Discussion
Travelling back from the TVR Celtic Gathering in S. Ireland, from Stranraer Ferry, on M8 out of Glasgow, wife driving her Cerb in front of my Sagaris.
Mercedes with Reg 111H drops indicator and leaps out in front of me - very near miss issue causing me to brake hard to avoid impact - weather very poor, slush and heavy rain, light failing, he then follows Cerb very close for some distance and then slowly drops back.
I moved in to inside lane, traffic rate meant that I slowly passed, indicated clearly and moved back out.
Instant road rage, flashing lights, tailgating, etc etc.
Fortunately if the issue arises have excellent witness which he is probably not aware of. But doesn't it just piss you off?
Mercedes with Reg 111H drops indicator and leaps out in front of me - very near miss issue causing me to brake hard to avoid impact - weather very poor, slush and heavy rain, light failing, he then follows Cerb very close for some distance and then slowly drops back.
I moved in to inside lane, traffic rate meant that I slowly passed, indicated clearly and moved back out.
Instant road rage, flashing lights, tailgating, etc etc.
Fortunately if the issue arises have excellent witness which he is probably not aware of. But doesn't it just piss you off?
Experienced driving over most of the world - Lagos no, but Norway, middle and far east yes!! There is a time and a place for everything, and a packed motorway with poor vis and driving conditions is not it.
As far as visibility is concerned this was just plain stupid - as you say you can't exactly miss the car - at a guess he probably saw the cerb, the registration and the occupant, and the combination was too much!!
Then appeared not to get his own way and had the equivalent of a beastly tantrum.
As far as visibility is concerned this was just plain stupid - as you say you can't exactly miss the car - at a guess he probably saw the cerb, the registration and the occupant, and the combination was too much!!
Then appeared not to get his own way and had the equivalent of a beastly tantrum.
One morning a few weeks back, driving the company car on a major roundabout, one of those with a small jungle on it, I hit a Vectra Head-On.
Yep, she was driving the wrong way round it - anticlockwise. She did a quick about turn and pi55ed off. Got her number though and its in the hands of the local plods. We are beat before we start with morons like these driving amongst us every day.strange one today near leuchars
3-arm roundabout, i am going straight on, following a jag. Peugeot 306 shoots out of side road from the left right across the bows of the jag, who is forced to brake. Peugeot does a rocket u-turn around the centre island (it was a tiny roundabout) then skids to a stop inches (and i mean less than 3 inches) from the side of the jag he's just forced to stop, then leans on horn, jag moves off, chummy wheelspins away shaking his head.
Nutter.
Be careful out there!
3-arm roundabout, i am going straight on, following a jag. Peugeot 306 shoots out of side road from the left right across the bows of the jag, who is forced to brake. Peugeot does a rocket u-turn around the centre island (it was a tiny roundabout) then skids to a stop inches (and i mean less than 3 inches) from the side of the jag he's just forced to stop, then leans on horn, jag moves off, chummy wheelspins away shaking his head.
Nutter.
Be careful out there!
As a matter of interest has anybody had any joy in reporting these nutters to the police?
Reason I ask is that on the way to the Donington Lotus show at the weekend (in a Lotus) a Merc tailgated me in a 40 contraflow (single lane, bus ahead) then when I motioned him to back off a bit, overtook on the hard shoulder (spraying me with stones, bits of metal and all the usual HS garbage) pulled in 2 car-lengths in front and braked hard. Smoked all 4 tyres avoiding the prat, who then spent the next 2 miles behind the bus.
I got his number and some photos but decided to do nothing because:
- no names of witnesses
- experience has taught me the police won't follow up
- I reckoned I'd be more likely to come off worst at the hands of the police ("how did you take a picture when you should have both hands on the wheel at all times" etc).
So ...
Even if this nutter is getting away with it, can anybody give me some crumb of hope that justice sometimes is done? Is there any procedure for reporting these morons to the authorities, and is there any point in doing so? Or do we just hope a patrol car happens to spot him before he kills somebody?
