Highway tailgater and etc - not a car mechanical question

Either way, I think that was an asshole move on your part. I probably would have passed you on the shoulder too. It's not your place to enforce the speed limit, and the left lane is for passing, not for blocking.

Hopefully this is not reflective of how you usually drive.

nate

You would be accused of being a trolling f****it.

You're supposed to drive in the right lane unless you are actually passing someone. In the situation you describe, you would be charged with dangerous driving, mind you the other guy would be too.

In Ontario Canada they would bust your sorry ass for blocking the free movement of traffic and hopefully get you for 'road rage' and an unsafe lane change as well as dangerous driving.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

You know you are supposed to use the left lane for passing and the right for driving. (Not that anybody DOES it here, including the Highway Patrol).

You have every right to fear tailgaters, and you do not have to go over the speed limit just because they are pushing you. They are the scofflaws, not you.

By the same token, you shouldn't do anything to provoke or endanger them.

Admittedly, I have tapped the brake light at times to signal that they are too close and to please give me space. Maybe that is ill advised too, but I know of no other way to keep them off my ass.

I drive 65-70 too.

I get impression that people who replied thus far may be thinking that I drive slow in fast lane (left lane). I don't. I may not have been explicit about it. I do drive in the right lane (slow lane) at about 65/70 mph, and use left lane only to pass slower car than me, in which case, I do move

to left lane (I make sure to use blinker), pass slower car, and then use blinker again and move to right slow lane again.

I do get pissed is when fast cars come from behind and tailgate me during the time I am using left lane to pass slower (than me) car. My situation was about cars tailgating me during the time I use left lane to pass even slower (than me) car. What I described was one time -recent- deal.

I get pissed at that also, but the bottom line is two wrongs don't make a right. You deliberately blocked the guy. Now if an accident had occurred, I think there's a strong argument that the other guy would be at fault. In this scenario, you could conceivably have been forced to do what you did if, for example, you spotted a big piece of road debris at the last second. The other guy definitely didn't leave room for the unforseen. But since there wasn't any road debris or family of skunks or any other real cause, you'd be at least partially at fault in this particular instance too.

If you intentionally went back in to the left lane you would be just as guilty of road rage as he was. I think you are worried about wrong thing though. Who cares who is liable for the accident? Decent odds are that one or both of you are going to be dead after the accident occurs. Yes the other driver was a total idiot but I don't think it would comfort your family any to know that you died to make that point.

Steve B.

I have had marked police cars come up on me like that when I am passing and I do speed up to get by and clear the lane, then tuck back in. There were no issues about going a little over 70 mph to do this.

I have also seen the police hit their bull horn and tell someone to speed up and get over. (I drive an open Jeep so could hear them easily)

'You' had a road rage incident and any witnesses to an accident when you cut off the passing vehicle would say so because of the lane shuffle....

Not a good thing to do.

The passer was already committed in his mind and to suddenly hit the brakes at speed can be more dangerous than taking a paved shoulder. He had a pickup, maybe he had a load of metal plates in it and to hit the brakes fast could be a disaster.... Or maybe he had bad brakes that he knew would grab and spin him out, or any number of reasons...

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)

The person approaching from behind has the legal obligation to maintain a specified and safe distance from you.

If he hits you from behind, in this state he is automatically guilty.

While it's the right thing to do, I wouldn't recommend that anyone actually do that. There was a cop in Annapolis a while back (like 2-3 years) that was pulling people over for speeding when they sped up to get out of his way. I know of at least 5 people that got tickets that way. I personally think that that's a real a-hole move, but hey, if there's a risk of me getting a ticket, the cop can wait. All because of a couple a-hole cops, too.

nate

Leave law enforcement to the cops! If someone is tailgating you, move over! Your life will be less stressful and so will the other guy's.

Ayup...

As far as I'm concerned, unless he's got his flashers on, a cop is "just another car", and gets no special consideration from me, regardless of what he's doing. With flashers, I get out of the way and/or stop (if he's "aiming" at me) but otherwise... He's just another road hazard to be dealt with, and doesn't get handed any special treatment just 'cause he's got a stupid-looking paint job and a bunch of fancy gizmos on his ride.

If he pulled into the left lane, and is STILL being tailgated, where is he supposed to move??

So what you're saying is that you deliberately chose to increase the level of danger to occupants of both (or more) vehicles just because someone else was driving poorly?

Regardless of legal liability, driving a motor vehicle carried with it much more than the law dictates. Do you have children?

In no state is the rear vehicle "automatically guilty" if a lane change takes place immediately prior to the impact.

I see frequent clues along the freeways, in the form of signs that say "SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT".

Problem is that these days, most folks on the freeways seem to be so dense you could pound a clue into them like a nail and they'd still not notice it...

No, of course, you cannot swerve in front of someone and avoid culpability for a resulting accident.

A person following you has the responsibility to maintain a proper speed and distance however, and even if you lock up your brakes, and he hits you, he is normally at fault. The tailgater might argue that your actions were reckless.