works about 90% of the time.

[Tom]

BTDT and posted earlier but not a problem.  Post anyway.

[Penderic]

If you can read this sign ....



 

[Muzz]

We are fortunate that on a lot of our roads we have CORNERS . IF a car can keep up with me and does tailgate I let him go; he is an idiot and I would prefer to keep an eye on him with my eyes rather than via a rear vision mirror.

Around town the dab of the brake light, especially when they are not expecting it, seems to help.

I have booted a headlight in desperation before; he was just TOO close!

[Triple Jim]

That's funny, Muzz.  Now that you mention it, I've been on semi-twisty roads when a guy in a car gets behind me, but after a curve, he's way back.  Then he tries to catch up and another curve comes.  It's a lot of work for a car driver to keep up with a motorcycle in curves.  Obviously it can be done, but most drivers aren't willing to put out the effort and screech the tires that much.   

[normzone]

I've noticed that my two mirrors show two slightly differing sizes of images - if I have a tail gater that I can't evade, I watch them in the one that makes them smaller. This helps my blood pressure. I have set Olympic records with my blood pressure (admittedly only bronze), it needs all the help it can get.

[Lannis]

That's funny, Muzz.  Now that you mention it, I've been on semi-twisty roads when a guy in a car gets behind me, but after a curve, he's way back.  Then he tries to catch up and another curve comes.  It's a lot of work for a car driver to keep up with a motorcycle in curves.  Obviously it can be done, but most drivers aren't willing to put out the effort and screech the tires that much.   

I don't know; it can go the other way sometimes.   

A determined West Virginia local in a 7 liter diesel Dodge pickup who knows the roads and has ingested some sort of courage-enhancing substance can run pretty hard on corners; they don't care about how much "work" it is, they're afraid they'll lose their manhood if you get away from them ... and that's more motivation than WE have!

Lannis

[John A]

I've had them try to hang with me in the twisties just for fun. Poker run at the WI was the last one, he tried to keep me in sight and was a good driver. We pulled away from other motorcycles until I finally lost him, a lot of work with a sidecar.I could have just pulled over and taken a break but what fun is that? Most of the time they are just dangerous imbeciles and I deal with them accordingly by creating distance which pisses me off that I need to change what I do because they are in the vicinity

[O]

I gave the hand signal - arm down at the side, palm to the rear, ALL fingers spread wide. He backed off and slowed down.

9 times out of 10, this has worked for me.

[Triple Jim]

I've noticed that my two mirrors show two slightly differing sizes of images - if I have a tail gater that I can't evade, I watch them in the one that makes them smaller. This helps my blood pressure. I have set Olympic records with my blood pressure (admittedly only bronze), it needs all the help it can get.

A neighbor told me that when he has a tailgater behind him, he mid-adjusts his rear view mirror so he can't see the car and slows down five mph.    

[Dofin]

Interesting reading when read tongue in cheek.  Sort of like watching a TV soap opera. 

This has Worked for me every time.  It does require that you are a mature adult capable of intelligent reasoning.

If a tail gaiter is being rude, not passing and demonstrating irrational tenancies, I ;

1.  maintain safe speed and location in your traffic lane, usually left side of lane (lane position is pilots decision)

2.  find a safe exit area

3.  Signal turn (usually a right turn signal) with lights and if you feel it is necessary hand signal.

4.  safely  slow and then exit lane in a controlled manner.

5.  Signal and re-enter traffic in a safe NON-aggressive Manner.

I don't care if I am passing the "Gaiter" on to someone else or whether I am rewarding the offender by getting out of their way, I care about surviving and riding another day.  I have driven and rode in North/Central/South America, European, Mediterranean and Near East countries.  This technique has always worked in cars, trucks, on motorcycles and I just try to REMEMBER when ever someone does something really stupid that at some time I also did THAT and try to forgive and forget.

[Triple Jim]

I don't care if I am passing the "Gaiter" on to someone else or whether I am rewarding the offender by getting out of their way, I care about surviving and riding another day.

When I've done this, I often get the feeling the driver is embarrassed.  It's most likely not taken as a reward, since the goal of the tailgating was to get you to realize that you're not going fast enough and speed up, not slow down and let him pass.

