No matter where your travels may take you in the world, there will always be drivers that are heavy on the accelerator and light on patience. These people wake up wanting to do nothing more than driving their vehicle so close behind your vehicle that they could all but lean forwards and count the small change in your coin tray. These people may not even be in a hurry. They may not be late for anything or need to be anywhere in particular. What they need is to intimidate and risk everybody’s safety so that they can feel superior. It’s sad, really. But every day, all over the globe, these people fill the roads and make driving a misery for the unlucky few who get caught in front of them.
If you are injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault, your first consideration should be speaking to a lawyer. For example, see loncarassociates.com.
Now, let’s look at how you can deal with tailgaters, because your safe arrival at your destination may not be high on the tailgater’s list of things that are going to happen today, but it’s certainly high on yours.
Don’t speed up
Speeding up in response to aggressive rear drivers is a bad idea for two reasons. The first reason is that you are now going too fast and your stopping distance has increased, meaning you are at higher risk of being in a collision with obstacles in the road ahead. The second reason is that braking will now be a much sharper operation, increasing the chances of a rear collision with the tailgater.
Staying calm isn’t easy, but if you are feeling under increasing pressure, your primary aim should be to give plenty of signals that you are turning off to make way for the tailgater. The driver will no doubt speed up as you turn off, rounding the rear of your vehicle with an inch or so to spare, but they will be gone, and for the sake for a short detour you have avoided the danger.
Avoid the fast lane
When traveling in multi-lane traffic, it’s important to remember that although speed limits exist, tailgaters will use the overtaking lane to overtake the car in front regardless of speed – if there is a car in front, tailgaters see this is a challenge. By staying out of the fast lane, tailgaters will have a whole lane in which to zoom past you, leaving you to travel at a more law-abiding and safety-conscious speed.
Lastly, a visible rear camera fitted to your car can be a deterrent. Many modern dashcam models come with a rear camera as standard and are relatively inexpensive and easy to use.
