I know it’s tempting to try to confront someone like this, but never get out of your vehicle. Please use a phone to call the cops-years ago two of my friends got out to confront someone like this and they were murdered-and the a$$#$ that did it only got 17 years. It may be momentarily satisfying, but it’s not risking your life over-never underestimate the potential danger of some psycho on the road.
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[QUOTE=kt-rose;4358138]
and when most of are driving our horse trailers we are going at or below the speed limit. Might work better to find a spot to pull over and let the cars behind pass. I try to do that whenever I can hauling to my lessons because it is also the time of day most people are trying to get to work and I am sure they don’t leave any more extra time in their mornings than I do. Consideration rather than confrontation would make everyone safer in the long run. From us as well as them![/QUOTE]
I agree, drive forward and pay attention to the road ahead of you and around you, but don’t overly concern yourself with the actions of others other than how they pertain to how you handle your vehicle, they are out of your control. Drive safely and focused, no distracted driving (NO CELL PHONES WHILE DRIVING). Seriously if I tried to be the “hall monitor” for everyone who has ever tail gated me or dangerously cut me off while I was hauling horses I would never get anywhere.
I used to drive a small, low profile sports car and the most irritating thing in the world to me was people who would drive their SUVs and Trucks with their fog lights on ALL of the time, no matter the weather conditions. Would shine right in my eyes and blind me. I just bring that up as I wonder how many here who are complaining of tail gaters have ever been guilty of this, or anything else that irritates and endangers other drivers. :sigh: Do your best to take care of you and yours, drive safe and be courteous to all around you, shrug off those who can not advance the same courtousy, but don’t become so focused on them that you change what you are doing and set yourself up for any kind of incident.
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Don’t even stop - ever heard of a baseball bat. Gee, I sound paranoid.
Then there was the time we were shipping two steer in our old horsetrailer. Someone was honking and flashing his lights and my husband was getting so ticked off. Finally he stopped
and got out - it was down town and broad daylight - and found the two steer hanging out the back of the trailer with their front feet over the tailgate.
He got in the truck and started forward and then jammed on brakes - the steer soon sat down, but gosh - trailer was full of sh**. Guess who had to clean it out for using my trailer for the haul??? 
[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;4360055]
Don’t even stop - ever heard of a baseball bat. Gee, I sound paranoid.[/QUOTE]
That’s not paranoid; it’s prudent. Friend of mine stopped at a stoplight. Crazy road rage dude stopped behind friend, got out of his car, opened up friend’s car door, punched friend in the face, closed car door, and walked away.
It happens. If I had someone raging behind my trailer, I wouldn’t stop. I might pull over far enough for them to pass, but I’d keep moving so they couldn’t catch up to me on foot.
i think you were right in reporting him to the police.
I heard recently on NPR (must find the link) that the Seattle area (and maybe other places) are doing a far better job of nabbing people right after a mobile 911 call has been placed. They have planes with FLEER radar in them, and also infra-red, so the offenders (usually speeders) can be nailed shortly after the call has been made. The callers even get a call back from the cops, which I thought was good. Usually you call to report these things and never hear back.
If you don’t hear back in the next few days, I’d call the police and follow up, screw the tailgaiter, he needs to have consequences for driving like a dick.
PS, in my car, I am the stickler for speed limits. I hate when people tailgate. I too am the person who slows down, maybe to 20, but still. I will most likely end up shot some day, but I’ll have been right.
[QUOTE=lilblackhorse;4360193]
PS, in my car, I am the stickler for speed limits. I hate when people tailgate. I too am the person who slows down, maybe to 20, but still. I will most likely end up shot some day, but I’ll have been right.[/QUOTE]
As long as you’re not that person who insists on driving in the passing lane at the SAME rate as the driver on the right. That’s infuriating, especially on a long trip. (Not that I would ever shoot you.)
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no, because I hate tailgaters so much (and I do drive the speed limit, whether hauling a trailer or not), if I am in the right lane climbing a grade, I am more than happy to slow down even so they ALL can pass me. That way there are less cranky people behind me. (I live where mountain passes are the only way to get places).
