Today I was on the highway and was being tailgated moronically by a girl in a Clubman S (I was going 80 in the fast lane).

As much as I would like to make the absurd generalization that all MINI owners are great drivers, reality is obviously very different.

I want people to answer this question honestly: Do you tailgate? Why? How do you rationalize it if you do? In my opinion tailgating is almost always a very clear sign that someone is a poor, immature, non-logical and non-thinking driver in some key respects.

 

No.. I don't tailgate....but maybe she was just excited to see another clubby..

 

Maybe she wanted to pass you. Just let her by and follow her.

 

Why in the world would someone want to go faster than you? Maybe you get out of the left lane!

 

i've got close for a second implying a person to move but just for a few seconds. i think it's one of the more dangerous things on the road. fortunately i usually fire my squirt guns (headlamp washers, windscreen wipers) and unload a bunch of fluid. usually people back off. it was much better before in my c class as it had a dedicated headlamp washer button. you could really squirt them with that one!

 

"tailgating is almost always a very clear sign that someone is a poor, immature, non-logical and non-thinking driver in some key respects"

People who are intoxicated can fixate on the rear of a vehicle.

 

i flicker my rear fogs

 

I see a lot of the 'rules' of basic driver's ed 'violated' these days. Many people just camp out in the passing lane instead of using it well...to pass. I think it has something to do with the volume of traffic on the roads (especially the Thruway in NYS), but I don't think that's all of it. I've noticed many people don't bother dimming their lights to oncoming traffic, and yes, many people tailgate--no such thing as the two second or car-length for every 10 mph of speed anymore. People zoom in and out as if they (and everyone around them) were invincible.

I rarely tailgate, though I'm sure I'm not perfect. Actually, I'm almost amazed every time I make it to and from my destination without mis-hap. Just seems like the odds are against us these days...

 

Ever notice how anyone that is going slower than you is a moron,

and anyone going faster is a maniac?

-- George Carlin

 

Common rule of the road, stay right unless passing. Just let her by. I drive a tractor trailor for a living and nothing annoys me more than someone who hangs out in a passing lane when the one to the right is clear. Simple driving courtesy. I'm not saying what she was doing was right but if you see someone coming close, simply move over and let them by.

 

+1 CRoth

 

+2

Neither a tailgater nor a lane blocker be.

 

This right here is your problem. It's not the fast lane, it's the passing lane. Get back over where you belong... on the right, if you're not the one doing the passing.

 

I will get up on someones bumper for 10-15 seconds to let them know I would like to pass. Usually they get the message and move over.

 

[I will get up on someones bumper for 10-15 seconds to let them know I would like to pass. Usually they get the message and move over.

Evidently you haven't driven in Phoenix

 

never a good idea to get up on someone's bumper or tailgate, ..no matter for how long. It does seem that everyone (in California) tailgates, yet still no excuse. Put it this way, I'd rather have plenty of time to avoid an accident.

 

well I ain't no saint...

but tailgating is a worry.

proper seperation is 2 seconds of seperation at all speeds - which amounts to 180-200 feet at what passes for highway speed these days...

the old school rule used to be 1 carlength/10 mph, or 7 carlengths at highway speed, which amounts to only 80-90 feet (which of course is less than one second of travel time these days - 88 ft/sec @ 60 mph...

reaction time (use the NHRA standard) is .4 sec, which means when sh*t happens my car travels almost 40 feet while my brain talks to my eyes and mebbe starts to give a command or two to arms and/or legs

so by the old school rule, if the car ahead of me dodges a stationary hazard and I'm 6 car lengths back, I have about 50 feet and perhaps .6 sec to alter course and/or speed sufficiently to deal with it -- not likely

but wait! this is massachusetts and a following distance of a couple of hundred feet on the highway is an invitation for other drivers to cut in, which is a direct insult to my manhood - right?

well, actually each driver that cuts in delays my arrival by a couple of seconds - extending my trip by a tiny fraction (I remember this from an Australian safe drivers course by the way)

here's a few experiences for your dining and dancing pleasure...

1. northbound from the Golden Gate bridge going over the 2nd big hill en route to Mill Valley in the passing lane in heavy traffic at 75 mph. as I crest that hill the 2nd car in front of me does something odd - the trunk suddenly sticks up in the air a bit. instinctively I toss the bike left into the open HOV lane (without looking) and save my own life as the car ahead of me spears into the wreckage of two others that had already crashed just over the blind brow. I heard the crunch as the bike slid by the carnage. Following distance was less than 100 feet and I was just lucky.

2. northbound from Boston on old Rt. 1, in Saugus with medium traffic and the passing lane going 65. My son, returning from taking his girlfriend back to college, is cruising home and maintainiing an unsafe following distance of 100 feet or so. The car ahead swerves violently into the center lane, no brake lights just the panicked twist of the wheel. My son, unable to stop and trapped by a car to his right, drives under the parked four door Mercury sedan that someone abandoned in the passing lane at 3 in the afternoon. He escaped with cuts and bruises by the grace of God.

