According to In Control Crash Prevention, tailgating causes more than 33% of crashes in the U.S. Even more so, it causes 76% of crashes for new drivers who have 6 or fewer years of driving experience. That’s scary! In Control recommends you leave at least three seconds between your car and the car/vehicle in front of you.
Now it’s your turn: Say you’re on a two-lane road and you have a car behind you who is frustrated and tailgating. (It’s frustrating for you, too, we know.) What would you do? Would you maintain your speed (you’re probably going the speed limit, after all)? Would you speed up? Slow down? Or would you pull over whenever it’s safe to let them pass?
There could be many responses to this poll, but we want you to select the option that you would most likely do. As always, thank you for voting. Feel free to leave a comment.
First, I’d tap on my brakes to see if the vehicle backs off. Then, I’d maintain my speed until I can pull over.
I typically maintain the speed limit on two lane roads. If a vehicle wants to exceed that limit then they can pass me.
As long as I’m at the posted speed or above, I never allow a tailgater dictate the speed I drive.
Tailgate me, I hope that you have lots of insurance
Most don’t
Depends if in a car or driving the RV. If in car, maintain speed if in RV my husband will usually pull over if under speed limit and particularly if a line of cars are behind us. Too many cars that pass on a two lane don’t realize that our RV and tow car is as long as a semi and pass dangerously.
I both slow down & pull over. In the flatlands of Florida people drive anywhere from 20 to 50 mph above the limit The lawyer I’ve slept with for 55years was in traffic court recently & heard a case-not his- of someone driving 220 mph in a 60 mph interstate
“It depends . . .” If I’m going slower and can accommodate my ‘posse’ by pulling over, I will. Otherwise – deal with it.
If someone is tailgating me and doesn’t back off when I slow slightly I turn on my windshield washer. That usually gets their attention.
I’ll pull over when I can, but in the meantime I’m dreaming of a remote switch to empty the black tank.
🤣🤣👍👍 Have a great day, Dan. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Thanks for the laugh of the day 007!
My Newell actually has this (I have it disabled). Every time I’ve had the desire to use it, I was pulling my toad so I figured I would be punishing myself more than anyone else. 😅 But one of these days Alice!
We hold our speed. If we slow too much and get more than 3 or 4 cars behind us, we’ll pull over to let them safely pass.
If I’m going the posted speed limit I will maintain my speed and let the tailgater just eat my dust. If I can’t safely drive the speed limit I will pull over when I find a safe area to do so.
I flash my brake lights and if they don’t back off, I slow down 5MPH and try again, if they still don’t back off, I repeat. Have slowed down to 40MPH before they either pass or back off. The slower I go the more time they have to react.
EXACTLY!!!!
Since I figure anyone who tailgates is not a very good driver to begin with, if I safely can, I will pull over and let them get as far away from me as possible. This is not a competitive situation of “I’ll show you”, this can be a dangerous situation if they decide to pass in an unsafe manner. If I can’t pull over I’ll maintain my speed but stay alert to any other move they make.
Excellent answer!
Hi, Pat. That reminds me of years ago when I was driving on a very rough one-lane dirt mountain road. (This was lonnnnng before cell phones.) A Jeep with three teenagers came flying up behind me. I pulled over as far as I could at the first opportunity to let them pass. About a mile farther up the road, they had crashed their vehicle. They weren’t injured, but I drove them all to a gas station (with a phone) at the nearest town. I hope they learned their lesson. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
I maintain my speed if possible – and on a reasonably level road, my cruise control does just that. And if somebody takes an opportunity to pass, I DON’T speed up! If there are passing lanes I get the heck over to the right.
But that said, I can’t tell you how many people wait until the passing lane is almost ended before deciding to pass. If I let them, they would effectively run me off the road. So I don’t wait for the end of the passing lane, I make my move left when the sign says the passing lane is ending. I’m sure I p*ss people off, but I did give them their chance if they were serious.
unless they p*ss me off and then I slow down.
Maintain speed only pulling over when and where safe. I’ve been rear ended 20+ years ago and paying for it still today so someone tailgating makes me nervous.
For me, it depends upon my ability to maintain my speed at or above the posted speed limit. If I can’t keep the speed up, I will look for a place to pull over. It also depends on if cars are lining up behind me.
Maintain speed, Pull over when safe, and only on a safe surface.
Yes, that is the real answer!
Agreed, and if the tailgater had paid an extra $10 for a little more horse power in their vehicle he/she could have passed safely many times.
My response to a tailgater really depends on the situation. I don’t consider a posted speed LIMIT to be a speed that I must travel. If conditions cause me to go substantially slower I frequently pull over so the tailgater doesn’t do another stupid.