We have a lot of mountain roads that are twisty and hilly and I must say that I am very good at looking for pull-over spots to let the line up behind me get past. But I won’t put my rig or other drivers at risk, so sometimes it is quite a way before the right lay over or passing lane comes along. But the idiots seem to be the ones nearer the cities, not
those up country.
[QUOTE=Sithly;4360096]
That’s not paranoid; it’s prudent. Friend of mine stopped at a stoplight. Crazy road rage dude stopped behind friend, got out of his car, opened up friend’s car door, punched friend in the face, closed car door, and walked away.
It happens. If I had someone raging behind my trailer, I wouldn’t stop. I might pull over far enough for them to pass, but I’d keep moving so they couldn’t catch up to me on foot.[/QUOTE]
This, and the fact that if your doors aren’t locked they stand a good chance of flying open in a wreck (as per my friend the trauma surgeon) is why I always drive with the doors locked.
Of course, I also work in cattle country, where it is perfectly normal for someone (me included) to drive around with rifles and other assorted guns in the truck.
I use the phone to call 911 all the time (being on the road at all times/days, I tend to run into lots of drunk/impaired drivers-I have a thing about reporting them as in 4th grade my sister’s bf was killed by one) probably once or twice a month, more in the holiday/bigInsert sport heregame seasons.
I’m rambling now so I’ll shut up lol, but yeah, don’t get out of the car eh. Just use the phone.
Not so impressed so sorry but:
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it is your word against him (or her). They could say it was road rage on both sides. I have seen horses trailers stupidly continue to break as if that is really going to convince a moron to stop. Most states unless there is a actual accident or other driver reporting it there is NOT MUCH they can do. Sure they can pull a call over and scare them but many people report things that are either not true or out of grudge for being passed or road rage!
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If it bothered you and worried you PULL over and let them pass. I assume you and your horses are not worth being injured over someone in a HURRY???
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WTH are you taking up a emergency line with a tail gate issue? Sorry but I have had to get through to report accidents and what not and the lines are busy and often with NON emergency issues like this.
DO I LIKE THEM (TAIL GATE CARS OR TRUCKS) HELL NO BUT I ALSO pull over and smile while grumbling to myself as dealing with jack asses like this is not time to be a martyr. I guess we all have our opinions but in the end I am not about to argue with a idiot wanting to be someplace when it comes to my animals.
[QUOTE=JumpingBug;4360266]
3) WTH are you taking up a emergency line with a tail gate issue? Sorry but I have had to get through to report accidents and what not and the lines are busy and often with NON emergency issues like this.[/QUOTE]
I see your point, but really aggressive tailgaters are legit 911 calls because they are intent on causing an accident. I had a guy damn near push me off a highway going 70, back when I first started driving and was intimidated into speeding up to please a tailgater - who then just kept upping the speed until I flew off into a parking lot.
Not meant to slam the beautiful Garden State - I’m a native. My proof? I have no clue whatsoever how to pump gas.:lol:
Well, pulling over may be a lovely suggestion unless your large truck is pulling an equally large four horse down mile after mile of country road with nowhere to pull over.
True…it’s not easy to find a place to pull over a 28 foot 4H LQ trailer weighing 15,000 lbs on a Virginia back road. Virginia does not “do” shoulders…generally all you have is a ditch. Truly I’ve never lived in a place with worse roads than Southeastern VA.
I will try hard to pull over if I’m going very slow but most times I’m right on the speed limit. If I’m hauling into the mountains, which I do occasionally, I have my flashers on and stay in the right lane. On a downhill, I will try and pull over in a wide spot if there is a safe place.
JumpingBug
if 911 thought that my call did not qualify as an emergency i’m sure they would’ve said something instead of taking the time to take down the info, to confirm that i am willing to swear a complaint against the other driver, etc.
as far as pulling over, i’m going the speed limit. the road shortly opened up to two lanes. if i pulled over every time someone thought that going the speed limit on these roads is unacceptable, i’d spend more time on the shoulder than driving. i’m not the one to go slow in the left lane on the highway or to intentionally block the traffic if i can’t go the speed limit. in fact as i mentioned before, if i’m on a narrow windy road where i’m clearly going slower than the speed limit and i see cars behind me i will seek out an area where i can pull over enough to let them pass. this was not the situation here. that was a mannerless bully endangering the well being of my horse.
