I drop my boys off at high school before I head to the Metro. The road to the school is one lane each way and is stop and go all the way to the school. Today, some jackass in a tired Explorer kept stopping inches from my tail. It wasn't a high school kid, either. So, I see a cop coming from the other direction and wave him down. Tell him what's going on. At this point, the idiot is stopped inches from my tail. So he waves me and the idiot over to the side and gives the guy a ticket! Maybe from now on he will do a better job of showing his son how he is supposed to drive.

 

Good for you! I am so sick of the tail gaters in my town. I sometimes wonder if they know that hard breaking is not actually required at every stop light.

 

No cop in San Diego would even respond if I did that. In fact, if you call to report an accident, so you can get a Police Report, and they are busy (which they always are) you're asked if there is a "medical emergency", meaning - is there blood? If not, you're told to exchange insurance information and clear the scene. I understand our PD is underpaid, understaffed and over-worked ~ but it feels as if you're really on your own out there; unless you're speeding of course, then they're everywhere

Hope that Explorer behind you got a wake-up call and will think before they tailgate from now on. That's one of my freak-factors having gone from being an SUV driver all my life, to motoring in a MINI. There are times when trucks get so close to my back end that I can read the damn VIN in their engine bay. Makes me very nervous.

 

Glad it ended well. Usually you can't risk confronting an agressive/idiot drivers because you never know what you're getting yourself into.

 

Very good! It seems SUVs just love to creep up...maybe this jerk will get the message.

 

Half a car-length at (unspecified) interstate speed is what really fries me. I got a thing from state farm the other day with advice for parents of new teenage drivers. It reiterated a rule of thumb I hadn't heard for awhile - you should pass an object two seconds after the car in front of you passes it. I tried it, seems about right.

 

You won't be allowed that kind of following distance here. People will dart in between. LOTS of room at 2 seconds for a lot of people. Can't imagine anyone getting ticketed here for stopping close either. Unless it turns in to a wreck, I can't even see following close being a ticket here.

If you're on a multi-lane, and can move over, best thing to do is move over and let the person by. Otherwise you risk a bi-lateral road-rage war between an aggressive and a passive-aggressive driver.

 

"Passive-aggressive driver" is a great term that I've never thought of before! I know so many people I know do that and it annoys the heck out of me, because it is definitely never going to make a bad situation better.

 

Sweet! I hate tailgaters, when I drive my wife's giant SUV I can just ignore them but with the cooper I get so mad seeing their bumper almost touching my precious car!!! What are they trying to accomplish...get there a picosecond faster than me...grrrrrrrrr

 

My hero! Good for you!

 

I can't claim credit. There was a tv news interview with a TX State Trooper over why we're seeing so many wrecks. They was actually his words. He was pointing out that slow drivers in the left lane, tapping brakes, impeding traffic was just as dangerous, and just as bad a form of aggressive driving as the typical "speeding driver" scenario. My jaw dropped. I NEVER thought I'd see an interview like that.

 

Lucky you! Most cops could care less about most things like this.

 

Passive-aggressive driver has been a term in common (and unfortunately, in constant) usage in Los Angeles for years. Unfortunately, it often escalates into road rage.

 

Good for you .
My neighbor got a ticket for following to close and he couldn't understand it .

 

I agree that following too far back will lead to the darting in between you're talking about, but two seconds is smart and less than that is not. Most driver training resources now are saying, "3 seconds", and the senior driving courses say, "4 seconds". From my testing on the freeway, both 3 and 4 seconds result in exactly what you're talking about, but at 2 seconds this doesn't seem to happen frequently (you'll always have that now-and-then jerk who will move into that hole if there's any kind of fit at all). I've driven most major U.S. cities and I will say that if you live in the region around one particular major East Coast city you're probably right, but there it's the norm and you develop your driving skills in a special manner that's centered around simply surviving your daily driving experience.

 

Is it me or do people tailgate us more when were in our Mini's ,Ive pulled over a number of times to let people go by,and its not like I'm going slow, most the time theres a car right in front of me.Someone else wrote in the forum "people want to run you over or race you when your in a Mini".

 

That was my initial thought when we got our first mini, but I think alot of times the vehicle behind you isn't actually as close as it seems. Of course there are always those jerks that do actually tailgate.

 

It's either that or people look closer because of how our back hatch is. I generally downshift and hit the gas. As poor of a decision as it may be, I feel safer when things come at me from the front then from the behind.

glad you stood up for yourself lynnel... I can't do stuff here as the majority of suv/truck drivers are jerks and carry concealed weapons. Be carefull out there.

 

I didn't confront him and I urge anyone not to do so. You never know what kind of lunatic you will be dealing with. I just saw the cop and took the opportunity. I waitied in my car and never talked to the tailgater.

 

This post is very timely for me. I was driving to work the other day in a one lane 25 mph zone. And some woman was on my tail. I mouthed angrily, "Get off my back!" She mouthed something back and stayed on my tail. We passed a sign that said "25 MPH" and I pointed to it. She mouthed something back and stayed on my tail. As I approached the light, she passed me on the right in the school bus boarding zone and sped ahead. I caught up to her at the next light. And then she sped down the road out of sight. I just hope she gets caught one day. What I want to know is...what makes her think she was in the right? She was tailgating in a 25MPH zone and she passed me on the right in a no passing zone. I still get angry whenever I think about it.

 

I think this definitely happens. It's like it's some sort of psychological power/inferiority thing. Like people who go out of their way to hurt small animals.

 

Good for you, LynnEl, idiots like that guy deserve to be ticketed and worse. These are the people honking at you to go when you're the fifth car in an intersection waiting for a light to change.

About tailgaters in on the freeway, I think we can take lessons from the Europeans on this one. I was surprised at just how quickly I acclimated myself to driving in Europe because everyone there drives with common courtesy in mind (only on the freeways, city driving is entirely different). Canada's the same for the most part. The passing lane is reserved for just that, everyone keeps to the right and switches lanes to allow faster traffic to pass, and everyone still drives really close to one another (about 1.5 seconds if not a bit less). No accidents, no complaints, no arguments, and no road rage.

 

Speaking of small animals, I have a question. My husband is a police sergeant in the state SPCA so I have a police family shield in my car that is attached with suction cups to the driver's side back seat window. Do you think had I had the shield showing in the boot window, would that woman not have tailgated me? If so, any suggestions as to how I can display the shield out the back without drilling any holes? I also don't want to attach it to the window with suction cups because of the defroster wires.

 

Here in Alabama I have seen cars tailgating cops in their copcars doing 70+ on the Interstate What made me mad was that the cop being tailgaited just kept on driving & did nothing to the tailgator

 

There are people who believe those shields indicate you are a cop, so it would probably work, at least some of the time. No idea how it would mount, though.