How Do You Deal With Tailgaters?

[Eagle1]

Yeah, we get that in Chicago, too.

I have to say the city I don't mind drive around is the west side of Indianapolis. Traffic always seems to flow just right. South and east/west sides of St. Louis never seemed bad, either, the 4 years we went through there fairly often.

West is OK once you get past 6 Flags (Eureka) and Pacific, terrible from Fenton until then.

 

[Torvy]

Same here, when we have the rare luxury of 4 lanes each direction. Because Philly is a much older city, and most of the routes in are cut thru a hilly river valley, we more often have only 2 lanes with enough traffic to fill 4 - 6.

Out-of-staters are almost universally shocked or terrified, the first time they experience the Schuylkill Expressway, known locally as the Sure-Kill Deathway. It was already operating beyond its design capacity when they opened the first few segments in the 1960's, and it has gotten exponentially worse, each decade since.

I've only been in PHI once. Landed and took an Uber Black to Wilmington, DE for work. I didn't really get to see any of Philadelphia.

We drove around it and went through Allentown to Hershey and stopped at Gettysburg. We avoided NYC on that trip, too.

 

[MossRoad]

West is OK once you get past 6 Flags (Eureka) and Pacific, terrible from Fenton until then.

Guess we were just lucky. Made about 50 trips through there over a 4 year period.

 

[WinterDeere]

I've only been in PHI once. Landed and took an Uber Black to Wilmington, DE for work. I didn't really get to see any of Philadelphia.

Great city to visit, esp. Olde City, where everything from the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution were drafted and signed. You can also see one of the country's best art museums, what's left of Ben Franklin's house, Edgar Allen Poe's and the Betsy Ross houses, etc.

But I wouldn't want to live there. It's a big, noisy, dirty old city.

We drove around it and went through Allentown to Hershey and stopped at Gettysburg. We avoided NYC on that trip, too.

I was in Allentown yesterday, but I didn't listen to the Billy Joel song while there. I live in the rural 'burbs, about half way between Philly and Allentown.

 

[BackRoad]

Yeah, we get that in Chicago, too.

I have to say the city I don't mind drive around is the west side of Indianapolis. Traffic always seems to flow just right. South and east/west sides of St. Louis never seemed bad, either, the 4 years we went through there fairly often.

Oh, but the East side of Indy with all the construction is the evil twin of the west side.

 

[MossRoad]

Oh, but the East side of Indy with all the construction is the evil twin of the west side.

Absolutely! Seems like that's been under construction since the 70s!

 

[MossRoad]

Oh, but the East side of Indy with all the construction is the evil twin of the west side.

One of our kids lives on the south side. Her GPS always wants her to take the east side when she comes up to visit because it's a tad shorter. About the third time we told her 'TAKE THE WEST SIDE!'. She's finally convinced.

 

[BossofBBQ]

Anybody who tailgates me gets a large black cloud of smoke in their windshield. Diesel power!

 

[Renze]

Quite a while back, I was headed home from work and some asshat in a BMW was right on my rear bumper, I mean no more than ten feet off it, for several miles. I could see he had a big cup of something he was taking a swig out of every once in a while, so I waited until he had the cup up to his face and gave him a brake check. Next thing I saw was whatever he was drinking splash all over the inside of the windshield. He blew his horn then pulled over and stopped. I was still laughing when I got home.

Reminds me of the government commercial to raise awareness to tailgating and remind people to keep 2 seconds of distance at any speed: its in Dutch yet the text is obvious:

 

[Renze]

The advice around here, is to NOT pull your tractor or other SMV off for people. You have the right of way once on the road, and you pull over, you have yielded that, so; if it pulling back onto the road, thats on you. They advice to maintain your position, and others can go around as they are able.

We have tractor passing havens at a provincial road. Yet in the morning rush hour, nobody uses them because when you pull over and stop, you can wait till rush hour is over before you get a chance to pull back on the road...

 

[Oaktree]

My point is that unless somebody has a badge, blue lights and a summonse book they have no right to enforce the speed limit by being a rolling road block or any other method.