J
Reason I ask is that on the way to the Donington Lotus show at the weekend (in a Lotus) a Merc tailgated me in a 40 contraflow (single lane, bus ahead) then when I motioned him to back off a bit, overtook on the hard shoulder (spraying me with stones, bits of metal and all the usual HS garbage) pulled in 2 car-lengths in front and braked hard. Smoked all 4 tyres avoiding the prat, who then spent the next 2 miles behind the bus.
I got his number and some photos but decided to do nothing because:
- no names of witnesses
- experience has taught me the police won't follow up
- I reckoned I'd be more likely to come off worst at the hands of the police ("how did you take a picture when you should have both hands on the wheel at all times" etc).
So ...
Even if this nutter is getting away with it, can anybody give me some crumb of hope that justice sometimes is done? Is there any procedure for reporting these morons to the authorities, and is there any point in doing so? Or do we just hope a patrol car happens to spot him before he kills somebody?
J
John_W said:
As a matter of interest has anybody had any joy in reporting these nutters to the police?
Reason I ask is that on the way to the Donington Lotus show at the weekend (in a Lotus) a Merc tailgated me in a 40 contraflow (single lane, bus ahead) then when I motioned him to back off a bit, overtook on the hard shoulder (spraying me with stones, bits of metal and all the usual HS garbage) pulled in 2 car-lengths in front and braked hard. Smoked all 4 tyres avoiding the prat, who then spent the next 2 miles behind the bus.
I got his number and some photos but decided to do nothing because:
- no names of witnesses
- experience has taught me the police won't follow up
- I reckoned I'd be more likely to come off worst at the hands of the police ("how did you take a picture when you should have both hands on the wheel at all times" etc).
So ...
Even if this nutter is getting away with it, can anybody give me some crumb of hope that justice sometimes is done? Is there any procedure for reporting these morons to the authorities, and is there any point in doing so? Or do we just hope a patrol car happens to spot him before he kills somebody?
J
As much as its illegal and wrong, thats when you want a normalish car with fake police flashing blue lights behind the grill!
John_W said:That's odd - very similar incident (guy braked hard in lane 3 of the M3 in front of me) and I had exactly the same thoughts. Got his reg, no damage or physical contact, etc. but I reckon we missed each other by inches and it was all because he had been tailgating me for the last couple of miles when there was clearly nowhere for me to pull over. But didn't follow up as I wondered what the point would be.
As a matter of interest has anybody had any joy in reporting these nutters to the police?
Reason I ask is that on the way to the Donington Lotus show at the weekend (in a Lotus) a Merc tailgated me in a 40 contraflow (single lane, bus ahead) then when I motioned him to back off a bit, overtook on the hard shoulder (spraying me with stones, bits of metal and all the usual HS garbage) pulled in 2 car-lengths in front and braked hard. Smoked all 4 tyres avoiding the prat, who then spent the next 2 miles behind the bus.
I got his number and some photos but decided to do nothing because:
- no names of witnesses
- experience has taught me the police won't follow up
- I reckoned I'd be more likely to come off worst at the hands of the police ("how did you take a picture when you should have both hands on the wheel at all times" etc).
So ...
Even if this nutter is getting away with it, can anybody give me some crumb of hope that justice sometimes is done? Is there any procedure for reporting these morons to the authorities, and is there any point in doing so? Or do we just hope a patrol car happens to spot him before he kills somebody?
J
What would be the best I could hope for? A call by the police? Well i've been on the receiving end of one of those a while back where it was a clear case of a misunderstanding, and it didn't make me think any differently of the other driver! Just explained it all to the guy and went through the motions of 'yes, officer i'll never do that again'. I expect he'd just do the same.
I decided that the only way to avoid this kind of a situation in the future is to be able to drive out of it. I was in a fairly slow car, him in a faster, bigger one. So the sooner I get back to a car which will accelerate me out of trouble, the better. That would have diffused the whole situation, i'm convinced.
Of course, you can't have everyone driving fast cars, cos then we'd all be back to square one!
