ChuckW

Well...I had a slightly unnerving experience from lack of dealing with these situations. I was driving to meet my family at a movie theatre and this guy in a ridiculously jacked up Chevy 2500 starts tailgating me. I speed up, still there. I turn, he follows. Kept going on all the way into the parking lot. I took a sharp turn and he just left the parking lot. It freaked me out. What should I have done in a situation like this? I don't know what to do about trucks that are bigger than mine...

Fronty Owner

I usually ignore people that tailgate me. but then again, it happens so much around here and they usually have their high beams on.
as far as people following into a parking lot. stepping out and "accidentially" showing my pistol as I adjust my shirt has so far persuaded people its wiser to just leave.

JKM

I have never encountered a vehicle larger than mine , but generally if he is following real close , STOP REALLY FAST , tell the nice police officer you were trying not to hit a wild animal...

ChuckW

As much as I would have liked to accidentally flash the handgun I don't have, there's some law against 17 year olds carrying them. I dunno. Maybe I'm wrong. I do live in Texas after all. I actually contemplated the whole stopping fast idea, but this thing was so jacked up it would have gone on top my truck and I have a 2" lift 4x4 with 33" mud terrains. It was obviously a show truck because of all the chrome and chevy logos. It must have had at least a 18" lift. Also, I wanted to see the movie (RV is a great movie by the way.)

need12v

Cover them in the BCOD. Works EVERY time. And if for some reason it don't work, do it again. I have two tractor lights mounted upside down under my bumper for backup lights. They work pretty good as backup lights, but I have never, ever in my life seen someone as mad at me as when I turn them on (manual switch) when they are following too close. Just make sure you don't do it around or to a cop, that would be bad news.

tx_2500

in situations such as that (tailgaiting) i find it ill advised (esp if you are smaller) to get on the brakes. what i do is merley reach up for the hazard switch and let it blink once. makes em think im on the brakes for a sec and then they will back off usually. if that dosent work either gradually slow down and make em pass you..or lay it down and leave them a few miles behind.

people are a-holes..ya just gotta learn how to deal with em.

runamuk

Chuck the guy was probably from Ca and just thought you were cute (a joke)

Sorry, I just had to do it!!

Personally I either slow down till they pass or out run them even with my trailer on.

: Flashing guns ends with someone dead!! No matter your age!!

Rick

SoTexRattler

There are enough wacked-out/tweaker drivers out there that could have freaked on you and killed you if you got out and tried to "reason" with them. As much as you'd like to "get back" at him(braking, etc) some people just aren't human... Try not to antagonize them into rage.
Seen some people on PCP do some really astounding things while under it's influence... Virtually superhuman animal-like rages... Really spooky to witness.
Best thing to do is just what you did.. GET AWAY from the scumbag and don't get out of your vehicle and try confronting him, as there are some REALLY bizarre people out there that just do not value human life.
If he still followed/chased you in such a highly jacked-up truck, remember, that high of a CG really works against him in high speed turns... Not that yours is all that much better with the lifts/tires etc. But just keep your wits about you.. Heck, drive under something too low for him to get under or too narrow for him to pass between! Maybe he'll catch an awning just about the middle of his windshield and qualify to be a Darwin Award candidate.

K.

B.A.Ram

comon man it's the obvious......SHOW HIM THE BLACK SMOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TheFog

I find a shotgun rack with a good old remington hanging it is very good at keeping people like that from messing with you. But also what works really good is get you a couple of hide-away strobes and put them in your tail lights. Since they make your rear lights flash in red they are considered a hazzard light and are legal. I have them on both my vehicles and find them VERY effective for tailgaters especialy at night

Shovelhead

Put on your right signal, and make the first right turn to get out of his way, even if it means pulling onto the shoulder of the road.
If he stops too, fire up & head for the nearest fire or police station.