Oddly enough, I’ve been rescued from tailgating situations (on major highways) by other drivers. I always assume they are other horse people looking out for the trailer. When hauling an expensive horse for a friend through the Baltimore tunnel, a dump truck squeezed between me and another truck who was tailgating me (not a situation I was enjoying with a 17hh horse in a trailer heading through a tunnel, where the noise would get louder). He squeezed between and then backed way off all through the tunnel. I waved at him on the other side when he passed at the toll. Nice guy.
I’ve also been tailgated while hauling through a nasty snow storm near Reading PA. I was taking two horses to a Pet Expo for demos–the storm door was up so people couldn’t tell whether I had horses on board or not. Cars were tailgating me, because I was afraid to go very fast, unsure of my traction while towing (the storm started after I got on the road, BTW). A pickup truck squeezed between us and then stayed just back far enough to discourage cars from cutting in. That was such a relief, since I was on an unfamiliar road nearing an unfamiliar city. I was thanking unknown horse people that day for sure!
So remember that for all the bad guys out there, sometimes there are people who will look out for a fellow horseman. I know I’ve deliberately followed horse trailers in hairy traffic situations to make sure there was an adequate following distance so the driver could relax a bit. And others have done it for me. I’m sure many of you reading this have done the same.
Just wanted to inject a positive note into this. Bad drivers are out there. Sometimes we make matters worse by our reactions. I figure it is survival time whenever another driver is engaging in dangerous behavior. Gotta protect my herd, both in the car and in the trailer.
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maty
you’re so right. there are good guys out there for sure.
hauling to foxcatcher few years ago we hit good friday traffic on 95. no one would let me merge where all those lanes come together until a big rig came along and let me in, then i let him, and we played leap frog like that until we were able to fully merge and get through the traffic. made it so much easier on me having him there to work with
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I agree that it’s a completely legitimate 911 call because those people are absolutely an accident waiting to happen.
No, don’t get out of the vehicle, and lock your doors.
I work in Washington, DC. Our roads are full of the worst of the worst road rage combined with unbearable traffic, fueling the road rage even more. I’ve had multiple terrifying experiences and really don’t want to see anyone get killed, especially not my horses.
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There is no excuse for tailgating someone. However, unless you are hauling something attached to your truck/van/car/SUV, please drive the speed limit. It’s not safer if you drive 5-10 mph under; all it does is create a hazard for those who do obey the speed limit.
For example, years ago I was driving myself and my brother home from seeing my grandmother in a Dayton hospital, and we were on, I believe, US 68 which has a speed limit of 55 and is a regular 2-lane country highway. We had a good pace going traveling behind a few cars when we come upon someone in a minivan going 45 mph. Eventually it was 10 or more cars behind this one person, and they would not speed up. I’m sure the people in front of me were tailgating the van, but I made sure to stay well behind in case we all had to slam on our brakes.
However, one teenager in a white coupe sedan gets so impatient that she ends up passing the minivan when it wasn’t even clear, and just about collided head on with someone in the other lane. Now, I am definitely not saying that this teenaged girl should have done that; it was wrong and stupid of her. But I also heavily fault the person in the minivan (when we ended up passing it was a guy and his wife, probably in their 40’s) for not obeying the speed limit. These people eventually got off while driving through a small town, and myself and four other cars laid on our horns as we passed to let them know what we thought of their inconsiderate driving.
If you don’t feel comfortable driving the speed limit on any road, then I don’t think you should be driving because you’re a hazard.
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[QUOTE=marta;4360557]
this was not the situation here. that was a mannerless bully endangering the well being of my horse.[/QUOTE]
And how did using your cell phone while driving make you a safer driver for your horse? Calling 911 on some random person that chances are they never pulled over did nothing to make your drive safer.
Sorry, I still say mind your own business and drive forward to your destination, nothing you can do about how someone behind you is driving that is going to make your trip safer other than drive safe and don’t do things to intentionally aggravate someone like driving excessively under the speed limit or tapping your breaks to “warn” a person- IMO that tapping the breaks thing is being very confrontational and just asking for trouble.
