Author Topic: Webmonster rant....Tailgating! (Read 6152 times)

PeteSC · « **on:** August 24, 2005, 01:52:59 PM »

Excuse the sermon, but whether on a bike, or a car, I notice a majority of people following other vehicles too closely.

Of course, 'tailgating' is stupid, and more so on a bike.

The main reasons I don't tail-gate are:

If my attention drifts, and the car ahead of me does something stupid or stops suddenly....I have more time to react!

You can't always see what's ahead of the vehicle ahead of you, particularily large vehicles. (Van, trucks, RV's) THEY may not be paying attention. If there's some debris int he road they're gonna hit, or try to straddle at the last moment.....you may not have the space and time to avoid it.
Large trucks frequently use recaps, which are prone to volatile self-destruction...which can send heavy chunks of tread flying. The noise alone is enough to make me wet my pants, if I'm close enough.
Give them space....they also have MAJOR blind spots behind, and alongside of them.
The obvious one is directly behind the truck. "If you can't see his mirrors, he can't see you", pretty much holds true.
( The other problem area is alongside the cab of the truck, where you're transitioning from being viewable in the mirrors, to being viewable in the peripheral vision of the driver.)

It's real tempting to creep up on a car when you're looking for an opportunity to pass. Try to avoid it, you lessen your view of what's ahead
and may annoy the driver....inciting some stupid reaction.
You also can't assume the driver will actually use turn signals if you try to pass on a secondary road if they decide to turn.

One more reason not to pass in the Southern US. Some people still chew tobacco!
Likewise, a tossed cigarette can make life interesting when it hits some bare skin....

EODSarge · « **Reply #1 on:** August 24, 2005, 05:30:52 PM »

Interesting; I just got done teaching a National Safety Council Defensive Driving Class (10% discount on your car insurance!) and one of the points I made was the importance of giving adequate following distance. Three seconds is the suggestion... when the car in front of you passes an object, like a telephone pole, count to three and you should pass the same object on three. Why? Well, let's look at some things:

1) The average reaction time is one second. That's the time it will take you to see the guy in front of you jam on his brakes, realize what he's doing, and get on your brakes.

2) If you're doing, say, 60 mph; that's 5280 x 60 feet per 3600 seconds, or 88 feet per second. Each second you ride, you travel 88 feet.

Now, say you give one car length between you and the car in front of you. Average car is what, 11 feet long? In that one second that it takes you to react to the car in front of you, you've travelled 88 feet. Where are you now? Answer: In his back seat, wondering what happened.

Likewise, if *you're* being tailgated, you should *increase* the distance between you and the car in front of you. This gives you more time to react to him stopping, so you can come to a gradual stop rather than having to jam on your brakes and have that tailgater eat your Cheng-Shins.

Thus endeth the DDC lesson for the day.

Red01 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 24, 2005, 07:39:49 PM »

Quote from: "EODSarge"

Three seconds is the suggestion... when the car in front of you passes an object, like a telephone pole, count to three and you should pass the same object on three.

Not a quick 1-2-3 either, but the ol' one-one thousand, two-one thousand, three-one thousand.

PeteSC · « **Reply #3 on:** August 27, 2005, 11:11:06 PM »

Yup, and even more on a bike, you need to increase the following distance when the pavement is wet.

I nearly got creamed in stop and go traffic today by some dumb cow, with an old GM full size something or another...loaded down with at least 6-7 heads I could see.
Traffic came to a stop. This bimbo was still accelerating....thinking she was going who knows where?
I saw her notice traffic was stopped, and braced myself....she dove on the brakes for a while, satrted sliding, then decided heading onto the shoulder was her safest bet...and she came to a stop FINALLY about halfway up the length of my pickup.
Why do these morons think a gas pedal is an on/off switch?
If you're in stop and go traffic, or facing blocks of traffic lights......do you need to floor it every time traffic moves?

billster · « **Reply #4 on:** August 28, 2005, 04:59:53 AM »

Great post, Pete! One of my biggest nits - tailgaters! I used to LOVE writing these jackasses up...and none of them understood what they were getting a summons for. It seems the more driver ed they get pre-license, the worse they're driving. Here on LawnGuyLand there's no longer two car fender benders...always involves 4-5 cars rearending each other cause everyone's brown-nosing with their lattes and cell phones in their Beemers and SUVs. And if you lay back for 'air cushion' defensively they pass you and stuff their 3 ton Hummer in your face .... the punishment for YOU not joining the tailgate party. I leave my .45 home lately....I get so pissed off.

