The Tailgate-er Deterence Thread

  • Thread starter hawkeye122
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Slashfan
I have a headlight mounted to my rear bumper of out truck so if someone comes up close to use at night we blind them (lol). The real use is that we used to have to pull out of a long driveway at night and everything is covered by a tree canopy so it was difficult to see where we were going. It was installed after hitting a pine tree (no damage to the bumper, but the tree got a 6 inch deep chuck out of it all the way across the tree). I have a cast iron/steel pipe bumper bolt on with 6 rather large bolts to the frame with a few spot welds. It's been hit at over 100mph so I think we are safe.
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Are you serious?
 
Swear to god. I've got pics too. Then again that large chunk taken out was because we were doing about 40 in reverse so....Kind of our fault. Especially since we couldn't see much. The pipes a 3 inches in diameter but are solid, not hollow.
 
I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not. Maybe I'm just more used to the threads on here with people who are responsible?
 
ShobThaBob
I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not. Maybe I'm just more used to the threads on here with people who are responsible?
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This happened a few years ago. If you want I'll go outside and get a pic of the tree. I'm trying to get into my Photobucket account right now to find a pick of the bumper. I'm being completely serious. The blinding people part was a joke, we don't do that. My winter bumper up front is made of the same thing but it's like an oversized industrial bumper fitted for my Fisher plow.

EDIT: I probably should have stated that the tree is half dead though. =P
 
Maccer_42
Edit didn't see the "The blinding people part was a joke, we don't do that" before I posted.
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Yeah that would just be a total d-bag move. Just kidding around. The accident with the tree really happened though.
 
A lot of times I've noticed that there are people who tailgate other cars cause they just don't pay attention to the distance to the car in front of them. My aunt is one of those people. Yeah there are people who also tailgate just to be a dick (shame on you!). In either case, brake checking is a big no no. Personally I just let off the gas till I'm like 30 mph under the speed limit, just to piss them off.:P

In any case, I know when to get out of the way. If I'm in the left lane on the freeway, I check my rear view every 10 seconds or so. If I see someone coming up behind me, I get out of the way. And when they pass me, they give me a friendly wave. But if it's a two lane road, I'm doing 5 over, and they are still tailgating me. Well, that's not nice.
 
Whoa now, those flamethrowers are perfect! But in a serious note, I never said slam on the brakes. In the 92-01 Camry's slightly tapping the pedal will not cause you to slow down at all, but it cause your lights flash. The washer fluid thing is iffy, but it's just as dangerous as a sudden rain or the guy ahead of you splashing into a puddle. The biggest thing I have with it is I would loose one of my washers. The mirror game is ok if you're fine with loosing your mirrors, and no more dangerous than what the guy/gal behind you is doing.
 
astrosdude91
A lot of times I've noticed that there are people who tailgate other cars cause they just don't pay attention to the distance to the car in front of them. My aunt is one of those people. Yeah there are people who also tailgate just to be a dick (shame on you!). In either case, brake checking is a big no no. Personally I just let off the gas till I'm like 30 mph under the speed limit, just to piss them off.:P

In any case, I know when to get out of the way. If I'm in the left lane on the freeway, I check my rear view every 10 seconds or so. If I see someone coming up behind me, I get out of the way. And when they pass me, they give me a friendly wave. But if it's a two lane road, I'm doing 5 over, and they are still tailgating me. Well, that's not nice.
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i only ever used a serious brake check one time, and it was the last option available, I knew the risks involved, but it ended a very dangerous situation that night without further drama-

I Had two high school morons in a BMW screwing with me, down a twisty two lane stretch at night, it was a rural road, the cellphone service was non existent, and it is a lightly patrolled stretch of road, one of those weird New Jerseys for those who are familiar, not getting into it on here too much but basically the weird NJs are a bunch of places where people claim to see ghosts and other weird stuff at night, I will edit in a link later so you see. But anyways were heading home downcthwt twisty road and this 7 Series was glued to the bumper, they'd blow by me over the double yellow with hazards flashing, then they'd speed up get down the road wait for me and then get right back on my bumper. I have no idea why I think they were just looking to mess with someone, now the Pilot at the time was loaded, all rows, 7 people including myself, so there was no way in he!! it was gonna have even a chance of being able to get away from them. More worrying to me was that I could smell the BMWs brakes and tires each time it passed us... If he suddenly lost it while trying to pass the loaded pilot and headed for a collision course with my car, there was no chance the Honda carrying all of us wouldve been able to respond to me quick enough to get out of the way in time, and that was only if we could see them lose it(they sometimes turned off their lights as they were following us so we couldn't see them behind us or to the side.. You try driving along on a road that twisty knowing somewhere near you is a 5000 pound BMW that you can't see). Then theyd keep flashing their lights and stuff. My friends all helped let me know where the BMW was (such as if it was in the Pilots taillight reflection with the lights off) so I could make the correct move to keep us as safe as possible, they of course flipped the kids off keeping them coming back, enjoying our seemingly scared reaction. But I wasn't scared, quite the opposite, i was getting pissed, as the road got to a section I knew was gonna straighten out from previous experience, the BMW stayed glued to the back bumper. I'd had enough(this had been going on for 15-20 minutes). Sure the Pilot couldn't out accelerate the BMW, and surely could not out turn it, but it did have one defense in its arsenal, The best brakes of all three of my cars, the BMW didnt see it coming. As we came up to the light, I warned everyone to hang on just in case.. I checked where the BMW was (to make sure the trick would not backfire.. As in my car wouldn't collect his immediately upon hitting the brakes).. and hit the pedal just hard enough to take him off guard (but not throw forward any of my friends). Afterwards we looked behind to see where he was and the BMW was stopped WAYYYYY back.. he got my point, which was "back off pal.. Playtime over". then when the light changed we both turned right but he did not try that on me again, the two kids probably headed home t change their pants. Everyone in the car was laughing their tails off about it til we got home.