3. eastbound on 128 going to Gloucester, which is a lovely set of fast sweepers that finally end at the rotary on the east side off the Annisquam River. I'm tailgating frankly, waiting for the car ahead of me to move over into the impending gap in the travel lane traffic. He runs over a piece of tire tread (which weighed about 5 pounds) and caused it to bounce about 18 inches off the road, at which altitude I hit it at 75 miles per hour just below the right headlamp. I didn't even have time to twitch, it was that fast.

I try to maintain a safe following distance, and usually succeed. It's baffling and frustrating to me that I should have even the slightest struggle with a habit that is so important.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Move over to the right lane. It's common courtesy, and you are holding up traffic. The left lane was meant for passing, not cruising.

I am not condoning her actions, but what would you do if the roles were reversed, and you were stuck behind someone going 65 in the left lane?

 

Interesting that the OP was complaining about someone else's driving and had it turned onto him.....

Two observations - I have driven the same 20 mile highway commute every day for 13 years now and have observed (not empirical data mind you) that women - particularly younger women - prefer to follow someone else on the road. That does not just mean tailgating - but frequently it is........I don't know if they're insecure about their driving skills or that doing so allows them to pay less attention to driving and more attention to the phone call they're on. Observed behavior, remember - and I'm not saying they all do it, just that if someone does it, almost all the time it's a female, and usually a younger one.

Second, that slowing down and doing the speed limit means I never wind up tailgating anyone, and adds about 1 minute to my 20 minute commute. It's been a hard habit to adopt, but using the cruise control helps.

As to the OP's original question about MINI drivers, I rarely see any on my commute, and they're always going the other direction so I've never been tailgated by one. The only time I've observed one tailgating was on a drive with other club members, and we were all tailgating then.

However, twice now I've seen the same dark silver MINI going my direction home on the highway, and as he goes the same route I do I've had ample chance to observe him and I have to say, he is not a good example for the rest of the driving population of a MINI owner! He prefers to swerve in and out of either lane, tailgates, passes in inappropriate places and in general drives like a maniac. If you're on this board, you've passed me on more than two occasions on K-10 at around 4:30 in the afternoon, and you know who you are. I'm all for spiritied driving, but you need to slow down and be more aware of you're driving habits, especially in rush hour traffic. End PSA.

 

Right lane campers is what I see as the biggest issue with traffic flow in america today. You get people bunched up behind you and tailgating is happening because they are causing it. But they have the attitude that I am doing the speed limit or more therefore I can camp in the right lane all day.
I causes stess to other drives and more simply accidents and lifes. Go to Europe and learn how to drive the proper way. You pass and you move over.
Amazing everyone does it except oblivious Amercan drivers. The police is America should be embarressed by the state of American roadways and what we have to put up with. Now you see trucks in the fast lane going over passes doing 40. Send in a check and get your drivers license in America.
You do not even have to be able to read the road signs for christ sake. We have better roads in America but its everybodies right to drive in what ever lane they feel like because the police are to lazy to enforce it. Easier to jsut doing speeding tickets I guess. I have teling this to many cops lately.
At first you can see they are pissed but after thinking about it they normally agree 100%. I tell them hell you are in it everyday and see it all. Just starting ticketing for hanging in the fast lane. Easy money, the states need the money and most people agree and will support there efforts more then sitting in the weeds with a radar gun.

 

uh...

did you mean left lane campers?

anyone else out there ever paid the price for a short following distance?

 

I did; I almost always do.

And in Los Angeles the left lane is simply another lane to drive because there are so many cars here. If lanes to the right are open and moving fast enough then you'll find me in those lanes, but L.A. needs to have the left be a driving lane or else traffic would be even worse than it already is.

 

If someone is driving fast in the left lane and staying (i.e. "camping") in Los Angeles (where I live) it's often because the roads are so packed and it's usually the fastest moving lane.

If someone's tailgating I almost always move over; an accident because of someone's inane stubbornness is not worth it, ever!

This girl just liked to tailgate. I observed her for a few miles simply tailgating whoever she was behind -- that's simply bad driving, no ifs ands or buts. The problem with tailgating is that it usually angers people and is outrageously dangerous, especially at highway speeds. People think, "I can stop if I need to, not a problem" but simple physics dictates that you often cannot brake in time for a sudden stop if you're too close. That's why if you're ever hit from behind it's almost always automatically the fault of the person behind you, by law (in California, anyway) -- and that's entirely how it should be, in my opinion.

 

I disagree, living in Los Angeles. I'll say it again: the left lane is a regular (albeit faster, more often than not) lane in L.A. -- there is simply no other way and that's simply how it needs to be here, which is why it's almost always as busy with cars as any other lane is.

 

My experience driving in the LA area, there's so much traffic that you can't really leave a lot of room to the car in front of you, it's just the circumstances you all live with. I'm not saying you glom onto their bumper, but it's difficult to leave the normal mount of room.

That said, I mentioned I've seen this type of driving behavior from a number of women, particularly younger ones....