Billster

PeteSC · « **Reply #5 on:** August 28, 2005, 10:40:30 AM »

It's hard not to get pissed off.
Seriously, the only tactic to cope with stupid traffic is to remain 'emotionally detached'.
Don't let that idiot piss you off. Ignore them, (Not really, you've got to keep your eye on the jerks...and you're paying attention, you're just not letting them push your buttons.).
The real idiots enjoy seeing you react, they like 'beating you' if you move to keep them from cutting you off.
This is the only place they feel 'powerful'. They want you to 'play' with them.
You can't prevent them from killing themselves, (preferable) or somebody else, but you sure as heck can keep your arse from being involved.
After 3 million miles of driving on mostly US highways, I know I can't stop the 'idiots', but I can do the most I can to not get involved with them.
Let them find another victim....

billster · « **Reply #6 on:** August 28, 2005, 01:50:01 PM »

i've got a few miles under the belt between personal drive/ride and professionally driving patrol cars and totally agree. BUT....it's always a joy to box a nitwit in once in a while. I try not to play like that on the bike - we're victims looking for a place to crash when dealing with 3 tons of steel with brainless mammals behind the wheel. HOWEVER - I have been known (albeit many years ago) to kick in a driver's door or three.

heheh.

Cheers
Bill

PeteSC · « **Reply #7 on:** August 28, 2005, 07:39:51 PM »

Well, if you REALLY want to piss a road rager off...............

When some moron pulls up alongside you at a traffic light, and is screaming and making rude gestures about some inconvenience he thinks you caused him.....if you really want to piss them off, smile and wave at them! Don't say anything, or make a gesture...or act sarcastic.
Just smile and wave like they're a long lost friend.

I've seen a couple totally lose it....and one actually ran off the road.

What I love to do in a truck when you're in a construction zone that's down to one lane, with cones or something at the lane edge, and there's some antsy moron behind you, tailgating, and pulling out to peek around the truck occasionally....is to barely miss the cones.....
This really drives them nuts! They want to move over to peek around the truck....but can't without hitting one. I'm a good enough driver I can miss them by a fraction of an inch.
OF course, they're too stupid to realize if they increased the space between them, and the back of my truck, they could see more.

billster · « **Reply #8 on:** August 28, 2005, 07:54:58 PM »

A smile goes a long way.....

Had a Wixom fairing on my CB750 and an Army surplus ammo bag clipped to the left mounting strap with a handful of glass marbles in it. Would flip one over the shoulder just the right height to bounce off the windshield of the tailgater behind me. They'd back off looking around...looking around. HAHAHHA. Age sucks. Now, if anyone can keep up with my Bandit enough to ride my ass, I'll yield the lane to him/her......SPEAKING OF HER...notice how 'lovely' the young lady drivers are today? CHRIST! That's another story.

Red01 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 29, 2005, 09:18:07 PM »

Quote from: "billster"

Great post, Pete! One of my biggest nits - tailgaters! I used to LOVE writing these jackasses up...and none of them understood what they were getting a summons for.

Friday, on the ride in to work, had a county deputy tailing me for a couple miles. When the speed limit dropped from 50 to 35, the guy was on me close enough to read the serial number of his license tabs in my mirror - if we still had 'em here in WA. Anyone else, and I would have sped up a tad, but not wanting any performance awards, I pulled into a business and let him go on by. Giving him all kinds of kind words in my mind as he went on by.

