How To - Deal with tailgaters

Thats the type of stuff that: 1. Gives motorcycle riders a bad reputation.
2. Gets the rider hurt or killed.
3. Shows a lack of restraint and skill.
And, this guy is giving "pro-tips"??? It's by far easier to just move out of the way and continue with your life:thumbup:
 
+1 on moving over.

I don't know why the MC is in the fast lane when the center lane is clear...

You pull that crap over here, you get shot (seen it many times, and yes, with real gun), ain't worth it IMHO... You don't know who, what mental state the cage driver is in either, especially if he's tailgating you to start with...
 
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The guy wasn't a legend - he was a twit. Not only could the cager have just turned the wheel, and hit him - but the rider was guilty of willful damage.

The cager could have chased him down - and yes, bikes are faster - but not when they have to stop for lights/traffic etc.

Better to have just marked it down as a stupid cager and left it at that.

Now, instead of the cager 'Learning his lesson' about tailgating, the cager has 'learned' that motorcyclists are idiots, and will engage in destructive behaviour, so the next motorcyclist this particular cager sees, will could feel the brunt of the aggravation caused by this rider.

Thanks man.....

Cheers,
Rick
 
With the original post deleted I'm not sure what the story or video was, so this response may or not fit the situation..?

Anytime somebody is tailgating me I stick my left arm out and down with my palm facing back. It's a pretty clear "please back off a little" signal. 90% of tailgaters actually respect this and back off. This works 90% of time because 90% of tailgaters aren't being a$$holes on purpose. They are in a hurry and aren't thinking about the fact that the motorcyclist in front of them will be badly injured if anything goes wrong. As soon as you point out that they are too close, they back off.

The remaining 10% are the ones you need to get away from. Pull over, turn or change lanes at the very first safe opportunity. Take a few breaths and let them get well ahead.

The 10% that willfully tailgate a biker are the ones that you really don't want to mess with. They have already proven that they don't care about you life or safety. Don't give them a reason to prove it further.
 
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With the original post deleted I'm not sure what the story or video was, so this response may or not fit the situation..?

Anytime somebody is tailgating me I stick my left arm out and down with my palm facing back. It's a pretty clear "please back off a little" signal. 90% of tailgaters actually respect this and back off. This works 90% of time because 90% of tailgaters aren't being a$$holes on purpose. They are in a hurry and aren't thinking about the fact that the motorcyclist in front of them will be badly injured if anything goes wrong. As soon as you point out that they are too close, they back of.

The remaining 10% are the ones you need to get away from. Pull over, turn or change lanes at the very first safe opportunity. Take a few breaths and let them get well ahead.

The 10% that willfully tailgate a biker are the ones that you really don't want to mess with. They have already proven that they don't care about you life or safety. Don't give them a reason to prove it further.



Most of the people i tell to back off dont which is a shame that people would endanger a life to get somewhere faster
 
After the initial post was edited (why remove it? If it wasn't worthy of watching, why put it there in the first place?) I looked for the vid on YouTube.

I didn't find it, but watched a heap of other vids (as you do!) and saw one clearly showing a Police Car no more than a metre (3.33ft) in the wet, following a scooter. (at city traffic speeds)

See, even the Fuzz do it!

Cheers,
Rick
 
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rudedrivers.gif
 
I love it. Get yourself killed how to.

You can be faster than the cage, or you can be slower. If your that messed up about it. Don't cause harm to the vehicle, flag them off the road and get your ass kicked by the cager, "oh, I didn't know he had 3 more of his friends with him" you would look better in my book than throwing pennies and running like a punk making us all look bad.

Sometimes it's just not worth it.
 

This is a great way to do it! It's legal to open carry in VA so I could legally strap my sidearm to my belt to deter tailgaters. Even though it is legal I don't do it because it gives any cop the right to pull you over for questioning.
 
Last day I was being tailgated (not sure if this is a real verb..) but anyway here's the story all about how my life got twisted upside down:

My friend (on a aprilia 50cc) and me (FZ6) where cruising down a long 2 way road. We were enjoying the hot weather very much, and we were riding next to each other.
Me on the left side of my lane, and my buddie on the right side.

the max speed allowed was 70km/h, and we were riding exactly that.
Even the road in front of us was clear of cars for hundreds of meters, we just kept on riding 70km/h.

I saw a car behind us closing in on us. To the point that he was dangerously close to my rear tire. About 1,5 meter and he stayed there.
My buddie didn't see him because he has no rear view mirrors.
My blood was boiling as the car was flashing his lights and kept on driving very close to us.

I kept on riding 70km/h and put one hand on the pillion seat behind me and turned my upper body 90° to the left and have him a head signal.
The signal could be interpreted-ed as "What the **** are you doing?!"

then came the red traffic light.
I was already pumped up with adrenaline and ready for any situation that might occur next. In my rear view mirror I saw him pulling down his window and yelled something.

again, I turned my upper body to him and asked "WHAT?" (I had to yell because of my akra's without db-killer).
He then asked: "Why don't you drive at the side of the road?"

me:"Because I'm going 70km/h which is the maximum!"

He gave me the "whatever dude-signal" and rolled up his window.

The light turns green and off we go. accelerating like an old man in a wheelchair and driving 65km/h.
The cager then passes us, nearly blowing his turbocharger and driving very fast. And also nearly colliding with the oncoming traffic.

2 minutes later at another red light we were behind that same car...He turned right and we went straight ahead going 70km/h riding next to each other.

Not the most spectacular story, but it was funny to see that his dangerous maneuver did not pay off as he did not gain 1 second on us.:BLAA:

the best you can do is keep calm.
But I have to admit, if he would jump out of the car and come at us, he was going to have a bad day. Not encouraging violence, but defending yourself is legal.

Luckily he was smart and stayed in the car. happy end.
 
Yeah, I'm curious what the original post was.

Anyway, I used to be a real a-hole when driving (in a car, before I got my bike). I think its common for younger folks, males especially. Now I just remind myself -- honestly, how much extra time are you wasting following someone going a little slow? Or how much extra time are you wasting just pulling over and letting a tailgater go past? And how bad would you feel if something terrible happened to either you or someone else because of your aggression?

So now I ride and drive a lot cooler (as in mellow). Heck, I'll even slow down when I'm being passed, instead of the usual "If you want to pass me, you're going to have to fly" that it seems everyone else tries.
 
I used to be terrible (road rage) when i had a scooter, but now i'm a little bit older i've realised that life is too short especially on a bike! When i get tail gated i normally give the throttle a blip (maybe hitting the limiter :BLAA: ) for a quick second and that normally gets the message to them that they are too close, but i think i am going to now try my hardest to be the bigger man and pull over, which i'm sure doesnt make you feel big at all (at the time) but it actually is the better thing to do, I dont want to die and leave behind family and friends because of some impatient tit, so i think i am gonna try to be really relaxed while riding and just move over and let the person past.


Thanks to everyone who has commented thus far, it's helped me persuade myself that i should just let them past. my life is more than my position on the road.

Kyle
 
I have a couple of tips some of which come out of being an MSF instructor and our message. Normally, I'll flash the brake lights a couple of times and that will usually work. If not, you need to increase YOUR following distance from the vehicle in front of you because now you need to provide more of a space cushion to react and slow for yourself AND the chump that is tailgating.

I think most of the time, the folks that are tailgating really don't even realize it. Too many distractions I suppose.

My cage is an MX-5 and people love to tailgate it as well. I guess because it is so small. Others with smallish cars tell me the same.

I agree, pulling over is a hard one, but I have done it as well. Like the FL plate used to read, Arrive Alive!
 
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