(what we need is a good website where we can name & shame these guys - wonder how long it'd take before it got to critical mass and we all had an entry in there ;-)
Don't get much faster than a TVR Sagaris - but unfortunately as above he was also in a fast car - 5.5L AMG. I have always backed off in these situations - and have never precipitated one. However, in this instance, since it was my wife's car he was tailgating right in front of me the outcome could have been different.
I think the amount of time he had his hands off the wheel gesticulating was enough to inspire you with confidence - no, perhaps not. Had there been clear space to drive it would have been different, but there is more room in a Tesco car park than there was on that road in those conditions/traffic.
I think the amount of time he had his hands off the wheel gesticulating was enough to inspire you with confidence - no, perhaps not. Had there been clear space to drive it would have been different, but there is more room in a Tesco car park than there was on that road in those conditions/traffic.
Here's good technique that I was taught and have used (and taught) frequently to deal with these idiots:
When some idiot is tailgating they're invariably too close to see what's in front of you. The trick to get them to back off is firstly leave yourself a bit of room to the car in front, then - and only when you're sure it's safe to do it - dab the brake quickly and jink the steering wheel like you were trying to avoid something that just appeared in front of you. It ALWAYS works. It puts the frighteners on the tailgater and they back off to a safer distance.
The flash of the brake lights makes them realise they're too close to avoid hitting you, and the jink reinforces the fact that they have no time to take evasive action if it's required. They'll be left wondering what you were trying to avoid and thankful that they're still in one piece.
Steve.
www.turner-auto-design.com
When some idiot is tailgating they're invariably too close to see what's in front of you. The trick to get them to back off is firstly leave yourself a bit of room to the car in front, then - and only when you're sure it's safe to do it - dab the brake quickly and jink the steering wheel like you were trying to avoid something that just appeared in front of you. It ALWAYS works. It puts the frighteners on the tailgater and they back off to a safer distance.
The flash of the brake lights makes them realise they're too close to avoid hitting you, and the jink reinforces the fact that they have no time to take evasive action if it's required. They'll be left wondering what you were trying to avoid and thankful that they're still in one piece.
Steve.
www.turner-auto-design.com
los angeles said:
At least you managed to avoid him, that is the main thing. He hasn't really got the excuse he didn't see you the Sag is bright orange!
Could have been blinded on a good day, but the 'Gris had just done approx. 500 miles and was a bit grubby, to say the least. The driver was certainly visually "challenged" in some fashion, as well as mentally.
turnerlmp said:
Here's good technique that I was taught and have used (and taught) frequently to deal with these idiots:
When some idiot is tailgating they're invariably too close to see what's in front of you. The trick to get them to back off is firstly leave yourself a bit of room to the car in front, then - and only when you're sure it's safe to do it - dab the brake quickly and jink the steering wheel like you were trying to avoid something that just appeared in front of you. It ALWAYS works. It puts the frighteners on the tailgater and they back off to a safer distance.
The flash of the brake lights makes them realise they're too close to avoid hitting you, and the jink reinforces the fact that they have no time to take evasive action if it's required. They'll be left wondering what you were trying to avoid and thankful that they're still in one piece.
Steve.
www.turner-auto-design.com
Excellent, as you say with due care that will lower the ante immediately.
tvrgit said:
strange one today near leuchars
3-arm roundabout, i am going straight on, following a jag. Peugeot 306 shoots out of side road from the left right across the bows of the jag, who is forced to brake. Peugeot does a rocket u-turn around the centre island (it was a tiny roundabout) then skids to a stop inches (and i mean less than 3 inches) from the side of the jag he's just forced to stop, then leans on horn, jag moves off, chummy wheelspins away shaking his head.
Nutter.
Be careful out there!
just how near leuchars??
rpa.janwell said:
Here's good technique that I was taught and have used (and taught) frequently to deal with these idiots:
When some idiot is tailgating they're invariably too close to see what's in front of you. The trick to get them to back off is firstly leave yourself a bit of room to the car in front, then - and only when you're sure it's safe to do it - dab the brake quickly and jink the steering wheel like you were trying to avoid something that just appeared in front of you. It ALWAYS works. It puts the frighteners on the tailgater and they back off to a safer distance.