A few days ago I was driving a car, and got tailgated on a back country road.  Each time a long straight section with a dashed centerline came up, I moved to the right edge of the road and slowed slightly to make it very easy for the car behind me to pass.  Even after several times, the car stayed behind me.  I'm not clear of why this sometimes happens, but it seems like the other driver is willing to be slightly aggressive in letting me know I'm not going fast enough for him, but not willing to be aggressive enough to actually pass.  In this case he must have finally figured out that I thought he was too close, because he backed off for the rest of out travels together.

[Lannis]

I found ANOTHER kind of tailgater today, on an 80-mile car trip returning from dropping my grandson back off with his parents after a very nice week with him at our house (he's 9 months old, everything is nice).

I was on a 12-mile stretch of rural divided 60-mph highway in Fay's Subaru.   A car gradually drifted up behind me, and starting riding pretty close to my bumper.   I was on cruise control at 62, and bethought myself that I usually run that stretch at 68, so I eased on up and held 68.   The car stayed right behind me.   Checked to make sure it wasn't a police car (it wasn't), and I eased up to 72 just to see.   Right behind me.   

There was no other traffic in sight, so I just knocked off the cruise control and let the car coast.   70, 65, 60, 55, 50, 45.   Car still right behind me, still no traffic around.

40, 35, 30, 25, 20.  The car STILL right behind me.  At 20 MPH, the car behind me finally pulled out to pass.   The side windows were tinted, so I didn't get a good look at the driver, but if I had to bet a pension check, I'd bet she was staring down at the smartphone in her lap, using her peripheral vision and the car in front of her (me) to "drive".

You just never know.

Lannis

[Dukedesmo]

My solution is to ride so fast no one is able to tailgate.  Then again, my accumulation of speeding tickets would indicate this causes a whole different set of problems.

Works for me.   

[Kev m]

That's funny, Muzz.  Now that you mention it, I've been on semi-twisty roads when a guy in a car gets behind me, but after a curve, he's way back.  Then he tries to catch up and another curve comes.  It's a lot of work for a car driver to keep up with a motorcycle in curves.  Obviously it can be done, but most drivers aren't willing to put out the effort and screech the tires that much.   

No, generally it's not at all hard for any decent car to keep up with a bike in the curves, that's exactly where the car has the advantage with regards to physics.

There have been multiple bike vs car tests done by magazines and web journalists over the years that have shown how bikes out accelerate on the straights but can't brake or corner as hard.

[Bulldog9]

It only really happens if I can't "RIDE"  so in traffic, urban streets with lots of lights/stop signs, driveways, etc. In that situation I will slow down and tap the brake light and turn my head or look in mirrors in an obvious way to make my point.  If that doesn't work and the person is aggressive, I will pull off or over to get away.

[Triple Jim]

No, generally it's not at all hard for any decent car to keep up with a bike in the curves, that's exactly where the car has the advantage with regards to physics.

There have been multiple bike vs car tests done by magazines and web journalists over the years that have shown how bikes out accelerate on the straights but can't brake or corner as hard.

I did say "obviously it can be done", but I'm talking about normal drivers with ordinary cars, out here in the country where I live.  I have never had a car driver even attempt to stay with me in the curves if I'm taking them in a spirited way.

[Bulldog9]

I don't know; it can go the other way sometimes.   

A determined West Virginia local in a 7 liter diesel Dodge pickup who knows the roads and has ingested some sort of courage-enhancing substance can run pretty hard on corners; they don't care about how much "work" it is, they're afraid they'll lose their manhood if you get away from them ... and that's more motivation than WE have!

Lannis

I had one of these jokers (in a 68 Biscayne) coming the other way push me of the Cherohala Skyway at 70MPH back in 2003.  Bye Bye FZ1 THANKYOU Vanson & Shoe...... He went on a 4-5 miles farther down the road hit a father and son touring on their Goldwings. Son lost his legs, father was killed....  But that said, I'm a pretty fast rider / driver but am mostly safe, and I agree country folk hit it hard.

[atavar]

The problem a car driver will have is that when he takes the corners to keep up with the bike in the corners his coffee will slosh over on to his lap.

[Triple Jim]

While the motorcycle rider's coffee cup will remain steady, sitting on the top of the gas tank.

[atavar]

unless he has a straw in it, in which case the wind will create a venturi effect siphoning all the liquid out of the cup and spraying it over the rider in a fine mist.  (DAMHIK)

[OlDogface]

Thanks everyone! This thread actually taught me something! The name for the "get back whip" thingy a guy at work has hanging from his Sparkly-Davidson's front brake lever. I thought it was maybe some sort of bike lock/security system.