This is one thing that really f'n ticks me off. I'm a pretty relaxed driver with a great deal of control over road rage, but a few things such as this can bring it out quickly. Things like this, slamming on brakes without using a blinker in front of me, etc. These things aren't just courtesies, they are dangerous to do.

Anyway, the question comes because just now, at 3:00ish in the AM, I was driving through town on a 25mph road at about 30ish because it's a main artery without much traffic at this time of night. But it never fails, SOMEONE always comes up behind me and follows me about three feet off my back bumper. This pisses me off.. i'm already going 5 over -- sometimes slightly more -- on a residential road that is highly patrolled and monitored by police. How do you deal with these people? I know some of the guys on clubgp use my technique when there's no other traffic: I slow down to the most intensely frustrating speed possible without causing unnecessary punishment to others.

Granted I realize this could be a serious emergency that they're on my a** so bad, but they could flash me or put on the hazards and i'd move out of their way. This was no emergency, this is just idiocy (possibly drunk idiocy)

EDIT: I don't do this permanently, only for 10 or 15 seconds max, so they get the idea. I stopped doing it to this woman tonight cause a car was coming up behind her. So what's she do? She slams the gas pedal and gasses it into a turn onto another street -- with no blinker. Probably hit a car soon after.

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1993 Bonneville SE -- WV surfin!

yea man nothing ticks me off more than being tailgated. specially if they are on a cell phone! I personally just pile on the brakes and drop about 15 mph and it has always gotten them to back off. cause if you do that and they rearend you it was still their fault. cause you had to make an emergency stop for something in the road and they didn't have the safe distance behind you so it go on their fault.
Probably not the best way but it works for me.

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1998 Bonniville SSEi black.

In most cases I'll drop it in N and coast

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1992 Bonneville SE
1998 Bonneville SE

I usually let off and coast down a lil, then speed up......if they don't get the idea after that.....I tap the brakes a few times.....still doing it AFTER THAT, **** it I got full coverage......I dump on the binders and watch'em panic.

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2003 Dodge Ram 2500 - Removed Turbo Silencer Ring - Removed Torque Tube Baffle - Amsoil 4510 Nanofiber Filter - DiabloSport Preditor - Muffler Deleted - SP Diesel Boost Enforcer - Amsoil Full Synthetic All Around.
1980 Pontiac Trans Am - 350 Bored .30 over, Flattop pistons, Flo-tech headers, Edelbrock Performer Carb & Torker Intake, Built Trans & 4.10's
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I find tailgaters very annoying when in the car and I'll usually just pull over and let them pass. When I'm in the truck hauling a load of gas I'm not so nice.

I have no idea what they are thinking when tailgating a big truck. Trying to intimidate?

The most annoying thing is when they sit on the bumper and creep out just far enough that their headlight shines in my outside mirror. Now is when I have some fun. Electric mirrors are great for directing that light right back at them. A little tug on the wheel and the trailer does a little dance, maybe stray into the gravel shoulder just a bit so that pebbles pepper the offending windshield.

Empty trailers are even better. Hit the trailer brakes while holding the gas pedal down and watch the smoke show from the rear trailer tires. If that don't get their attention, nothing will.

Ya....I don't have a trailer on my truck enough to do that....but I forgot about that......Of course you're on a little bit larger of a scale than I am lol.

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2003 Dodge Ram 2500 - Removed Turbo Silencer Ring - Removed Torque Tube Baffle - Amsoil 4510 Nanofiber Filter - DiabloSport Preditor - Muffler Deleted - SP Diesel Boost Enforcer - Amsoil Full Synthetic All Around.
1980 Pontiac Trans Am - 350 Bored .30 over, Flattop pistons, Flo-tech headers, Edelbrock Performer Carb & Torker Intake, Built Trans & 4.10's
AMSOIL Online Store - Preferred Customer Pricing-
Click Here For A Free AMSOIL Catalog

Well, nowadays, people want to more and more, draft behind semi trucks to save a few MPGs. Mythbusters confirmed that the closer one is to the rear of the semi, the more MPG is turned out.

But yeah...I've done several BCs on the interstate and busy streets...esp. with, ahem...foreigners that seem to think they can do the same things in the states that they do back on that island of theirs

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1993 SSEi - FrankenJinx - dead and gone.
1994 SSE (136K strong) - 180* t-stat,HD alternator, most unequipped SSE on the club, XM radio, Kenwood CD/MP3.
2006 Chevy Malibu Maxx LTZ - Custom 2.25" manifold-back exhaust w/FM-80. Probably the only Maxx with this system.

Haha that's great . Well I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that slows down. I realize it may not be the safest thing ever, but it's probably safer than their tailgating. I don't mash the brakes, I just usually let it glide till i'm going terribly slow. I did it once back in my hometown and a guy passed me on a residential street and flipped me off...

... he was then pulled over right in front of me.

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1993 Bonneville SE -- WV surfin!

Ya, that's pretty much what I do. Give them a chance first before quickly stabbing the brakes and then speed up before they hit me. It's not as effective as years ago before anti lock brakes. Back in the day, it would usually result in the tailgater locking up his brakes and sliding over into the curb.

......and I never tailgate.

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Paul

2000 SSEi, 1994 SSEi (Buckwheat's Grizz), 1979 Firebird Formula, 1988 Jeep Cherokee, - 51,000 Km Mar/08 13.4 sec 1/4 mi 1.92 60' 255/50WZR17, 4" CAI,160 Stat, 42.5 # injectors, Meziere electric water pump, 3.1" MPS, INTENSE PCM, 1.9 Rockers, STB, EP Limited Slip Diff, Snow Water/Methanol Injection, Timing Commander, TOG 3" to twin 2 1/2" Magnaflow, Gen5 L32 M90 ported and polished by Zilla Motorsports
WillWren Quote - "Everytime you shake my hand you grab a piece 'o my ass"

I liked Gonneville's solution. Mess with him by tripping the brake lights with the trailer brakes, then flip on the jake brake and downshift.

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Living in the city, longing for the open road.
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