Tailgaters?

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Tailgaters?

Linuxluver

5833 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1639

Trusted

Subscriber

#214628 21-May-2017 20:19

I've noticed it doesn't much matter what speed I drive, there's always *someone* running up the back end of my car.

Yesterday (Saturday) I drove from Opotiki to Auckland. I was doing 100-110-ish for as much as you can without spinning off the road into a ditch. The rain was torrential at times and the wind was pretty high from the west. Visibilty was pretty poor at times.

Yet there were guys (always a guy) following others at maybe 2 car lengths.....if that.

I generally just pull over as soon as one of these tos.....um...drivers appears behind me. I have no desire to save them from earning a well-deserved ticket and demerit points somewhere down the road ahead of me. If not this time, then next time or the time after.

I've also noticed they tend to run in "clumps". Up front is the guy doing 10km over the speed limit who sees no need to pull over. Behind him will be a series of vehicles, each closely tailing the other, all waiting to pass I suppose.

When one of these 'clumps' turns up I generally pull over before they even reach me.......let them pass.....and I then enjoy 5-10 mins of empty road (on a weekday.....weekends sees more people about on the highways).

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ... | 8

1199 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 472
Inactive user

#1785629 21-May-2017 20:25

Keep left.

There is only one thing that irritates me more than a tailgater. And that's somebody driving in the right hand lane and not letting the faster traffic get past.

Linuxluver

5833 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1639

Trusted

Subscriber

#1785633 21-May-2017 20:28

Wiggum:

Keep left.

There is only one thing that irritates me more than a tailgater. And that's somebody driving in the right hand lane and not letting the faster traffic get past.

Good advice.

I'm thinking of two-lane roads here.....tailgating isn't really an issue (or shouldn't be) on motorways.

_____________________________________________________________________

I've been on Geekzone over 16 years..... Time flies....

tdgeek

30048 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 9455

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1785645 21-May-2017 20:56

Ive been in Nth QLD last week and last month. They all drive to the speed limit, thats great, but many tailgate. Seems dumb.

Here, I hate it, as kiwi drivers are unreliable, in that he/she may be a good or bad driver. I slow down. If they persist, I brake. Yes, thats dumb, but Dumb and Dumber.

gehenna

8667 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3883

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1785651 21-May-2017 21:13

Wiggum:

driving in the right hand lane and not letting the faster traffic get past.

The right lane isn't a "fast lane". It's just another lane, usually for passing but in the case of motorways I use it a lot just to spread out the congestion. I've been tailgated in either lane, and usually when there is a lot of congestion so I can only question the intelligence of the tailgater - I mean if I move out of the way you're just going to immediately meet the arse end of the car in front of me?!

This is a daily struggle, I drive Hutt Road and Petone Esplanade to work and home each day. The number of numpty's on the road is phenomenal. Usually driving a company branded vehicle too. .

timmmay

20858 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 5350

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1785652 21-May-2017 21:13

New Zealand drivers are generally impatient, selfish, and stupid. I'm not excluding myself here.

gehenna

8667 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3883

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1785653 21-May-2017 21:17

timmmay:

New Zealand drivers are generally impatient, selfish, and stupid. I'm not excluding myself here.

And the odd thing is I find that more the case on the open road/motorways than in the cities. In Wellington CBD and suburbs most people on the road wave me in when there's congestion and I do the same. But once you get on the open road there's an element of our society that becomes massively impatient and selfish.

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

gzt

18678 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 7809

Lifetime subscriber

#1785661 21-May-2017 21:32

Linuxluver: I've also noticed they tend to run in "clumps". Up front is the guy doing 10km over the speed limit who sees no need to pull over. Behind him will be a series of vehicles, each closely tailing the other, all waiting to pass I suppose.

