called 911 on a tailgater today

[farmgirl88]

We have a large 4 horse slant with dressing room attached to a chevy dually. We’ve driven that sucker all over the place, and all over the east coast. We would much rather drive with the big rigs anyday, also. they know what they are doing, and they have always looked out for us and our trailer, especially in the cities.

If anyone has ever driven through New York City with a horse trailer…a big horse trailer…you know what im talking about. If you take the direct route over the G. Washington Bridge, every road is completely filled with pot holes and you are so dark close to the fricken wall and other vehicles you just want to close your eyes and hope for the best. The cityidiots are swerving around the horse trailer, riding our ass, rushing up along side it and cutting in front of us only to jack on their brakes. they’re lunatics!!!

We dont drive slow either on the highway. We are usually doing 65-70mph to keep up with traffic and not create an issue behind us; but you cant do that in the city with any kind of large vehicle/trailer, especially NY! The pot holes and bumps are so large I’m always afraid the horses are going to loose their footing in the trailer…

The truckers are always the ones who cut the citiodts off and push them over for us when they wont move out of the way. they’re no joke and they always crack us up when they do so. I think its funny that people in rinky-dink cars actually think theyre better than everyone else by blowing by them, riding their butts and cutting them off, when they could be flatted by a pancake in any second.

[kookicat]

@Renae;4362026

If you had a driver’s ed instructor tell you that was an appropriate thing to do they were wrong. For one thing it worsens your vehicle’s fuel economy (taking your foot off the accelerator even just to touch the brakes enough to make the light come on means you have to use the accelerator again and regain the speed you were formerly traveling at, if you actually used the brakes at all you are wasting even more fuel), and secondly it is setting you up to be at fault in an accident. What if the person behind you swerves as they thought you were legitimatly stopping and they leave the road and hit a tree and die? That “what if” is just as plausible as your what if they rear end me because they were following too close.

I’m really not sure why fuel economy is a higher priority than safety for you. :rolleyes:

If the person behind me is that close that they have to swerve if I need to stop, then its their own damn fault. No-one makes them tailgate. What if there was an an accident in front of my car? They still wouldn’t stop in time.

And over here, the driver who rear ends you is at fault- for following too close.

I’ve been hit once and do not want to be hit again. I was stopped at a red light, idiot came racing up behind, too fast to stop, and went straight into the back of my truck. I called the police on him too- turns out he was drunk and driving without a licence.

[grayarabpony]

Ugh, I hate tailgaters at all times, but especially when pulling a trailer. If I’m in the slow lane (which is almost always, since I usually haul at 65mph on a highway with a speed limit of 70) and someone tailgates, I get into the fast lane and let them pass, since unfortunately they don’t seem have enough neurons to switch lanes of their own initiative.

[seabreeze]

I suggest putting the local sherrif’s office’s phone number or the nearest state police barrack’s phone number in your “Contacts” to use for situations like this.

911 really should be used only for emergencies.

If someone already mentioned this, I apologize. I only read through the first three pages of the thread before posting.

[JumpWithPanache]

The one time I called on a tailgater was for a guy who rode up on my bumber on a narrow, windy, but short road. He sat there despite the windshield wiper and brake taps, then ZOOMED around me right before another blind curve. Then he slammed on his brakes to force me to slam on mine. Next he turned off a side street so he could come back up behind me and tailgate again. I turned off into a neighborhood thinking surely this guy wouldn’t do anything in front of a bunch of houses. I had my brother calling 911 at that point. But this guy still had the nerve to whip his car in front of mine back up to almost hit me, then get out of his car and start yelling at me through my window. That’s when I saw the handgun in his belt, which was relayed to the dispatcher on the phone. Thank God the guy got back in his car and left. The cop called me on his way to the scene, and when I told him the tailgater was gone he said they would be tracking him down. I was scared to death for my safety and the safety of my two younger brother and will never EVER stop again. Even if it means passing my destination, I’ll keep driving until the tailgater is gone.

I still use the brake light flash to warn people that they’ve gotten too close, in case they didn’t realize. If they stay there, then I’ll windshield wash. If that’s not enough I just keep an eye on them and wait for them to get tired of sitting behind me. I will NOT allow them to get in front of me though if I can possibly help it, and sometimes that means closing the gap with the car in front of me to smaller than I like it. When I get tailgated while towing I just pray that I don’t have to stop hard. Odds are though, that they will be able to stop quicker than me if they’re paying attention. And since most of my driving is through stoplights people know they don’t want to get stuck behind something so big.

[Auventera_Two]

@seabreeze;4362743

I suggest putting the local sherrif’s office’s phone number or the nearest state police barrack’s phone number in your “Contacts” to use for situations like this.

911 really should be used only for emergencies.

If someone already mentioned this, I apologize. I only read through the first three pages of the thread before posting.

Yep!