The flash of the brake lights makes them realise they're too close to avoid hitting you, and the jink reinforces the fact that they have no time to take evasive action if it's required. They'll be left wondering what you were trying to avoid and thankful that they're still in one piece.
Steve.
www.turner-auto-design.com
Excellent, as you say with due care that will lower the ante immediately.
I did this to some old biddy in a Freelander around the Perth bypass. She thought it was fine to follow me at 10 feet doing 80ish.
She did drop back a bit but caught up dramatically on a curved flyover where you join the M90 - I actually thought she was going to put it in the barrier.
When she passed I got a flick of the V's and when she left the m'way at Bridge of Earn she slowed right down, had her face against the window and was giving me the V's again.
I actually wish now that I'd followed her a bit to wind her up.
Unfortunately nobody driving seems to think they've done anything wrong and tapping the brakes, or anything else, winds them up and most people seem to fly straight into a fury which could easily lead to much more serious consequences.
Sadly the best thing to do is ignore it and hope they disappear as soon as possible.
turnerlmp said:
Here's good technique that I was taught and have used (and taught) frequently to deal with these idiots:
When some idiot is tailgating they're invariably too close to see what's in front of you. The trick to get them to back off is firstly leave yourself a bit of room to the car in front, then - and only when you're sure it's safe to do it - dab the brake quickly and jink the steering wheel like you were trying to avoid something that just appeared in front of you. It ALWAYS works. It puts the frighteners on the tailgater and they back off to a safer distance.
The flash of the brake lights makes them realise they're too close to avoid hitting you, and the jink reinforces the fact that they have no time to take evasive action if it's required. They'll be left wondering what you were trying to avoid and thankful that they're still in one piece.
Steve.
www.turner-auto-design.com
I had this for real once. Coming off the M8 at Hermistoun Gate I was overtaking another car doing about 70, approaching the lowered speed limit. A range Rover driver decided half a car length gap was fine.
Until that is I avoided the metal cable debris quite easily and he nearly flipped himself due to the much more extreme actions needed.
He didn't get to close after that.
[/quote]
I had this for real once. Coming off the M8 at Hermistoun Gate I was overtaking another car doing about 70, approaching the lowered speed limit. A range Rover driver decided half a car length gap was fine.
Until that is I avoided the metal cable debris quite easily and he nearly flipped himself due to the much more extreme actions needed.
He didn't get to close after that.[/quote]
If you are coming from the East side of the bypass to Hermiston Gate it can be impressive watching the folk pushing in to get onto the M8 slip. I remember watching a range rover charging down the right lane of the 50 zone, then slinging it left to get onto the slip. I don't actually know how he didn't
a) take the front off the last car he'd overtaken
b) hit the armco after using the full length of the chevrons
c) roll it after such a violent sideways lurch at that speed.
I had this for real once. Coming off the M8 at Hermistoun Gate I was overtaking another car doing about 70, approaching the lowered speed limit. A range Rover driver decided half a car length gap was fine.
Until that is I avoided the metal cable debris quite easily and he nearly flipped himself due to the much more extreme actions needed.
He didn't get to close after that.[/quote]
If you are coming from the East side of the bypass to Hermiston Gate it can be impressive watching the folk pushing in to get onto the M8 slip. I remember watching a range rover charging down the right lane of the 50 zone, then slinging it left to get onto the slip. I don't actually know how he didn't
a) take the front off the last car he'd overtaken
b) hit the armco after using the full length of the chevrons
c) roll it after such a violent sideways lurch at that speed.
mojocvh said:
strange one today near leuchars
3-arm roundabout, i am going straight on, following a jag. Peugeot 306 shoots out of side road from the left right across the bows of the jag, who is forced to brake. Peugeot does a rocket u-turn around the centre island (it was a tiny roundabout) then skids to a stop inches (and i mean less than 3 inches) from the side of the jag he's just forced to stop, then leans on horn, jag moves off, chummy wheelspins away shaking his head.
Nutter.
Be careful out there!
just how near leuchars??
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