. Yeah sure, I brake checked him, but honestly that was the only way I could think to get him off my bumper without having to actually confront the kid, which at that time of the night could have been an even more dangerous preposition, I evaluated every option I could and that was the only one available to end it quickest. It would have only been a matter of time before he woulda taken both cars off the road, or hit mine and sent it into a ditch, otherwise.
 
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My dad told me this, turn on your fog lights (if you have them) sometimes the driver behind catches a flash of red, mistakes it for the brake lights and then brakes himself.
It's pretty effective most of the time and you don't run the risk of being rear ended.

But on the very rare occasion I do get tailgaited I just slow right down, so in a 60 I would do 30. It really really pisses them off a treat, then I floor it and leave them for dust.
 
xXKingJoshXx
Tail-Gater Prevention:



Drive one.
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But I don't want the instant douchebag sterotype!

This only works at night but in my Camaro I'd drop her down a few gears and make the car backfire. Luckily, the way my car's set up I can make it backfire on command. Works everytime, fun seeing the road behind you light up orange too.

It was never an issue in my old Police Interceptor though, one of those things I miss about it.
 
On Thursday we had a Fiesta right up our butt. It was blacked out and had fake LED headlights. We kept flooring it (on 60 roads... doing 60) and losing him, then once the 30 zone came he eventually caught up to us and carried on tailgating for a good few miles before turning off.

Oh, and on the same day some idiot at my cadets accused us of tailgating him - when a few weeks earlier he was right up our butt and then overtook us in a 30 zone - and threatened to smash our car up. Not entirely sure what that guy's problem is. His ego is so damn high, he thinks he can just walk around threatening everybody. I'd like to see him try to smash our car up...
 
wolfdragon97
On Thursday we had a Fiesta right up our butt. It was blacked out and had fake LED headlights. We kept flooring it (on 60 roads... doing 60) and losing him, then once the 30 zone came he eventually caught up to us and carried on tailgating for a good few miles before turning off.
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This happens a lot to me. 'Chavs' seem to have a thing for driving 4cm from your bumper when you're in a 30 or 40 zone but then don't seem to have what it takes to drive at 60 in a 60 zone, so I either let them just go past when I'm in a 30/40 zone or if I'm in a 60 zone I just drive at 60 and you leave them for dead.
 
hawkeye122
So, Im in my Mums pickup, doing the speed limit on the freeway, in the left lane, passing people.

A rather large pickup comes to within about 3 feet of my rear bumper.

What to do?
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You move out of the passing lane and let him pass. Simple as that.
 
I just move over and let them pass me. It isn't worth the trouble. If I'm on a freeway, I move to the right. On a two lane road, I pull over. It just isn't worth the trouble, and often it isn't someone trying to be a dick, it's often just someone who doesn't understand the concept of keeping a gap between your car and theirs. It's just too dangerous to get involved in a macho confrontation like that.
 
eSZee
You move out of the passing lane and let him pass. Simple as that.
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For the Zillionth time, THERE WAS NOWHERE TO MOVE TO. I was in the passing lane because I had begun to pass a row of cars and trucks. The guy zoomed right up behind me, mid-pass, and thus I couldnt get out of his way, unless you think I should have moved to the left, onto the margin.

It wasnt about trying to show the guy up, it was about i was stuck in the passing lane because this guy decided to race up right behind me. When I had begun my move into the left lane, he was nowhere in sight. He closes right up on me right as I'm passing people, on a 4-wide freeway (2 lanes per direction)


Op updated for those who continue to make the same complaint.
 
hawkeye122
For the Zillionth time, THERE WAS NOWHERE TO MOVE TO. I was in the passing lane because I had begun to pass a row of cars and trucks. The guy zoomed right up behind me, mid-pass, and thus I couldnt get out of his way, unless you think I should have moved to the left, onto the margin.

