Page 1 of 1

Dealing with people that tailgate

Posted: Sun May 12, 2019 6:22 pm
by OBX Dan
I ride on a lot of 35 mph roads and even when I'm going 40+ drivers feel the need to push me. Any suggestions?

Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 2:21 am
by Feral_Sparky
Learn to live with it. Its never going to stop.

Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 2:32 pm
by Stanza
A pocket full of caltrops.


But for serious, you may not actually be going 40mph. The speedometers on scooters tend to be over-optimistic. I would put a GPS app on your phone, one that records top speed achieved, and then take a short ride at 40mph on the nose. My guess is that you're going to find you're actually only going 35/36ish.

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 6:08 pm
by OBX Dan
Stanza wrote:A pocket full of caltrops.


But for serious, you may not actually be going 40mph. The speedometers on scooters tend to be over-optimistic. I would put a GPS app on your phone, one that records top speed achieved, and then take a short ride at 40mph on the nose. My guess is that you're going to find you're actually only going 35/36ish.

At times yes but I GPS 45. I know my speedo.

Edit-Stick 35 in your pipe and smoke it, cause I am doing 10+ on that.

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 2:58 pm
by sc00ter
A friend has a broken GoPro mounted to the back of his motorcycle with a "Recorded by GoPro" sticker under it. Was originally installed as a joke, because if someone steals it its already dead, but people tended to back-off his butt while he's riding so he just left it on. I'm thinking of doing the same thing but with a working GoPro, or like brand camera, since I've had front/rear camera's mounted in both cars for 3+ years now. Prices have come down so much for quality riding cameras.

Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 6:54 pm
by johnk
As long as you are going the same speed as traffic, I think it helps to stay in lane-position 1 (closest to the dividing line/median) and to keep a normal following distance from the car ahead. I suspect that this can cause the tailgater (subconsciously) to see you as more of a normal part of traffic instead of an obstacle in traffic.

The more your "body language" demonstrates that you're trying to stay out of the tailgater's way (off to the shoulder-side like a bicycle, and/or close to the car ahead), the more they will be tempted to try to get around you.

Of course, every tailgater is different, so none of this advice is air-tight.

Here's a thorough video on the subject by the wise Fast Eddie.

The over-simplified point is that we have to become very familiar with the fine line between what we can and can't control.