Nice relaxing drive to work - not

M

matthurley

Member
 Cardiff
Black A3 behind me this morning tailgating.
I put my brake on which normally stops drivers from tailgating. Message didn't get through as he then proceeded to put his lights on full beam.
I couldn't really pull over for him as there were cars in front of me.
I put my rear fogs on, this agitated him and he then undertook me and pulled infront and then slammed on his brakes about 4 times nearly causing me to go into the back of him.
Seconds later he took the next exit
 
Ignore or let past are the only two options for dealing with tail gaters.

Anything else is just stress building :thumbsup:
 
Sadly, I have to agree with nictrix. Hitting the brakes is exactly what people who tailgate you are looking for: any excuse to let the red mist descend and 'teach you a lesson'. It's never their fault, there's never anything wrong with their driving, and you will never win. You're lucky it didn't escalate to something worse (they might have jammed their brakes on, blocked you in, and got out armed with self righteous fury and probably something large and metallic to back it up with (again, to 'teach you a lesson').
Don't get me wrong, tailgaters are scum, and if natural justice has its way, they'll end up under the back of a large truck that has to stop suddenly, but because they hadn't actually hit you, there's very little you can do except pull over and let them pass (which I understand you couldn't do because of traffic).
I'd much rather have a-holes like that in front of me bothering someone else, than stuck behind me causing me grief...
 
I hate idiots like this but ultimately your first instinct was the correct one. Try and find a safe place to let him go past or just ignore him. Its really just not worth having your car hit or worse a severe accident all to travel to work! Glad to hear it didnt end with any serious issues but he sounds like a total kn0b!
 
Always easy to say, esp as I get older, but I agree with others, just ignore the nob. If anything increase the gap to the car in front of you so that you have more chance to brake gently and avoid getting rear ended by the nob.

Hope the journey home is without incident! :driving:
 
Im confused.. Is this not how every Audi is driven? :scratchhead:

We all know that a vast majority of Audi drivers have zero perceptional awareness of the distance from their face to the end of their bonnet, so tapping the brakes is never a good idea. :lol:

On a serious note though, I would have done the same if not more extreme. I get a kick out of winding these types of plebs up - they're no different to the youtube "keyboard warriors", or as I like to call them.. "Dashboard Warriors"!
 
Not sure if the Z4 encourages people to do this to you. I got mine in January and have noticed that people seem to drive a lot closer to the back of me than they do when I am in my Kuga. Not sure if they are trying to prove they can keep up, or if they are trying to get me to floor it to "see how fast the sports car can go", or if there is just less car at the back of me and it seems like they are closer.

Either way - I do feel cars behind me are really close.
 
If someone tailgates me I just slow down to make more of a gap to the car in front in case I need to stop quickly. It's all too easy to be too fixed on the rear view mirror and not pay attention to what's in front. I then turn my music up and laugh at the person getting angrier and angrier behind me. :thumbsup:

I also excessively clean my windscreen
 
I get this alot when in the M135i every man and his dog must get past at all costs. I never take the bait now and just go at my own speed, if they want to crash then let them get on with it. I usually find its alot worse applying your brakes, speeding up, slowing down etc. Just carry on normally and be the better driver and install a dash cam if you don't have one.

Tim.
 
Any1else said:
Not sure if the Z4 encourages people to do this to you. I got mine in January and have noticed that people seem to drive a lot closer to the back of me than they do when I am in my Kuga. Not sure if they are trying to prove they can keep up, or if they are trying to get me to floor it to "see how fast the sports car can go", or if there is just less car at the back of me and it seems like they are closer.

Either way - I do feel cars behind me are really close.
Click to expand...

I think it doesn't help in our zeds, or any small low slung two seater sports car the back of the vehicle is closer to us than in 4/5/7 seater vehicles so following vehicles are that bit closer, being low slung doesn't help and makes us feel more vulnerable as well.

However I agree the bigger the car the more space it is generally given. I think bigger cars have more presence on the roads, making them more naturally intimidating to other users and they then sub-conscientiously tend to leave you more room.
 
Might be worth investing in a dash cam or two and then "owning him" (as the kids/americans say) on social media. Some go viral and get picked up by the mainstream media

Look what happened to this moron

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/m60-road-rage-van-driver-10858449

Even this guys brother in law laid into him on facebook!
Great outcome although he should have been jailed.
 
It's hard not to do as the OP as it does get very frustrating to be tailgated, however two wrongs don't make it right. When being tailgated I tend to slow down, not brake, just let speed fall gradually and most tailgaters take the hint without it being dangerous. On the motorway I tend to accelerate until I pass the slower traffic until I can pull in letting them pass, I would much rather them be in front of me than behind me
 
nick_l said:
If someone tailgates me I just slow down to make more of a gap to the car in front in case I need to stop quickly. It's all too easy to be too fixed on the rear view mirror and not pay attention to what's in front. I then turn my music up and laugh at the person getting angrier and angrier behind me. :thumbsup:

I also excessively clean my windscreen
Click to expand...


+1 for this. I used to tap my brakes, or toggle the rear fogs, but if anything it just increases the stress levels of these swivel-eyed lunatics.
 
There's a lot to be said for gradually slowing down when you're being tailgated. It has the advantage of making the situation more safe and at the same time adding to the annoyance of the idiot behind you. He's expecting to push you along faster by tailgating, but the actual result is the opposite.
 
sars said:
It's hard not to do as the OP as it does get very frustrating to be tailgated, however two wrongs don't make it right. When being tailgated I tend to slow down, not brake, just let speed fall gradually and most tailgaters take the hint without it being dangerous. On the motorway I tend to accelerate until I pass the slower traffic until I can pull in letting them pass, I would much rather them be in front of me than behind me
Click to expand...

+1 :thumbsup:
 
This type of harassment happened to me last summer while out on a Sunday drive with the wife.

Coming down a 60mph road a guy in a Vectra pulls out from a layby, no indication at all, causing me to wham on the brakes and the car behind me to do the same nearly hitting me. He the drove at 20mph for a good mile or so waving his arms like a daft twat before I could see open road to open it up and get past him.

As soon as I did this, the guy sped up and was virtually in my boot flashing his lights and gesturing with his fists but I just stuck to the speed limit while shaking my head. He tried numerous times to swerve out and get past me until I eventually slowed down to let him past on a long stretch at which point he flew past me and swerved towards my car as he did so, hand on horn, flagging me off.

What a knob I thought until the car that nearly hit me from behind when he initially pulled out in front of me pops on it's blues n two's and flies after the Vectra driver. Unmarked BMW that had witnessed his driving for the last 5 or 6 miles, winner winner, chicken dinner!!

We passed them in the next layby about 2miles ahead with a smile on my face and a rather relieved wife sat next to me, sometimes, Karma just does it's stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom