How Do You Deal With Tailgaters?

[shooterdon]

I'm not concerned with the speed limit as I drive as safely as I can when towing. Some trailer tires are rated at 65 mph and the last thing I need is a blowout.

Agree. When I pulled a 43 foot toyhauler fifth wheel my maximum speed was 65 mph. That was 10 mph less than the speed limit and I did not care. I stayed in the right lane unless I wanted to pass a slower vehicle and then I would make sure I had plenty of space and time to pass without impeding the left lane. If the road was busy I "sucked it up" and stayed behind the slower vehicle.

It burns my butt when an 18 wheeler pulls out to pass doing 1 mph faster than the vehicle he wants to pass and takes forever to pass. I blame both drivers. The one who passed knowing he was going to impede traffic and the slower vehicle for not easing off the accelerator to let the other pass more quickly.
A few of the big rig drivers are jerks.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

If you're in the fast lane going 15 over and someone comes up behind you and you won't move over, in Indiana you'll get a ticket for impeded traffic.

The guy speeding faster than you would also get a speeding ticket, if caught, but they'll go after anyone in the left lane impeding traffic.

Here, 15 over is asking for a ticket. The immature tailgaters who insist on going faster aren't helping themselves arrive sooner, either. The traffic is sufficiently thick that it is not possible to do better than 85. All they do is torment one driver after another, knowing that driver has other people in front who are going the same speed. It's not about speed. It's about being nasty to other people because of groundless hostility and the false sense of safety a vehicle gives cowards.

Not that the cops ever enforce the tailgating or slow travel laws.

Cops are among the worst tailgaters. It's part of the "Little God with a Badge" set of privileges.

 

[kf4uda]

My Wife and I have been watching police bodycam videos lately. We discovered a channel that had Arkansas State Troopers patrolling I-40. This is a huge drug smuggling route from Oklahoma to the East. The troopers look for rental cars and one of the common reasons they use to pull them over is they are following too close to the vehicle in front of them. They catch a lot of them but probably even more get by.

 

[Jstpssng]

Just move over unless you're passing. Pretty easy to do

I think of this often when passing a line of cars and somebody comes up behind me.
I'm doing 75, the right lane is doing 65... should I slam on the brakes before or after entering the slower lane?

KY passed a law that you must get over to the next lane if there is a vehicle on the shoulder.

Here it's pull over or slow down. Often if in the left lane you may not even know there is somebody on the shoulder until it's too late to do anything. Still, if the car in the other lane signals to change lanes it should give a clue.

I've talked to wrecker operators who share some scary near misses.

 

[sklunk]

This won't stop tailgaters, but I saw 2 bumper stickers that I liked.

No picture of this one but it said
"My Brakes Work Fine - How's Your Insurance?"

Or if you can find this one from Dude Wipes (very limited quantities but great advertising!):

 

[MossRoad]

...

Not that the cops ever enforce the tailgating or slow travel laws.

...

They do here. Something like 700 tickets and 7000 warnings for the left lane law so far.

 

[MossRoad]

My Wife and I have been watching police bodycam videos lately. We discovered a channel that had Arkansas State Troopers patrolling I-40. This is a huge drug smuggling route from Oklahoma to the East. The troopers look for rental cars and one of the common reasons they use to pull them over is they are following too close to the vehicle in front of them. They catch a lot of them but probably even more get by.

On Patrol Live!

 

[MossRoad]

I think of this often when passing a line of cars and somebody comes up behind me.
I'm doing 75, the right lane is doing 65... should I slam on the brakes before or after entering the slower lane?

....

You should move over as soon as it's safely possible. Pretty simple.

 

[MossRoad]

This won't stop tailgaters, but I saw 2 bumper stickers that I liked.

No picture of this one but it said
"My Brakes Work Fine - How's Your Insurance?"

Or if you can find this one from Dude Wipes (very limited quantities but great advertising!):

View attachment 4346821

Dude Wipes.... keeping plumbers employed for since 2012.

 

[Jstpssng]

You should move over as soon as it's safely possible. Pretty simple.

That means when I get to the front of the line of cars, just as I always do. Pretty simple.

 

[RB5]

Just finished 1800 miles mostly at night and big pickups were the only tailgaters and most had piercing headlights enhanced by lift kits.

If someone wants to pass it’s the sooner the better… always say to myself maybe a medical emergency?

The extremely bright headlights on many newer vehicles are a hazard in my book…

I read some OEM may actually be too bright.

Don't forget some now have auto dimming headlights that are supposed to dim when another car approaches. It's pretty dark where we live and I suspect that doesn't always work. Seems to me some of the city folks that move out here are used to having lights everywhere and think they need brights even when someone is coming towards them. It got much worse after everyone moved out here during COVID.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

That means when I get to the front of the line of cars, just as I always do. Pretty simple.

Exactly. I'm not going to move over and get behind people doing 50 over and over just so some rude and dangerous person who wants to do 90 instead of 85 can have his way.

 

[Torvy]

That means when I get to the front of the line of cars, just as I always do. Pretty simple.

If that is the case for me, I take the first gap. If no gaps and I'm not waiting on somone else to move their tail, I speed up to get to the front sooner.

Camping in the left lane is no more legal than speeding. People getting on their high horse need to realize they don't have the moral high ground and do the civil thing and move out of the way as soon as possible.

Either they have a reason to be going fast, or maybe their are a hot-head. Not worth the accident or worse because you thin you're the rule enforcer. (Generic you)

 

[Torvy]

Don't forget some now have auto dimming headlights that are supposed to dim when another car approaches. It's pretty dark where we live and I suspect that doesn't always work. Seems to me some of the city folks that move out here are used to having lights everywhere and think they need brights even when someone is coming towards them. It got much worse after everyone moved out here during COVID.

My auto-dimming lights have the opposite problem. They tend to dim when I drive past a homestead with a light on, or my headlights light up a reflector. They dim more quickly than I would manually.

I'm very rural now and grew up in an even more remote part of the country. I don't even like the yard lights many rural people put on their power poles.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

It's not about being a rule enforcer. it's about not having to weave in and out for hours to help immature people.

 

[Torvy]

It's not about being a rule enforcer. it's about not having to weave in and out for hours to help immature people.

If you're doing it over and over, it's a you problem. Either drive with the flow of traffic or choose a route better suited to your style. What you are doing is as dangerous as what they are doing.

 

[Renze]

Do smokestacks in the bed help?

My coworker had a red Dodge Cummins witg 6 inch stacks in the bed. I always call him Luigi, the Supermario plumber who keeps spare ducting in the bed

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Hmm, never seen anywhere that had two different speed limits, but also I have never been out there

Much of the Interstate Highway System in the West has truck speeds of 65 or 70-mph, and vehicle speeds of 75 or 80-mph.

 

[Renze]

It's not about being a rule enforcer. it's about not having to weave in and out for hours to help immature people.

Sorry, but saying this is a clear sign of immaturity.

If keeping up with modern traffic is too much for you, you're free to stay in the slow lane.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

Folks, a safe driver is a courteous driver, and a courteous driver is a safe driver.

Skill sets you should have learned as a toddler, and kindergartener apply for the rest of your life.