Am I just lucky, or is tailgating getting less common?
It seems to me that people are, in general, hanging back until I move over, then overtaking, rather than sitting halfway up my exhaust.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 28/08/2009 at 11:10
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I think its less common.
And I also notice that not so many drive around with their foglights on. I reckon its becasue of so many people being online and being educated through online forums like this. Just think how many BMW/Corsa drivers thought they were being cool by driving with foglights on, only to later realise all they were doing was to advertise that they are in fact gay. Not that theres anything wrong with being gay, each to their own.
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Perhaps these tailgaters have finally realised that the only safe thing for the car in front to do when tailgated is to slow down, thus creating a larger and safer gap in front.
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It's holiday time - a lot of the Audidiots are away.
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Not sure if I've noticed any difference, but a couple of days ago in this very forum there was a thread called "Audi drivers one inch from your rear bumper" so there's at least one person who disagrees with this suggestion
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It's an illusion. I was tailgated three times this evening, twice by Audis actually. But I didn't give a damn. Probably did a bit of tailgating myself too.
It's different in the Smoke though. You know the tailgater wants to get through the lights too and don't blame him or her. We're all on the same side against the road saboteurs.
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I sometimes feel like I get tailgated more in the Ka than the Mondy estate. I thought and perhaps still think that some drivers are more inclined to "pick on" little cars. Of course it might just be my imagination. By default, I'm about six feet further away from any following vehicle in the estate than I am in the small hatchback !
Also, when the Mondy is full of stuff the rearview mirror is obscured anyway so a seriously determined tailgater would be inside ( or should that be outside, I'm sure one of Oily's NPs will know ) the range of my door mirrors. Maybe there have been dozens of 'em I've never seen !
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>>And I also notice that not so many drive around with their foglights on
It's because it's warmer and the plonkers that can't differentiate between their HRW and foglight switch aren't needing to demist the back window.
Although I did see today a driver of an '09 reg wiping the inside of the windscreen with the back of their hand (it had turned cool in a shower).
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No noticable difference round here. Did a bit of city driving today, actually 2 cities, Manchester and Salford. I was constantly tailgated by all sorts of vehicles, including a white 7 tonner so close I couldn't see the bottom of his screen.
Still, not too bothered...I don't let them push me along. The plastic front of most cars would not interface well with the Vitara's towing and stabiliser bracket.
Pal of mine had a brand new patrol van, ( major breakdown club ) Was annoyed by some cretin up his chuff and decided to test the handbrake. Said cretin complained he had no brakelights after his car had been impaled on the vans towing gear. Patrolman said it was a new van and showed him the working brake lights............no contest !
Ted
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Tailgating - still as common - more so with Audis.
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The one thing I hate about driving my E-type is the number of plonkers who want to sit 3 foot off my back bumper, and no, it's not that i'm lane hogging.
Mostly young kids in Micra/Saxo/Corsa and sad dads in people carriers, though almost everyone seems to have a go
MVP
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MVP, they just want to get a closer look at such a fantastic car. I love E-types!
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That was one thing I miss about my old Land Rover 90. Although I still paid attention to what was behind me, obviously, tailgaters were less intimidating, even White Van Man.
Of course, being tailgated by lorries was still not very nice.
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Very common in France, where driving is otherwise very good.
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More common on my run.
Also more people tailgating apparently just for the fun of it, with no intention of overtaking.
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"some drivers are more inclined to "pick on" little cars"
True. They tailgate more and are less likely to give way. (We have a Lexus IS250 and a Yaris)
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slightly tongue in cheek slightly serious, but I bet it is because of 'the recession' that most younger 'chavs' cant afford the fuel to tailgate (the news the other day showed that below 25 year old's are the worst affected people in this recession)
Hence the roads are clearer and less tailgate driving......
Edited by diddy1234 on 28/08/2009 at 17:12
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But tailgating saves fuel ;-) They proved this on mythbusters once. You do save fuel if driving inches (literally) from the bumper in front.
Shouldn't we all be doing this to save the environment? :-)
...I jest.
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In Germany trains of fifteen or so repmobiles blast down the motorway in the rain exceeding their own paper maximum speeds in some cases. Close enough together, ten or fifteen cars have so much less aerodynamic drag than the same cars widely separated that extremely high speeds are attainable and maintainable.
I don't jest. Indeed even I found the phenomenon a bit alarming. I wouldn't do it myself.
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Very common in France where driving is otherwise very good.
There, I think it's with the implication "Pee or get off the pot".
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I was "Audi'd" today, unfortunatly the fairy lights on the front are not bright enough to dim my auto dimming mirror.
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This will probably cause controversy but I am speaking from experience.
Most tailgaters I encounter are women.
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Quote:....""Most tailgaters I encounter are women."" I wouldn't agree, although women are certainly not averse to tailgating. If women do tailgate more, it's only because they are less likely to risk overtaking dangerously than men.
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I just thought of a possible deterrent to tailgating. Rig up a small video camera like a headcam, or even something that looks like one, inside the back window and put a sticker on the back of the car saying: "You're being filmed - keep back".
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Quote:..""In Germany trains of fifteen or so repmobiles blast down the motorway in the rain exceeding their own paper maximum speeds in some cases. Close enough together, ten or fifteen cars have so much less aerodynamic drag than the same cars widely separated that extremely high speeds are attainable and maintainable."
It would still be dependent on the speed of the car in front, which would be areodynamically unaffected by the line of cars behind.
It shows the same mentality as that almost extinct breed, the mad 2CV driver whose gameplan was to wind the tin snail up to maximum speed of about 68 mph and keep it there, come what may, even if that meant lifting a rear wheel on bends and split-second ultra-near-miss overtaking. I remember there used to be one of these madmen on my commute to work. I kid you not it would have been difficult to keep up with him in a modern car because of his incredibly dangerous overtaking, all done with no reserve of power or speed in hand.
Edited by Sofa Spud on 28/08/2009 at 23:11
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Superb bit of driving this morning- I was making progress on the VFR (so to speak) in lane 2 of a dual carriageway, Audi Q7 was at the back of a load of slow-coaches (literally as it turns out) - doing around 60. He must have clocked me in his mirrors as he moves smartly over to Lane 1 and allows me to take his position behind (as it turns out) a poorly driven Passat, he then nips in behind me and maintains a stately distance behind. Nice bit of driving much appreciated.
Edited by Pugugly on 29/08/2009 at 20:38
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areodynamically unaffected by the line of cars behind.
Not so really SS, although that is certainly the intuitive view. But the fact is that a very significant amount of drag is caused by turbulence behind today's blunt-bottomed cars, a sort of turbulent vacuum that takes a lot of energy to maintain. It is that turbulence that moves to the back of the train. Theoretically that should give the front car an extra couple of mph...
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Not so really SS although that is certainly the intuitive view.
I thought slip streaming benefited the vehicles behind the leader. Don't cyclists take it in turns to be the leader and hence the one doing the most work?
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mad 2CV driver
Heh heh... I've known two or three of those, and at least one of them was as safe as houses, and even better when he had a GS. The other two were more iffy, as I was myself, and had accidents (minor in my case). But the process isn't as fraught as it may look from outside with a skilled practitioner. All may be tranquil inside the car, roll angles notwithstanding.
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Most tailgaters I encounter are women.
Most are men in my experience. Or very ugly women I guess.
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