Not necessarily waiting to pass. Nobody wants to be first in line for the ticket. First guy pulls over and the rest are likely to slow down.

vexxxboy

4336 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2072

#1785662 21-May-2017 21:32

seriously , both parties are just as bad as each other . If you dont like been tailgated then pull over and let them pass , then everyone is happy. what is the point of blocking the driver, it just pisses him off more and he may do something stupid involving you or another innocent driver.Tailgaters are a pain but so are drivers that dont pull over and let them carry on there lives .

Common sense is not as common as you think.

mattwnz

20515 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4795

#1785663 21-May-2017 21:33

I always pull over to let any tailgater pass. The worst place is the Rimutuka hill road for drivers IMO. You get those who drive slowly and never let anyone pass, nor do they pull over to the allocated stopping areas they are supposed to. Then where there are passing areas, they decide to speed up. Then you get those who will drive as fast as they can and follow you as closely as they can, and I am by no means a slow driver. But will let them pass at the passing areas.

Everytime a go over that hill, there is always at least one or two bad drivers.

scuwp

3927 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2510

#1785664 21-May-2017 21:38

The closer they get, the slower I go. Have to compensate for the limited perception and reaction time they leave themselves, so really I am doing them a service they should thank me for.

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

gehenna

8667 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3883

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1785665 21-May-2017 21:39

vexxxboy:

seriously , both parties are just as bad as each other . If you dont like been tailgated then pull over and let them pass , then everyone is happy. what is the point of blocking the driver, it just pisses him off more and he may do something stupid involving you or another innocent driver.Tailgaters are a pain but so are drivers that dont pull over and let them carry on there lives .

Yeah but my point is that I often get tailgated when there's nowhere for the tailgater to actually go if I was to get out of the way - there's traffic in front of all of us.

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

lNomNoml

1842 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 521

ID Verified

#1785672 21-May-2017 21:53

Sadly, this is kiwi driving culture 101, drive with no lights on until it's pitch black, tailgate for no reason, staying in the fast lane and not moving over and letting faster traffic past, speeding +10 over the speed limit on a slow road 50KM/h limit and 80KM/H in a 100KM/H zone, passing on the left/slow lane, not matching the speed of the motor way traffic and trying to merge at 70KM/H.... the list goes on and on.

But yeah tailgating is serious problem at least here in Auckland, I guess people don't understand the concept of stopping distance.

At least we luckily don't have the UK driving culture of pulling out in front and brake checking.

Since moving to NZ I have also noticed people don’t seem to keep space between you and them, everyone must always walk on top of you and almost walk into you, it's one of the more stranger and irritating cultural differences I have encountered.

Forgot to add this "I must always be in front" mentality we have here as well, that's also a irritation and probably accounts for 1/3 of all accidents on NZ roads.

paulchinnz

Circumspice
796 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 223

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1785677 21-May-2017 22:19

I pull over so the tailgater can become my scout party to warn oncoming vehicles of my impending arrival.

1eStar

1604 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 375

#1785690 21-May-2017 22:41

@Linuxluver if you are seriously being tailgated *all* the time at 110kmh, I would check your Speedo accuracy. Nissan vehicles have a habit of being quite a bit out. It helps when selling a vehicle to have it calibrated that way: wow this vehicle is quiet at 100 (ERM actually 90) etc.
A GPS app on your phone will give a good guide to check against. Along a straight you should see what the difference is between the GPS and indicated speedometer speed is. Also to confirm you can use the Speedo check along the straight heading south to Bombay. Grab a stopwatch and blip it going past a km post, drive a constant speed, blip it at the next km. 100kmh = 36seconds per km. 110kmh = 33seconds per km. 120kmh = 30 seconds per km etc.

openmedia

3449 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 877

Trusted

#1785695 21-May-2017 23:07

Linuxluver:

Wiggum:

Keep left.

There is only one thing that irritates me more than a tailgater. And that's somebody driving in the right hand lane and not letting the faster traffic get past.

Good advice.

I'm thinking of two-lane roads here.....tailgating isn't really an issue (or shouldn't be) on motorways.

Two lanes = dual carriage way = you can move left?

For some reason in NZ Two lanes means a single carriage high way ie 1 lane in each direction.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ... | 8