Why do some drivers tailgate?

Question

Backed up in traffic bumper to bumper going 5mph is one thing, but going 70mph on the highway only 5 feet behind a car or less is dangerous, stupid, and completely unnecessary. It always makes me nervous and worried when a driver does that to me. Try my best to stay out of their insane impatient driving ways.

It's like those kind of drivers think they own the road or something. "Get out of my way!" They're probably thinking lol. I can't believe how many drivers do it too.

Do they not care about safety on the road? What if I need to slam on the breaks for a dear on the road, or another car in front of me? They won't stop in time and rear end my truck.

It's a lot better to give each car some distance just in case at any speed. Obviously those jerks don't care about that or are too stupid to realize it until they get a ticket or in an accident.

Dargil · Accepted Answer

Because they are in a hurry and think you are delaying them. They think that you are taking something away from them and since the here and now are all they have, you are committing a micro aggression against them. (No kidding).

I developed a routine for this. I open my side window. put my hand out and give them a "back off" hand movement. More often than not they will not be told that by someone who is already taking something away from them and pull up even tighter. More often than not, it is a "Karen" in a crossover or Honda Accord and not a redneck in a F150.

Be aware that tapping your brake pedal to show brake lights will not fool them and they will ignore that. So what I do is ease back a few MPH to give me interval with the car in front of me. Then I quickly fill the gap. The tailgater inevitably does not immediately see what I am doing, and I open a gap between her and me. Then I firmly hit the brakes.

They may have slowed down when I eased back and had their foot on the brake. But then I do it a second time, that they were not prepared for. That's when they squeeze off a few drops of pee into those thongs or whatever. I watch them in the mirror and know I have scored when I see...

... and my day just improved.

andreasderjuengere · Accepted Answer

When I still used cars, that was kind of a game to me: to see if I can ''remotely'' manipulate the car in front to accelerate. Meanwhile, I just leave them behind me. The turtles aren't fun any more.

APrettyLittleLady87 · Accepted Answer

This morning on my way to work I watched a box truck pass a slower vehicle. Double yellow line, up a hill, and on a curve. It wasn't that the farm vehicle was purposely going slow it's just they can't go fast.

But the box-truck driver had the IQ of a slug and that's the average IQ of tail gaters.

Their low intelligence and lack of comprehension is further revealed in how 9 out of 10 tailgaters will sit at a stop sign when there's nobody coming for miles and everyone else more or less does a rolling stop.

whereismyjohnny · Accepted Answer

I don't know but I hate it. Especially when you stop at the red light and the car behind is literally a few centimetres from you 😑  I always keep distance while driving.

MuddyMole · Answer

Courtesy goes both ways - if the other driver is making it obvious they want to pass you, would it really hurt to pull over and let them by? Or if you're going below the posted limit for no good reason (ie. it's not raining or foggy etc) then maybe try accelerating.

The idiots who try to enforce speed limits by blocking other cars from overtaking, or deliberately slow to a crawl to annoy a tailgater, are just as bad as the tailgaters.

You must admit, it's pretty infuriating to be stuck behind someone crawling along at 40mph in a 60mph zone, where it's not possible to overtake safely (maybe it's a twisty road or there's a lot of oncoming traffic). At least the tractor drivers around here pull over when a queue forms behind them - not like all the tourists, who seem oblivious.

goaded · Answer

I always slow down in that situation. If they're not going to leave a gap sufficient to the speed, I'll slow down until it is.

It's stupid, anyway, because it reduces your chances of being able to overtake. You can't pick up speed while you're still behind the other car so you spend more time on the wrong side of the road.

msc545 · Answer

People do this when they think you should get out of the way so they can go faster, and it doesn't matter how fast you are going to begin with - they will still do it. I manage this by slowing down about 5 miles per hour every mile until I am going just at the speed limit, and I sit there until they go around me. I don't believe in reinforcing bad behavior, and I am not going to let assholes push me around.

exitseven · Answer

I usually drive 5 or ten miles over the speed limit and there are still jerks that ride right up on my butt. I try to ignore them. I do not know why they do it because they really do not get to their destination any faster.

dustybiker · Answer

Obnoxiousness.  Try being on a bike when someone does this. Cops pealed them off me with lights and sirens more than once. Better them than me speeding up.

Slartybartfast · Answer

I just slow down, tailgating is litteraly a threatening behavior.

Smashingdoozy · Answer

I have when people do it when there's literally a passing lane if they wanted to go faster

SlickRick24 · Answer

They don’t like that your going 10 under probably! If you hit the gas you won’t have a problem. I’m a lead foot who has places to be like Sammy Hagar said “there’s to much traffic I can’t pass” then you tailgate hoping that cracker box car in front of you will pick up a few more mph

ronaldo75 · Answer

Small dicks. I've asked ex-girlfriends and women in general about this and it's pretty clear that men who drive aggressively, including tailgating, have a lot of penis issues.

josephinelcajon · Answer

Drives me nuts. They think they can make you go faster and some do or move over. The other is someone that paces beside you. You speed up they speed up preventing you from lane changes!

doe9de · Answer

An old trick I learned form someone is if someone is tailgating you slow down. If they continue slow down more they'll get the message.

EnglishEuropean · Answer

Literally the only time I might seem to be "tailgating" is when the car in front of me is going really slowly and (as usual) I don't have an opportunity to pass. But I always make sure I have space to stop if they do.

Alex8736 · Answer

If you're driving in the left lane on the highway people must move over to the middle lane where by law in the US the left lane is for passing only. NH has a minimum speed limit cuz sometimes driving too slow can be worse than too fast. Just saying

Anonymous · Answer

Because they didn't bring enough cc to overtake and they dont realise that the guy in front of them is driving slowly because the guy behind them has demonstrated that he cannot drive.

2log10x · Answer

Tailgaters are annoying. But cars going really slow are even more annoying.

KrakenAttackin · Answer

I agree. I sometimes drive a fuel tanker filled with 9,000 gallons of diesel and these fools will tailgate me. People just can't be allowed down for a second. This behavior is a character flaw.

BeMuse · Answer

Just slow down when they do that.

weirdoweirdo · Answer

Easy question. They're dumb as rocks.

moonpie89 · Answer

Ahhh. I literally hate that

clemdenim · Answer

I guess they think you will go faster, i slow down

Why do some drivers tailgate?

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