Dave 02 1200 · « **Reply #10 on:** April 13, 2006, 03:29:28 PM »

At 70 mph you are covering 102.66 feet every second. Vehicles moving the same direction as you are a real hazard if they or you are too close - but the big surprises come from stationary road debris because, if you don't allow ample visual space in front of your MC, it can come upon you faster than you can react. For example, a "road gator" in the form of a tire casing can appear in front of you as the car in front passes over it leaving you no chance of responding in time to avoid the hazard. I ride in the tire track of the car in front of me to improve my chances. If a car weaves, I consider that they might be avoiding an obstacle in the road. My best defense is to ride faster than traffic with as much visual space in front as possible. When that is not possible, I back off to increase distance and, if a driver is tailgating, I use my brake light to let the following driver know that I am uncomfortable with their position right behind me. If that fails, I do a quick countersteer to make the bike appear to wobble. That makes them back off almost every time. And if that fails, I pull off for a cup of coffee and let the fools go.. My motto is FIDO, forget it, drive on.

Sven · « **Reply #11 on:** April 13, 2006, 03:54:10 PM »

Not to excuse tailgating (and even the best of us have an occasional bout of it), but as drivers seem to becoming more competitive over time, if you leave any space at all, some idiot uses it to pull in front of you, usually with no lane change indicator, and usually leaving you even less space than you would have left for yourself had you simply been tailgating.

So you slow back or try to change lanes, providing a gap for some other idiot to do to you again. No, I'm not going to say that falling back repeatedly will cause you to get to work late, but simply that trying to be a good driver/rider often feels like a one-man sport.

B6mick · « **Reply #12 on:** April 15, 2006, 07:49:09 AM »

Quote from: "billster"

A smile goes a long way.....

Had a Wixom fairing on my CB750 and an Army surplus ammo bag clipped to the left mounting strap with a handful of glass marbles in it. Would flip one over the shoulder just the right height to bounce off the windshield of the tailgater behind me. They'd back off looking around...looking around. HAHAHHA. Age sucks. Now, if anyone can keep up with my Bandit enough to ride my ass, I'll yield the lane to him/her......SPEAKING OF HER...notice how 'lovely' the young lady drivers are today? CHRIST! That's another story.

I used to carry a mower spark plug, does the same job, but when ya get pulled by the cops, and they ask if you have lost a spare plug it don't match the spare plugs that I carry

But having spent 9 months in hospital, after being cleaned up from behind, my tolerance of tailgaters is extremely low.

Desolation Angel · « **Reply #13 on:** April 15, 2006, 10:41:28 AM »

Quote from: "PeteSC"

... What I love to do in a truck when you're in a construction zone that's down to one lane, with cones or something at the lane edge, and there's some antsy moron behind you, tailgating, and pulling out to peek around the truck occasionally....is to barely miss the cones.....
This really drives them nuts! They want to move over to peek around the truck....but can't without hitting one. I'm a good enough driver I can miss them by a fraction of an inch.
OF course, they're too stupid to realize if they increased the space between them, and the back of my truck, they could see more.

You evil, wicked man, you! This is the only way I "play" with people in my car. If they are tailgating, and riding on or over the yellow shoulder line desperately trying to see around me, then I will drive in the exact position so they can't.

Hey! I'm going well over the speed limit, I'm going the same speed as the car in front of me, there're cars immediately to my right...dude, @sshole, I can't get out of your way. Deal with it. I can see them going insane behind me sometimes when no matter how far onto the shoulder they pull ... I AM DIRECTLY IN THEIR FIELD OF VISION! Besides, they need to be looking at ME anyway, and not focusing on some sh!t down the road ahead of me.

My fellow drivers are so completely stupid. They entertain me greatly!

theroamr · « **Reply #14 on:** April 16, 2006, 04:50:07 PM »

If your on the bandit and have a tailgater riding you, heres a lil trick. With your left boot heel gently push down your center stand. Then watch your rear view mirror. It normally throws a rooster tail of sparks and scares the cager to death. This normally fixes or aggravates the tail gating problem. This is obviously more dramatic at night. Make sure if you attempt this there are no pot holes or anything in the road to catch the center stand or you will not appreciate this trick.