man, they love to tailgate a prius

That's awesome. I came upon 4 wheelers that did that at intersections when I had to make a turn but had little room to get around. I do what you do when I am driving my vehicles as I know what it is like to be swinging a corner in a big truck needing plenty of room to get it turned.

Of course on the flip side I have had to pull my trailer up so it overhang the 4 wheelers hood as they were too ignorant to back up to give me the room to get around the corner.

Mike

 

When I was a young pup I was driving across Pennsylvania in my old '83 Nissan Sentra 4-banger. The thing didn't have many horses, so the hills were murder.

There was a driver in a red Ford Mustang convertible that was driving like an idiot. He cut me off bad and I'm sure that he was doing this to a number of the other vehicles that were struggling on the hills.

The big rig drivers were watching.

I saw that red Mustang get engulfed by at least three tractor trailers as I passed at the bottom of a hill.

Never saw that Mustang again the rest of the way through Pennsylvania.

The prudent driver has great respect for the big rigs. Use a little gas to get out of their way--the small amount of gas that you burn is a lot less than the fuel they burn to change momentum (momentum = mass * velocity). Call it environmentalism.

And even if you don't respect 'em for their work or for conservation of fossil fuels, for survival one should respect 'em for the equation force = mass * acceleration.

-Kris
(Indian name "Dances with Semis")

 

If I get a tailgater and they wont go around or just like being there, decide to clean you windows with the washer a few times, they will back off.If for anything to clean their own windows.

 

I have a neighbor at work who does that with his daily driver (old station wagon)... he says it works wonders

 

Quick story:

Coming back home rolling thru Bloomington MN in the left lane so I didn't have to deal with slow cars entering the multi lane highway. It looked like it had rained not long ago as there was BIG puddles on the left shoulder I look in my mirrors and notice this white car riding my trailer. Oh yea, time for a car wash I kinda drifted left until I caught some puddles. White car stayed well behind me after that soaking ound:

Mike

 

I have always tried to respect truckers, unfortunately a few bad apples are out there. Many years ago I was on the CT turnpike doing 65mph in the right hand lane with the limit being 55mph, and the traffic in the left doing 70+ - and had this trucker riding my bumper with lights and horn blaring. Was finally able to pull over when I saw a state trooper at a traffic stop. Told him what was going on, 50 miles down the road the truck was pulled over by three troopers

 

That's good to hear. There are some a-hole truckers out there that should NOT be on the road. I ran across a punk driving a dump truck last night passing in no passing zone on a two way. Damn idiot shouldn't have a commercial license

Mike

 

Today, I had a car tail me SO close I couldn't even see the front hood of the car anymore. It was like the windshield of the car behind me was right up at my bumper (they were in a van). I was actually VERY scared. Funny thing is, I was going with the speed limit and there were cars in front of me but I kept a bit of space between me and the car in front of me but I guess this wasn't good enough for the guy behind me. I've never been tailed so closely before but I guess when you used to drive a 4Runner people don't tail you as badly so I never experienced this until today on my commute home from work. He would not let up on me, so I got my phone up like you did and positioned it to take a picture, funny thing is the guy let up. I guess he saw me trying to take a pic! My guy was closer than this guy was in the photo.. swear you couldn't even see the hood of his car. =/

I don't know why people feel they need to tail so badly, it's so scary! They harm not only others but themselves! Some people are such idiots. I really wanted to tab the brake lights but I didn't because I didn't want to be the cause of any accident. I did want to use my windshield fluid though but I was too scared, just in case this guy had a major case of road rage, I did not need him to run my new car off the road! GRR! So mad!

The Prius is the most relaxing car I've ever driven, the most stressful part of driving this car is how others act towards you.

 

Maybe install a tow kit? They'll probably leave more distance since it would cause them a lot of damage if they ran into it.

If you know how to safely make a fast turn and the route you're on has sharp turns, just make the fast turn with no prior warning. (That trick works the best if the tailgater is a SUV.)

Moving on to high tech methods, I remember reading about a directed EMP that can cause a targeted car to temporarily malfunction. I actually once did cobble together a mini EMP generator by discharging a high voltage capacitor into a coil. I was in college (living in the dorms) and an obnoxious neighbor played his radio really loud. Analog audio circuits are very sensitive to interference and it did not take much to make his radio play a repetitive thumping noise.

 

Well that's one reason you see so many multi-vehicle accidents nowadays. One guy has a problem and it sets off a chain reaction involving multiple tailgaters. Even worse is when they tailgate in inclement weather where normal stopping distances and maneuverability are out the window. It's not uncommon to see 20+ car accidents nowadays during snow/fog conditions.... and it's mostly due to inadequate separation between cars for the current conditions.

For some drivers- I don't think they even consider that they're tailgating. They seem to have no basic understanding of the rules of the road or even common safe practices. They just drive so aggressively all the time now that they just expect everyone to either conform to their driving style (and speed) or get out of their way- right or wrong.

I was doing 64mph in the right lane of a three lane 55mph max interstate this morning. The middle and left lanes were mostly wide open. But still, a work van had to close in and ride right up my butt in the right lane for several miles till I finally moved from the right lane to the center lane so he could pass while staying in the right lane. Once I had moved to the left- he increased speed (probably 67mph or so) then simply continued on in the right lane for two more exits before leaving the roadway.

For some reason- at least in NY- the police simply ignore tailgating. You could have someone five feet behind you at 60mph and a cop will simply pass by you in the left lane ignoring the clear violation. Maybe if they issued tickets to tailgaters it would get the message out?

 

I agree. Police need to take this more seriously. Unfortunately in most locales there are bigger fish to fry, but around here they could use a little more work.

 

Hate to revive an old thread like this, but thought it was interesting. I've driven a truck mostly, and so to have so many people tail me in a car is rather disconcerting. Usually I don't get tailed, because either they'll end up with a big towball in their radiator or their windshield. I also never get tailed (except by stupid little red sportscars) when puling large loads. You really don't want to pull out of front of 5 tons of truck, trailer, and hay. It also worked good when we had a big red, ext. cab long bed Dodge Ram with a really large dent in the side. Nope. Don't pull out in front of that. But a little 1 1/2 ton Prius, that seems to be just fine with everyone. I almost broadsided an F150 the other day because they cut me off so badly.

 

What we need is thousands of county sheriffs driving around day & night in unmarked Prius so they can nail those idiots that drive carelessly around the Prius.

Mike

 

I'm thinking of getting a vinyl sticker for the lower glass on the rear hatch that says "Smile, you are being recorded by my rearview camera."