Tailgating

[Kat Kanning]

...like this woman in the grocery store the other day.  I was standing at the checkout line.  A little old man was in front of me, paying for his groceries.  I didn't want to crowd him while he was trying to pay.  The woman behind me proceeded to start ramming her cart into my backside, so that she could get her stuff up on the conveyer belt.  I turned around and gave her a dirty look.  Later as I'm trying to pay, she's crowding me out of the way so I can't interact with the cashier.  It's the same asshole attitude...I'm just an obsticle in the way of these jerks.  Like no one else has a right to exist...

[Lloyd Danforth]

Well.......couldn't you have hurried up?

[Rosie the Riveter]

The woman behind me proceeded to start ramming her cart into my backside, so that she could get her stuff up on the conveyer belt. 

Rammed by a cart!! Not cool!!  Next time say "Hey, your hitting me with your cart!" Most people just expect you will say nothing and allow yourself to be tortured so when you say something they actually stop. Bullies! Just stand up to them and they back down.

[Raineyrocks]

Most people just expect you will say nothing and allow yourself to be tortured so when you say something they actually stop. Bullies! Just stand up to them and they back down.

That's true, I like the look of surprise when I've turned around and told them off and all of the sudden they're so quiet!  90% of the time I let old people cut in front of me at the store and be ignorant Up to a Point, and the kids are always like, "Mom, why didn't you tell them off?"' and I just tell the kids maybe they're in pain or something, figuring they have more to be miserable about than I do.

As far as driving I am so scared of tailgaters after our accident ,(7 car rear-end collision), in Florida that I start shaking and freaking out when another car is too close.  Our minivan was the first hit by a mack truck, we are so lucky to be alive, my little ones  (6&9) were screaming and shaking. I had to pick glass out of their heads and ears so needless to say I pull over and let them pass, calling them all kinds of names of course!

[Lloyd Danforth]

A supermarket I used to shop at, in a neighborhood with a lot of senior housing  had a 10% discount for seniors(55+) on Tuesdays.  Every damn Tuesday, I found myself  having to go  there for something.  I don't know how many times I was hit by a cart!  The store moved everything around a couple of times a year which made it hard for me not to mention older folks, to find stuff.  Although I knew people under 55 who claimed to be seniors at the register, I didn't.  In fact when some poor teenager who probably thought anyone over 40 was ancient, would ask me if I was a senior, I would fake being insulted and then let them know I was kidding.  The store closed two weeks after I turned 55!
There was only one other Supermarket in the area.  For a month or so when shopping in the new store, I would recognize the other refuges from the closed store pushing our carts around, like Zombies, trying to find stuff.

[Raineyrocks]

In fact when some poor teenager who probably thought anyone over 40 was ancient, would ask me if I was a senior, I would fake being insulted and then let them know I was kidding.  The store closed two weeks after I turned 55!

That's funny! and crappy at the same time.

[jaqeboy]

Assertion: given human reaction time and the braking limitations of automobiles, it is impossible to avoid a collision when following the vehicle in front too closely (and something happens). Therefore, tailgating is equivalent to threatening assault.

He's kinda got a good point there.
Let's say a drunk is waving a loaded gun at you. Even though he doesn't say he's planning to shoot you, wouldn't ya feel a little uneasy?

[Kat Kanning]

Feel uneasy, ya.  Get out of there, ya.  Shoot him, no.

[eques]

I may well not notice when I tailgate (never been pulled over for it, though--usually been pulled over for speeding)... I've had people in NJ drive so closely to my rear bumper that I cannot even see their headlights (and I drive a Honda Civic)!  At that point, I'm starting to freak and I don't want to hit the brakes because they are too close at that point!

What irks the hell out of me, though, are people who are slowly coming up behind you in the left lane, and they change lanes to the right to pass.  It usually happens when I'm going a certain speed and can't yet change lanes without significantly adjusting my speed.  I try to let people pass me, but if I'm in the process of passing other cars... I try to speed up some to get out of the way a little quicker, but I'm not going to endanger myself by going faster than I feel I should.

[Lloyd Danforth]

I don't know if I just noticed it because I'm driving a toy car, but, lately it seem like everyone who passes me comes right up behind me before pulling around me. 

[Amos Keag]

in a previous life, i've been known to hock a big loogie out the sunroof, onto their windshield...just to let them know that it was game-on.

that was a long time ago...much calmer now, no sunroof, and rarely in the left lane.

[Russell Kanning]

Shooting maybe a bit drastic, however if you can rig your
vehicle to put down an oil slick........

maybe just nails ... he wants them to slow down

[Sweet Mercury]

Assertion: given human reaction time and the braking limitations of automobiles, it is impossible to avoid a collision when following the vehicle in front too closely (and something happens). Therefore, tailgating is equivalent to threatening assault.

Discuss.

Acceptence of tailgating is entirely situational. Is there more than one lane going in the direction? Then people should stay to the right and pass on the left. Is there only one lane? If so, is the person just not speeding as much as you want him too?

If I'm getting tailgated in any of those instances, I just ignore it. The only instance I will tailgate in is "pace-keepers" on a two lane highway. If someone is going slow in the right lane, and someone is keeping pace with them in the left lane preventing me from passing, then I get on their ass. It's in excusable. If they are going to maintaim the same speed as the person right next to them, then can stay in the same lane as them.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Whenever anyone is tailgaiting me when driving my van, on the highway I suspect they are taking advantage of the vacuum that occurs behind a vehicle that racedrivers use to to save fuel.  I slow down until they pass me.

[CNHT]

Lee Slocum was killed by a tailgater.