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I once got in a pile-up on the highway when I was a teenager - following too close. There were about a dozen of us - bam bam bam bam! Anyhow, I learned my lessson, and now I like ot leave a good space between me an dthe car in front BUT...I stil like to drive fast.
So what bugs me is, I want to
go say 140 km/h, but th etraffic in the fast lane is doing 120. fine. I leave a space. But the guy behind me gets frustrated and swerves to the right lane, passes me then squeezes in front. Now, I probably want to drive as fast or faster than he does, but I won't follow too close regardless. So how to stop all these tailgaters from cutting in?
I figure the only thing that can do it is light. So the instant you see him start to cut in, you hit the button, and from my right front mirror a very bright light shines forward, computer programmed to recognize the shape of a side mirror, blasting the bugger with light, blinding him at least for a moment so he slows down.
PIT Maneuver
http://www.youtube....?v=ur8OLtX1Afk&NR=1
try this [Laughs Last, Mar 20 2009]
The Final Tailgating solution
The_20Final_20Tailgating_20solution
"It also prohibits people cutting in front of you, ruining your safety zone." [phoenix, Mar 22 2009]
[link]
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There are really two methods you can do: |
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1:Speed up the instant they change lanes so that they get blocked by a car that is going slower than you in the right lane where they are trying to pass. |
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or:
2: The instant they begin to change lanes, signal, and make your own lane change right in front of them. if they begin to get back in the fast lane, you do so as well. |
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Neither is particularly safe, but both are more legal than blasting a bright light at someone. |
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I too always leave space in front of my vehicle. If I am being tailed when I have no possible lane change, I usually just ease off the gas a little. Sometimes tapping the brake lights a couple times helps too. But your particular case whereupon a driver wheels around you to the right and sneaks in front, reducing his/her ETA by approx 0.20 seconds... well, I usually just laugh at the moron. |
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I often enjoy watching cars come up fast behind a dense pack of slower moving vehicles, only to add to the overall mass of vehicles grouped in this tight formation. |
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There's no need to be doing 120 in the fast lane just because the guy in front is doing 120 as well. Do 120 in the slower lane and hence block hotshots from illegal undertaking. If you see someone ahead of you in the slower lane, move out to the fast lane (hotshots in the fast lane can't illegally undertake due to the car you are moving out around). Once you've passed the slower car in the slow lane, move back into the slow lane. |
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If you are careful, you can have a good distance between you and the guy in front, as well as ensuring that there's not a large enough gap between you and the slow guy in the fast lane for a hotshot to weave between the two of you. |
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(Real question is why some idiot is in the fast lane at 120 if there is empty space in the slow lane. The fast lane should only be used when actively overtaking a slower vehicle.. if nobody is next to you in the slow lane it's time to go into the slow lane.) |
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Incidentally - pile ups are not the only problem with this kind of traffic weaving - the illegal undertaking is a real danger as well. If you have gone to the fast lane to overtake exactly one vehicle, then it is certain that having passed that vehicle, there is no other vehicle in the slow lane and you are free to move across - or is it? - there should be exactly zero chance of a car being there, because you only overtook one car... however some fool from behind you has overtaken the same car, and is now illegally undertaking you in the slow lane... "bang". There's no excuse for his illegal driving, his very presence next to you in the slow lane when you have not overtaken him is illegal. |
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Your attitude makes you a very dangerous driver. Driving in traffic is not a competition, if someone pulls in front of you simply produce a new space envelope. If you perceive that the traffic congestion in front of you is a threat leave a larger space. In any situation where you are traveling more than 80mph you should be able to produce a significant (10-15 car lengths) envelope, if not you are most certainly driving too fast. |
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@21Quest I should have clarified. I was referring to drivers on a multi-lane highway. I agree that in the city traffic lights make it a different story. |
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All I'm saying is that if I'm driving along with traffic, waiting for the pack of cars in front of me to disperse, or pass the slower moving traffic, I usually leave a bit of space in front of me (highway driving). The car that zips around me and moves one space forward really isn't saving any time. Speed is not increased by this manouver. If the person works their way to the front of the pack, they may save 5 or 6 seconds. Do this 100 times in a 10 hour trip, and you stand to save 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I wait for the pack to simply disperse (pass the slower moving vehicles, and spread into the other lanes). I'd just like to mention that my "hammer lane" idea would fix all of this. |
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When I ran a Rally car as my day to day car I found that the effect of 500w in their rear view mirror soon made them move back out of the way (and if that did not work the fact I could lock both my front tyres at up to 80mph made them move fast as well). |
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Ar'nt guns legal in the USA, can't you just blast them out the side window? |
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Yes, it's legal in the US to blast them out the side
window. (I love this country!) What you really
want to do is blast them before they cut in front
of you (assuming, of course that they do in fact
plan to cut in front of you--we don't get caught up
in philosophical arguments like this, that would
just be throwing away half the benefit of having
guns in the first place.) |
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The best thing to do, is miss them the first few
times you fire. Then you have a reasonable
chance of killing some innocent bystander (who
might someday have cut in front of you, so it's
ok.) |
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Some of you are missing the point. |
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Of COURSE going faster saves time - I want to save time too! In fact, my example pointed out that I want to go much faster, but I can't because of traffic. |
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But I am not going to go faster at the sake of safety - there IS a a point where following too close is dangerous. People who force themselves back in are the very ones who would then be most outraged if someone forced themselves in front of THEM. The only way to stop that is to be less than a carlength from the car in front of you, which EVERYONE I hope recognizes is dangerous. |
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The point is that you gain almost NOTHING by all this weaving in and out if traffic is really busy. Suppose you 'pass' in this fashion 10 cars. I would wager that it would take at least 10 minutes to do that, waiting for the right set up etc, and also accounting for many many minutes where you simplay can't do it because you are to hemmed in from the traffic in the slow or middle lane. |
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Well, 10 cars, spaced closely together at 120 km/h (73 mph for our American friends) might yield maybe 15 seconds of saved time. Try it yourself, next time you see a jam-packed highway, count how long it takes 10 cars to go by in the fast lane - hardly anything. |
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As well, need I elaborate on the atrocious gas mileage rapid acceleration at high speeds results in? |
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I think we should take the train. No one ever pushes in in front of them (and lives). |
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I have solutions to all the problems detailed above. Most of the year it's a motorcycle, in the worst of the winter it's an old Landrover with a nice big NATO hitch on the front and rear bumpers. The bike gets me round everything and no-one wants to get too near the Landrover. |
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Why not have anti-tailgater lights at the back instead? People trying to cut in front would get blinded by the anti-tailgater lights of the person in front. And people don't tailgate you. You kill two birds with one stone. |
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I suggest a very loud "tire screeching sound" recording that blasts backwards from your car. Play this sound when the guy behind you starts to change lanes and believe me, he'll be back in his own lane VERY quickly! |
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