I called the police once on a guy who slowed down to about 30 on a county highway, pulled over into the left lane, and tossed a bag of garbage out the window into a cow pasture. The bag hit the barbed wire fence, ripped open, and trash spilled out of the bag.

I got his plate number, and description of the vehicle and called the police when I got home. First the officer went to the location of the garbage, and verified it was indeed there. He called me from “the scene” and said he found some mail with a name and address, and it matched the name and address assigned to the plate number I gave him. The officer called later and said he found the man at his home, and wrote him a citation for $500! :eek: :lol: That was one of the happiest, most satisfying moments of my life. snort Living on a county road myself with a horse pasture that abuts the road, I get tired of the beer bottles and garbage tossed into my field.

That guy thought he could just dump his trash in the cow pasture and no one would find out or care. Well, he had the wrong person behind him that day…

I have a friend who was on his way home from work, and as he was about to turn into his driveway, the car in front of him threw out a beer bottle into his ditch. He turned off the blinker and followed the car. The car turned into his own home a few blocks later. My friend got out of his car, and walked up to the gentlemen, introduced himself, shook his hand and very kindly said “Well, sir I noticed that you accidentally dropped your beer bottle out your window, but lucky for you, it landed in MY yard and I saw where it fell! I’ll go home and get it for you and bring it back in a few minutes!” He got in the car, went home, retrieved the bottle, took it back, rang the door bell, obviously the man did not answer. So he left it sitting on his front porch.

Personally I think that’s a great way to get SHOT, but apparently he was so enraged by it, he wasn’t thinking straight. But still I think it’s hilarious. :lol:

[lewin]

[QUOTE=seabreeze;4362743]
I suggest putting the local sherrif’s office’s phone number or the nearest state police barrack’s phone number in your “Contacts” to use for situations like this.

911 really should be used only for emergencies.

If someone already mentioned this, I apologize. I only read through the first three pages of the thread before posting.[/QUOTE]

In California the Highway Patrol asks that you call 911. Our system is set up that if you are calling from a cell-phone you go to the CHP. Local police would not be all that useful for tailgaters on the highway. The amber alert boards always have something up about calling 911 on unsafe or drunk drivers around holidays.

[marta]

certain towns in nj

do no have their own police departments, rather they are patrolled by the state police. the area i was in apparently fell under that jurisdiction b/c that’s who i was transferred to. there is no ‘state police barracks’ phone number that you can reach the police at on the weekend. 911 is what you dial.

and even if you’re calling the local pd, they have an emergency number. that’s how you get a dispatcher unless you’re calling mid week to speak to the traffic safety department and then you can call a non-emergency number and get transferred to some desk sergeant.

[Buffyblue]

http://www.state.nj.us/njsp/info/wireless_911.html

This is the number to call in NJ for aggressive and other dangerous driving.

[Trixie]

And if you have been rear ended more than once I have a tough time believing you are a perfect driver who has never done anything that in anyway contributed to those accidents

Okay. I’ll bite.

First time, off ramp of I-95 onto a four lane highway. Oncoming traffic, no shoulder or merge area. Stop sign at the end of the ramp. I stopped, as there was a stop sign and oncoming traffic. The guy behind me did not.

Second time, waiting to make a legal left turn at a traffic light, waiting for oncoming traffic to pass. Guy behind me apparently failed to see me stopped there with my signal on, slammed into me, and DROVE OFF. I guess I contributed by following the law in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Another time, I was following the horse trailer home from a show and we were coming off a traffic light into a 55 mph zone. Each car in the line had gotten to about 45 mph and then the guy in a van at the head of the line absolutely slammed to a stop for no apparent obvious reason. Horse trailer stopped. I stopped. Guy behind me did not stop, and hit my car. The guy in the van was at fault, or maybe the guy that hit me was actually at fault for not paying attention. Me? I was in the middle, wrong place, wrong time.

I’m not a perfect driver, but those were everyday occurances. Granted, this is a metropolitan area and people are insane.

I’ve also seen people drive drunk, trying to merge in between two cars on a two lane road. Assuming if they go 30 mph faster than everyone else and tailgate that folks will get out of their way. Hell, I once practically got assaulted for stopping at a stop sign for too long (I gasp waited to let someone that got there before me through). He tailgated me for 6 blocks and at the next traffic light, got out of his car to scream. I filed a police report.

If you think these things don’t happen, you’re severely naive.

[Love_My_TB_Consent]

I live in NJ too, and I have had tailgators plenty of times. When I first got my license I did the whole speed up when they could pass me, and go rediculously slow when they couldn’t. Really stupid and immature! Now I check to make sure I didnt slow down below the speed limit, and either let them pass, or just proceed on, and hope they get off my butt or pass me.

