ALT-1 Driver Safety Drivers that Tailgate
Tailgating is a serious problem nowadays. So serious, that it should be strongly addressed by Highway Law Enforcement Authorities and dealt with as a potential crime, serving stiffer penalties and/or deterrents to the inconsiderate offenders.
Driving on a busy highway is enough to make some of us want to curl up under the steering wheel and hope for the best, but when an aggressive driver, such as a tailgater suddenly appears in our rear view mirror out of nowhere, we sometimes feel forced to make unnecessary decisions.
The decisions that we make on the road, should be careful and considerate to other drivers. Often, there are split second instances where our full undivided attention is required and when another driver tailgates, it often pushes us into a state of panic.
Not only does a tailgater feel the need to pass someone that is quite often driving at a safe speed and upholding the posted speed limit, but that driver seems to think that riding within a few feet of another person's bumper is the solution to making that driver speed up or get out of their way.
When someone feels threatened by a tailgater, they will more than likely try to maneuver out of their way and assume a position in an adjacent lane. However, there maybe other drivers present and when the panicked driver begins to make their move, their thoughts are impaired by their road-stalker's actions and this can result in a potentially dangerous and discourteous lane change.
Some people do not seem to realize that everyone is sharing the road together. Some drivers seem to think that everyone else is driving at an incorrect speed and that things need to move faster. What better solution is there, than to hurry everybody up a little?
The fact is, and it can be proved over and over, is that speeding, or weaving in and out of traffic, will not get you to your destination any faster than Mr. Jones driving ten miles per hour slower than you are, in the next lane. There are things called traffic lights and stop signs! Often a driver will be passed by someone in a hurry, only to find themselves stopped, twenty seconds later at the next intersection along side the speeding perpetrator.
The best advice that can be offered to a driver that feels threatened by a tailgater, is to stand your ground and do not give into them! Your safety is at risk and as long as you are abiding by the rules of that particular roadway, then you have every right to be driving upon it.
Remain calm, slow down a little if possible, but do not speed up! Speeding up with only add more fuel to your tailgater's fire! Let them know that you are not going to do anything until you are ready to do so!
More than often, the tailgater will back off, as they too may realize how inconsiderate they have been. Sometimes, people get a little impatient and carried away, so it needs someone like you to slow them down. Who knows? You may be saving someone's life, including your own.
