Seems to me that tailgating is rampant these days. I’m not going to say anything about people who drive a few mph over the limit on quiet roads but when I choose to obey the speed limit and people are 2m off my rear in the MX5 (which feels exposed as you know) it is really, really annoying and dangerous too.
What I don’t get is why the urge to drive at 35 in a 30 is so great that someone is prepared to tailgate the person doing said 30. Aren’t there speed cameras everywhere? Don’t these people ever get caught? And if they do eventually overtake you then inevitably you catch up with them at the next set of lights anyway, so what on earth is to be gained?
You can do the old progressive braking trick of course and that wakes them up but sometimes it upsets them and results in very infantile behaviour all round, and other times you can try to ignore the rear view mirror but that’s hard when some fool is right behind you and you can hear their engine because your roof is down.
Anyway, nothing specific to ask here just a general rant. Constructive thoughts welcome!
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We need a ‘rear gunner’ and then we can just ‘take them out’!!!
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We just pull over at the first opportunity and let then go past with a cheery wave. We can then be witnesses when they cause an accident further down the road.
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In my red NC I got quite a few tailgating, maybe they liked red who knows?
In the white NC it’s not been so bad, they sort of get close then seem to back off. I keep thinking to myself is it they spot the rear view camera, it can be seen to the eagle eyed driver but not really that obvious. Probably can be seen to some as recording activities behind but it’s a reverse camera only.
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I seem to keep finding the opposite type of driver at the moment.
They do 40 in a 60 zone - then continue to do the same 40 when they enter a 30 zone.
Then on the other side of the 30 zone - you catch them back up because they are still doing 40 in a 60 zone.
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Ah yes, there’s that phenomenon too. 35 in a 40 then…35 in a 30!!
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I have experienced this too in my MX-5 not in our other cars, very annoying; I wonder if its something to do with how low our cars are and their view of the road ahead of you as they can see so much further through your convertible especially with the roof down. Every second car is an SUV with blacked out windows and they have to back off because you can’t see.
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Just very poor drivers. Their brake lights are flashing all the time because they can’t apparently control their speed using the accelerator. They frequently don’t even want to overtake, they are just mindlessly glued to the car ahead. The create a rolling road block by preventing the vehicle behind them overtaking, unless there is room to pass not only the tailgater but the vehicle in front of them.
I don’t allow myself to get angry, because then the only person who suffers is me.
Lifting off and switching on the hazard lights seems to work for a while. I don’t think they get the message, because they usually return.
It isn’t always a mindless bimbler. Yesterday it was one of those huge hi-top LWB vans, possibly a parcel delivery van. Horrible job, I feel sorry for them, and they are always in a hurry for obvious reasons. But I’m not going to speed up with a 3.5 tonne van a car length behind me, if anything I’ll slow down for safety.
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The school runners are worse, I tend to get out before they do or wait until schools are in. With them it’s pedal down get out of my way I’m gonna be late.
Mind you they don’t want two old ***** bumbling around town going to the NT or Sainsbury’s early doors, us.
I never really have such an issue tbh (probably because I tend to drive at the actual limit as opposed the indicated as shown on your speedo) 
Keep to the left and dont hog the fast lane passing slower vehicles @ +1 mph and you be fine 
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80% of drivers agree that tailgating is an issue. But 1 in 3 admit tailgating. Probably people complaining about tailgating are tailgaters themselves. Of course, they won’t admit it.
Most people don’t know how long 1 or 2 car lengths are. They know about keeping distance, but they have no idea what it is.
Its not about good and bad drivers. We all have passed the same test. The most skilled driver in the world can be the worst tailgater. Viz Formula One drivers, if you take it as read that they represent the most skilled operators of a motor car (I can believe that).
Its about psychology in the moment, and where our mind is at that time. We all drive for different reasons. Some go for a gentle drive, with no particular target in mind. Some go for a gentle driver because they have extensively planned. Some like to drive fast, but not for the purposes of getting to a destination faster, but because of the sensation of driving fast. Some have to drive fast because someone else has told them to get to a destination at a particular time, and the driver wasn’t able to plan, for whatever reason. They start off frustrated, and that frustration deepens if they feel they might miss their goal (traffic jams, “slow” drivers). Plus many other scenarios. I think all of us, liars aside, have been through these scenarios at one time or other.
The core reason is because there are more of us on the roads now, leading to an increase in rear end cracsh incidence. It would be interesting to see if there is any correlation between incidence rate (rear end crashes per 100,000 accidents) and some measure of the eeconomy, such as inflation, personal debt, job employment etc. A hypothesis is the rate increases with personal stress, chaotic lives.
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Nice summary. The one consolation is the standardisation of AEB which is reducing rear-ending. On a modern car I would guess that the worst tailgater is being beeped at by their dashboard constantly as the distance is deemed too close. A friend of mine was tailgating someone aggressively the other day then realised to his shame that it was his architect. Just assume that everyone in front is your friend or relative and treat them accordingly!
I used to get this often when i owned my 911, if it wasnt a young kid in a Subaru it be an even younger kid in a dreaded Vauxhall Corsa 
Careful, doesn’t AEB infringe ones freedom to tailgate?
Someone define “tailgate” to me, without using any subjective terms, arbitrary distance “rules” or gaslighting the questioner.
Also, should we be driving our EV’s at 15-20 mph in 30 mph zones - as these are mainly justified by the pedestrian death rates above and below 30 mph. A policy that was formulated decades ago when cars weighed no more than a ton (and made a noise)
Should we be using cruise control in 30 mph zones to “stay safe” when we have turned off our brain, taken our right foot off the accelerator pedal and incorrectly positioned our right heel to brake quickly if required?
If it’s adaptive cruise with AEB then you could make the argument for turning off the brain since the car will be far smarter and quicker reacting…!!
I try to only tailgate the slow car in front when they are hogging the right hand lane and refuse to pull over into a lane further left. It works better when I’m in my CX5 than in the MX5, maybe size matters (who knew?).
IIRC this is where the RTFM acronym came from, good advice from Mr Eddy 