It varies with circumstances, but, if I’m being tailgated, I like to pull over and clear traffic, even if I’m over the speed limit and especially if there are several cars behind me. I always worry about the hothead with four times as much horsepower as horse sense trying to pass us all and getting less-than-optimal results!
Checked just maintain my speed. However if there is a safe place to “pull over” I certainly would. Obviously the person tailgating me must be very important so I give way.
Agreed, and you should always maintain speed when someone is passing so they can judge their distance appropriately.
When I’m towing my popup, I tend to drive right at the posted speed limit (my camper has small tires, so I don’t want to drive it more than 55-60MPH for safety’s sake). I tend to simply ignore the tailgaters – unless they’re driving an emergency vehicle (police car, fire engine, ambulance, etc) with lights and sirens going, there’s no place they need to be so badly that they can’t drive the speed limit to get there. When I’m driving my regular vehicle (a retired Michigan State Police utility interceptor/Ford Explorer), I tend to be the one doing the passing, since my car, despite being “de-policified”, looks like an unmarked car to people with guilty consciences, and they tend to slow down!
There is no answer up there as it depends on the situation. will maintain my safe speed and will pull over when there is a safe area to do so, that way I don’t hold up vehicles behind me. I will slow down to let vehicles pass me when I come to a passing lane as it lets them all get by easier.
Tailgaters suck. There’s no reason for it as it jeopardizes everyone’s safety. Three second distance!
Funny that you’d ask. Having returned to my childhood home/area almost 7 years ago, I often find myself in this situation while driving “our” road, that is the one passing in front of my parents’ home. As seems true everywhere these days, all vehicles are driven well in excess of the posted speed limits. I do as well, but “only” by 2 or 3 mph. I find that I often am leading a “parade” of cars when I reach my destination. Often the vehicle directly behind me is inside a safe following distance. Through it all I attempt to maintain a consistent speed. Safe travels! 🙂
In my area of the country it is not uncommon to drive several miles without encountering another vehicle. The sight distances are measured in miles. I have found that people from other, more crowded areas, tend to speed 10 to 20 mph over the limit to catch up to me and then sit back there for miles. I think these people are lonely and they do not know how to handle the big, wide open spaces. I will eventually slow down 10 to 15 mph under the limit and they will pass, accelerating back up to 80+ on their way to find the next traveling soul.
I’d maintain my speed at the posted limit and pull over as soon as I could and let the idiot behind me- likely a CRACKHEAD- speed by. And I’d try not to flip them off because society today is getting more dangerous all the time. And why shouldn’t it with law enforcement being vilified, marginalized and de-funded in so many places. So, be careful out there.
I maintain my speed for conditions but I will pull over when possible and safe.
I will only pull over after there are 5 or more vehicles (usually state law) behind BUT only when SAFE to do so. If I do find a safe place with less than 5 I will also pull over if they have been there a while.
There are a lot of “if”s here — is there a place to pull over that’s big enough that we can see soon enough? Is there a passing zone? If yes, we’d slow a bit to encourage them to move along. But, no, almost never speed up since we’d be at a “comfortably safe” speed to start with.
I am surprised to see most folks who do not pull over when safe to do so. They just plod along at the same slow speed like the only person on the road. And the folks who would slow down are making the situation far worse. If there is a tailgater behind you, do not slow down, leave more following distance in front of your vehicle to slow or stop so they do not crash into you if having to stop abruptly.
I just tap the brake every so often.
I slow down. The closer you get, the slower I go. I need the safety margin in front of me.
In Florida with swamp on both sides of the road, I will slow to where he will pass me. In the Kentucky hills I will try to find a place to pull over. In some long, lonely stretches out west, I may see if I can break the sound barrier.
I’ll maintain my speed until there is a safe place to pull over.
Our RV Resort is 15 miles from town on a mountainous twisty road. In the car I know the speed I can maintain with comfort through the turns – just a bit over the limit. Often I will enter one of the turns with a tailgater close up behind me and leave the turn with the same car 10 lengths or more behind me. I have adaptive cruise and just set it and forget it. I will get to town eventually regardless of the slowpoke in front of me. I do not change my speed because of tailgaters behind me. I do pull off when it is safe to let them kill somebody else.
You did not give my choice…..Fire up the quad 50’s…Poof!..What’s the hurry?..
Most of the time I simply ignore their rude behavior, especially with so many reports of violence associated with road rage these days. Sometimes I get fed up and pull over to allow them to peaceably pass and go on their way. I’m learning as I go and have come to a conclusion drivers these days are all about them and nobody has the right to get into their way. Meaning there is no love for their fellowman while driving.