It wasnt about trying to show the guy up, it was about i was stuck in the passing lane because this guy decided to race up right behind me. When I had begun my move into the left lane, he was nowhere in sight. He closes right up on me right as I'm passing people, on a 4-wide freeway (2 lanes per direction)

Op updated for those who continue to make the same complaint.
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You did the right thing.. Hold the line, if ya sped up and he's still on your bumper that's his problem, if you speed up too fast then you become the cop bait not him. I had a Mustang get up my back in the left lane one time on a freeway, I moved over, then got back in the left and adjusted to just under his pace, no more than 30 seconds later I watched a trooper pull out from his hiding spot just off the side of the road, go right up behind the Mustang, and pull him over, the Mustang was not even 300 feet in front of me when the trooper got him. Those merges into lines of cars, trying to break open a gap, are risky anyway. As long as you eventually moved over when traffic permitted then I dont see anything wrong there.
 
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ShobThaBob
Not smart when you're already in the left lane passing people.
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If someone is moving faster than you in the left lane then you should be looking for a way to move over and let them pass. Left lane is for faster traffic. In this case, you are slower traffic.
 
Couple stories of my own:
Driving home from California (I live in Arizona), I was just cruising along on the freeway doing maybe 5 over the limit. As I was passing another car going a touch bit slower than me, some d-bag in a giant black SUV (versus my tiny little truck) gets right up on my 🤬. My guess is he was going 80 or so. Needless to say I quickly merged right and he proceeded to blast by me in the typical d-bag Californian way.

Another time was when my mom was driving my dad's truck and I was riding along. We were on the interstate with some inattentive guy in a Chevy SUV following rather close behind us. As we came up on a rather large back up in the right lane (due to a concert), we had to brake and the guy behind us (being the inattentive idiot he was) finally realized what was going on, braked hard and steered left violently, almost flipping the thing over as he went off the road. Lesson learned?


Then a couple of my friends have rigged their cars. One has a modified Jeep for crawling and stuck a washer line out the side of his hood. Other one has a Civic with a misadjusted back washer that squirts downward instead of on the glass to dissuade thieves...or to just show your friends a little "trick".


My solution to tailgating d-bags? Just ease off the throttle until you're going 10+ under the limit. Wait for them to pass and then gun it back to the speed limit.
 
Zenith013
If someone is moving faster than you in the left lane then you should be looking for a way to move over and let them pass. Left lane is for faster traffic. In this case, you are slower traffic.
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You obviously aren't paying attention to what I'm saying.

I WAS faster traffic until the other guy showed up. I was doing 70, and everyone in the right lane was doing 55. I was passing them. Mid-Pass, someone faster than me came along.

So people continue to say "Oh, you were in the wrong lane"
At that point, yes, I was. Was there anything I could do about it? No.
 
hawkeye122
You obviously aren't paying attention to what I'm saying.

I WAS faster traffic until the other guy showed up. I was doing 70, and everyone in the right lane was doing 55. I was passing them. Mid-Pass, someone faster than me came along.

So people continue to say "Oh, you were in the wrong lane"
At that point, yes, I was. Was there anything I could do about it? No.
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Pretty sure hawkeye here started the thread for some good humor, not so everyone can get their panties in a twist, can we all just relax? We've done what we've done, no need to criticize, big freakin deal he couldnt move over from the left lane, why the 🤬 is everyone crying about it? :banghead:
 
For one thing I wasn't addressing you (hawkeye) directly. That was a general statement.

But since you seek intent on this... Yes there was something you could do.

Unless he magically appeared behind you or quickly merged into your lane and accelerated, you had plenty of time to see him in your mirrors and see that he was gaining on you. Whether or not you were doing the speed limit is irrelevant. The rule is "Slower traffic keep right," not "slower traffic keep right unless you're going the speed limit."
 
Am I the only person that understands him?

He was overtaking slower traffic and had no where else to go. What do you expect him to do? Turn back into the lane and take someone out?
 
MarinaDiamandis
The best deterrent is shown in this video...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMjnQ1dvlJM">YouTube Link</a>

A nice, compact AK74U. Simply marvelous.
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LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL that's great.. And wolfdragon I made it pretty abundantly clear that I also understand and Am trying to defend him myself
 
If you're being tailgated in the far left lane then you're at fault for holding up traffic. Put your signal on an move over. Someone in the right lane will probably let you over when they see you signaling and see the other vehicle glued to your rear bumper. It makes it safer for everyone.

Doing anything to provoke the other drive is illegal in many states since it falls under anti-road-rage laws. In Michigan if you brake check someone who's following to close in attempts to get them to rear end you, you are just as at fault as the person following to closely.

The correct way to deal with someone tailgating you is to tap the brakes so that your lights come on but you don't change speed. If that doesn't work, move over to let them pass.
 

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