Which brings up the question, what is the purpose of a rolling road block? Vermont seems to do this periodically on I-91...a conga line of state police cruisers side by side at exactly the speed limit, or sometimes below. This is not in a construction zone, just something they do from time to time.
The hype is to "promote safe driving" or some similar BS, but I don't see how it accomplishes that.

 

[jjeff]

When I towed cars I'd flip on the rear work lights. When I plowed snow id flip on the strobes and unleash a pelting of salt on the tailgater yeah I was an a-hole when I was getting paid to drive especially in the middle of the night. However the plow trucks I drove had pretty large legible signs with instructions not to follow to close.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Reminds me of when I was a lineman for the Bell System during the 1968 strike. One of the harassment tactics used by union workers was to closely tailgate company vehicles driven by management employees. This was sanctioned by the union and not a very smart idea. Many tickets were issued over the 8 week strike and resulted in one nearly fatal rear end collision.

The union officials responsible were heavily fined and many lawsuits were filed. Needless to say, that tactic was never repeated.

 

[stephenh]

Many years ago, my best friend and I, in high school, were riding with his father out to their horse property along a narrow county lane. The father was a bit of a lead foot, and we got stuck behind a couple kids in a pickup who slowed us way down wih no chance to pull out and pass. As we tail-gated them, the passenger looked back, then reached down behind their seat and pulled up a plywood cutout of a hand with raised middle finger and wagged it back and forth in the rear window. My friend and I just about had a very early aneurism laughing but his father almost blew his stack in anger. Probably sixty years ago, but I still remember the big grin on the guy's face as he wagged that thing back and forth.

 

[RB5]

I was told by a state trooper to not avoid hitting an animal. More damage or loss of life could occur. An over steering can cause loss of control for most people. Sports cars would be able to handle to maneuver far better as long as driver is paying attention.

I've hit small to medium sized animals over the years. Little to no damage to vehicles. Haven't had a deer strike me yet! Had a few try to race me! Crazy things! Don't honk your horn at them, they'll return to where they were last safe. That could cause them to return in front of you or others that crossed and waiting to return across in front of you.

I had a deer that was standing near the 55mph highway actually try to head butt my car as i drove by. My uncle had warned me about that section of the highway. He even told me the deer would sometimes turn and head toward you car.

 

[mark in portugal]

I've been sideswiped by a pig while I was on a motorbike.
He got me the first time; the second time, I hit the brakes hard and he cut by infront of me.
Actually, I've hit most domestic animals on my motorbike... a goat, a cow, a dog, a cat, and quite a few chickens.

 

[JRH02]

For me its best that I ignore them. 2020 4wd F350 8' Supercab with a pintle/ball hitch sticking out. It's guaranteed to wreck their day if not paying attention. And a very good chance they'll have to pay for my new bumper at worst....

 

[WinterDeere]

I've hit most domestic animals on my motorbike... a goat, a cow, a dog, a cat, and quite a few chickens.

Damn! I can’t imagine many motorbike/cow collisions end well, for the rider or the cow!

 

[jjeff]

I've been sideswiped by a pig while I was on a motorbike.
He got me the first time; the second time, I hit the brakes hard and he cut by infront of me.
Actually, I've hit most domestic animals on my motorbike... a goat, a cow, a dog, a cat, and quite a few chickens.

An actual pig? As in bacon eventually ending up in my frying pan for breakfast?

 

[mark in portugal]

As this happened in India, I had to be quite diplomatic; I lifted myself off the road, then got the bike to the side too, as it was a major route with fast traffic. And cows.

"How is the cow?" I asked the crowd that (as usual) appeared from nowhere.

The cow was fine they told me.

I looked down at my motorbike; "It was foreign." I said.

"Now it's Indian!" someone said, taking my cue perfectly, and we all laughed.

Which, in my case, hurt some.

I bought the goat I hit on another occasion, with the same motorcycle, and some friends ate it. That was a bad one for me, I was still going 30pmh after the collision, but without the motorcycle.

I felt real bad about the dog and the cat, but they ran off. I know the dog died later.

Never worry about chickens, they run into the front wheel, spin around a few times, get spit out by the back wheel, and just keep right on going.

Pigs though; they think you're a predator and actively try to turn you over.