ChuckW

I'd have to say that this is probably the best advice so far, definately the safest. As much as I would have enjoyed smoking him, he was too close and too high for it. Changing lanes was a futile attempt at getting away also, he just changed with me. I nearly out ran him, but hit traffic and he caught up even tho I put him a good 1/4 mile behind me. The guy was just a lunatic. Thats life I suppose.

horsepoor68

I usually just slow down till they go around if they get even closer i slow down more. I had a guy follow me into a parking lot one time, he pulled over and parrked in front of me and got out as he was walking to my truck he had his hand behind his back and yelling at me do you want to get shot as he was walking to wards me. As we pulled into the parking lot i had dialled 911 i told them this guy was walking towards my truck threatening me with his hand behind his back i also told them i was armed with a 9mm and if he came anycloser i would shoot , lucky for him police responded quickly. Turnes out this guy wasnt even armed. After that day i dont carry my gun anymore I could have killed this guy over something stupid.Even today as i an typing this my hand are shaking thinking of what could have been the outcome of that day.

bkrukow

I had a guy on a croch rocket get mad at me last week. I still havent figured out what his problem was but he definatly had one. I caught him and a small lowered s-10 at a stop sign in the country. After they took off they never realy got up to speed. They where cruising at around 50 mph. I had been previously cruising at 65. After a few miles of this I passed both of them at once. When I pulled back in I was at around 70 and backed out of it to 65. I was just getting back down to 65 when the bike came rite up on my trailer. He couldent have been 15-20 feet behind the trailer. He just sat there for a long time and the s-10 never did cach up. After several miles of this I decided to smoke him out and either geta jump on him or make him not wana be back there anymore. I flipped the box on high and waited for a hill and gave him a good large cloud of "get off my bumper fog". I took it up to abought 80 mph and he just sat there the hole time eating all the smoke. As soon as I backed off it so did he. This bike was more than capable of passing me at any time as there is no real trafic here in rural Iowa. He had been cruising at 50mph for a long time and decided to pick up the pace after I passed him so he obviously had a problem with me as soon as he got passed buy a large truck pulling 4 ATVs. There was a few cars that got in front of me that I had to slow down to 60 mph for and one small truck that hit his breaks hard and turned at the last moment. The bike was so close to me that he had to go up along side the trailer in order to not hit me. He still did not pass me after all this and I was not going to slow down to 50 and make him pass me. I figured the trailer(all steel home made) was more than strong enough to handle the stupid bike if worse came to worse. After a bunch more miles he finaly passed me and emidiatly slowed down to abought 40 mph. Ithought to myself this guy wants to die. I am in a 7000+ pound truck pulling a big trailer with 4 ATVs on it and he wants to fool with me?? After abought a mile of this we crested a small hill and I could see a Teragator(very large sprayer) cruisign along ahead of us so I dident bother passing him back or trying to anyway. After a couple more miles following the Gator and stupid biker we were in a small town that has a 4 lane section threw town. The gator turned off rite before the 4 lane and the bike never got up over 20 mph in the 35 mph zone 4 lane. I went rite back buy him in the rite lane and he imedeiatly crancked it up and blew buy me at abought 50 mph. This is where he got real stupid. He thought he would show me his inteligence and try hitting my window on the way buy. He never did get the window but he hit the mirror with his hand at abought a 30+mph diference. The mirrors dont fold forward and they are strong. As soon as he did that he never touched the throttle again(was his right hand he hit hit mirror with). He emidiatly pulled off the road and I never saw him agin. I dont know if he was getting off there or broke his hand showing his stupidity. I seriously thought of doubleing back and giving him a peice of my mind but I was headed to go riding and that took precidence over yelling at a retard on a bike. The 3 of us guys in the truck ALL have had bikes in the past and where just baffeled this hole time at the stupidity of the rider. We never decided if he was just mad at us for passing him or if he dident like the smoke show miles back or what. If he dident like the smoke he shouldent have been following so close the hole time and he was obviously not in a hury as he was doing 50mph for a long time before I passed him. Idiouts these days.

Sory for the long winded post but this was a LONG distance road rage stupidity display.

ChuckW

Yeah...I just don't know what gets in to some people's heads. I mean, I sometimes get aggitated by things when driving, but no matter what I never get to a point where I would do stupid stuff like these people do. The most I ever do is pass people fast and blow some smoke. Thats its. I would never follow some one or yell at them unless they had just put me in a life-or-death situation. People are just morons now adays I guess. Just gotta drive defensively and assume that every one has no idea what they're doing. On another note, who is honestly stupid enough to try and hit a huge trucks mirror when they pass it on a motocycle, especially with a 30mph difference?