If the car is stuck behind you, just go the speed limit. If they can pass you but won’t, then slowly take your foot off the gas until they do. If you’re trapping them behind you, you’re the asshole.
I agree with you that the tailgater is making the situation more dangerous and that slowing down is appropriate. I also think that slowing way down to 10mph to antagonize the other driver is not.
I think its appropriate to go slower when tailgates, because you need a stopping distance for safety. If the car is so close to you that they’re not giving you one, slowing down is how you create one for yourself. If the tailgaters backs off, you can safely gain speed again.
The method I was taught was to control the distance. If someone is too close for the speed, it needs fixing. I can’t adjust the distance, but I can adjust the speed. Basically, slow down until the distance is now appropriate.
Most people seem to get what’s going on quite quickly.
I prefer to speed up for a few seconds then take my foot off the gas. Usually at this point they’ll be speeding up but will have to hit the brakes. Rinse and repeat until they go around
Yeah, I’m sure the events described in the OP post were satisfying on some level but a crash is a bad outcome and intentionally antagonizing the tailgater probably made it more likely to happen.
I mean it sucks for the person who got crashed into, but it is still the tailgater’s responsibility not to crash into people (and also not to tailgate).
imo you can’t really compartmentalize blame that way, OP couple still did something wrong by prioritizing a personal grievance over the potential safety of everyone else on the road, even if it’s through indirect influence on the mental state of someone who is more at fault. Driving is too dangerous to be acting like that.
You also can’t make those two things equivalent. It’s not bad or wrong to slow down your car with a tailgater behind you. It is bad and wrong to tailgate and rear end someone.
I’m not saying they’re equivalent, but I am saying that intentionally antagonizing any other driver in order to retaliate for something is in fact wrong.
If the car is stuck behind you, just go the speed limit. If they can pass you but won’t, then slowly take your foot off the gas until they do. If you’re trapping them behind you, you’re the asshole.
No matter the situation if you are too close to the vehicle in front of you, then you are the asshole.
The tailgater is definitely an asshole but when the tailgatee slows down to 10mph it becomes an everyone sucks here scenario, in my opinion.
There’s no speed minimum for a reason. Some drivers and certain equipment need to go slow.
The narrator is not the asshole here.
Impeding the flow of traffic is often ticketable. How pissed off would you be if you were in a third car, stuck behind these two dickheads?
But he’s not, he went down to 10 from a limit of 25, the traffic is flowing
No, you’re just reducing both your speed until it reaches a safe point for them to be that close behind you.
I agree with you that the tailgater is making the situation more dangerous and that slowing down is appropriate. I also think that slowing way down to 10mph to antagonize the other driver is not.
I think its appropriate to go slower when tailgates, because you need a stopping distance for safety. If the car is so close to you that they’re not giving you one, slowing down is how you create one for yourself. If the tailgaters backs off, you can safely gain speed again.
And if they’ve got those lights, I need to slow down anyways because I can’t see the road as well with all the glare.
The method I was taught was to control the distance. If someone is too close for the speed, it needs fixing. I can’t adjust the distance, but I can adjust the speed. Basically, slow down until the distance is now appropriate.
Most people seem to get what’s going on quite quickly.
I prefer to speed up for a few seconds then take my foot off the gas. Usually at this point they’ll be speeding up but will have to hit the brakes. Rinse and repeat until they go around
Oh that’s good
Yeah, I’m sure the events described in the OP post were satisfying on some level but a crash is a bad outcome and intentionally antagonizing the tailgater probably made it more likely to happen.
I mean it sucks for the person who got crashed into, but it is still the tailgater’s responsibility not to crash into people (and also not to tailgate).
imo you can’t really compartmentalize blame that way, OP couple still did something wrong by prioritizing a personal grievance over the potential safety of everyone else on the road, even if it’s through indirect influence on the mental state of someone who is more at fault. Driving is too dangerous to be acting like that.
You also can’t make those two things equivalent. It’s not bad or wrong to slow down your car with a tailgater behind you. It is bad and wrong to tailgate and rear end someone.
I’m not saying they’re equivalent, but I am saying that intentionally antagonizing any other driver in order to retaliate for something is in fact wrong.
I’d much prefer a crash at 10mph over one at 25mph tbh
Fair, maybe there are legitimate reasons to do this