But on the calling 911, I could’ve totally agreed it was a good idea to call 911 while they were tailgating you, it could be viewed as an emergency. BUT once they passed you, it was no longer an emergency, so you should’ve used the #77 that NJ has to report aggressive driving. And fwiw calling 911 or #77 or a police station is the only reason you are allowed to be on your cell phone while driving in NJ so no ticket worries.

[Drive_NJ]

In NJ the State Police DO tell you to slow down but…

I served on the safety committee at work for many years. The company moved to a new campus which involved off-highway driving - at least a portion on the types of roads Marta is talking about… 2 lane, no shoulder, ditch on either side, curves and typically double lined.

Many of our employees were concerned about winter driving so we had the State Police come in for a seminar.

Tailgating was one of the topics brought up. The Trooper wanted to make clear to everyone it was illegal and you would be stopped on the roads the patrolled (whether that was true or not is questionable). He went on to say that if you were tailgated, the best thing was to slow down a bit so that if the tailgater did hit you it would be at a slower speed. Also mentioned the flashers thing.

He did not mean slow down to 10 mph though. This was probably 10 years ago though and things have changed dramatically in that time.

Problem is people taking all this so personally. Mr or Ms Tailgaiter seem to feel personally insulted to have someone have the nerve to be in front of them when they need to get from point a to point b. It really wouldn’t matter what speed you do, if you are in front of them you are in.the.way. and need to pull over and let them by.

I think those driving a truck/trailer or delivery truck etc are highly at risk from a lot of people with this mindset as they are even more frantic that this large, likely to be slow, I can’t see around it and won’t know when to pass vehicle is now moving in front of me

Again, nothing other than your complete removal from the road will solve their problem.

Personally, I’d be going with the flashers and slight slow-down to draw attention to the fact I am there, then I’d be looking for somewhere to pull over - and Renae… I think you’d find that pretty hard to do on 519, much of 523, 625, 579 and a whole bunch of other little two lane country roads in NJ. I wouldn’t be speeding up to make that driver happy, but going my speed and if he was getting closer i.e. more aggressive as Marta said, I’d be calling for help to.

Sad people are so stressed that they take it out on everyone around them once they are behind the wheel.

I have to disagree with the ‘I’d rather drive with the big trucks’ at least around here. Many are good drivers, but we also have a lot of trucking tailgaiters too. I always love the ‘you should move out of the way of a big truck because it is sooooo hard for them to stop’ I agree and I wouldn’t be driving in the passing lanes in front of a truck if I could get out of their way, but that truck driver is sitting way up there and has a pretty decent view ahead. I figure he should be able the driver ahead of him is boxed in with nowhere to go either, so why the heck isn’t he at least taking his foot off the gas as he runs me down? Seen that too many times while on the highway to totally trust the skill of truckers.

Last thought… it wasn’t that long ago you used to be able to ride or drive along the side of the road from one trail system to another, or in some small towns for a ride. Not anymore. The speed limits haven’t changed, the roads are the same, many of these people (in a horse area) moved here so they too could go for a ride, but yet now people in cars seem to see everything on the road as an obstacle to get around as fast as possible. I wish I knew how to turn down the emotional volume for folks and to get back to a little bit better living with each other life skills.

[marta]

Drive NJ

so true.
you know what i find particularly ironic in the valley? that road cyclists who flock to this area to ride their bicycles, fly through our roads in their cars. out of all the folks out there, they should know what it’s like to be passed by a speeding vehicle on a two lane country road with a ditch on each side, and yet…

i do speed on the highways but i’m forever mindful when driving on local roads that this is someone’s neighborhood, there are kids, wildlife and pets. i wouldn’t want someone speeding past my house, why is it okay to do it somewhere else?

[Renae]

[QUOTE=JumpWithPanache;4362786]
I will NOT allow them to get in front of me though if I can possibly help it, and sometimes that means closing the gap with the car in front of me to smaller than I like it. [/QUOTE]

Wow, so to “combat” tailgaters you intentionally try to anger the person behind you even more by tailgating the person in front of you so that the person behind you can not “win”? Back off a second and breathe- that is road rage at its finest.

[dghunter]

[QUOTE=Renae;4364204]
Wow, so to “combat” tailgaters you intentionally try to anger the person behind you even more by tailgating the person in front of you so that the person behind you can not “win”? Back off a second and breathe- that is road rage at its finest.[/QUOTE]

I take it you never had anyone tailgating you who then passed you and slammed on their brakes RIGHT in front of you? Yeah I had that happen to me once so now I try to avoid letting them in if possible.

[Renae]

[QUOTE=dghunter;4364233]
I take it you never had anyone tailgating you who then passed you and slammed on their brakes RIGHT in front of you? Yeah I had that happen to me once so now I try to avoid letting them in if possible.[/QUOTE]

No, I have never had it happen, but I also do not intentionally drive slower, drive in the center of the road to block passing, tail gate the car in front of me to not leave to passing room, hit my brakes or in any other way try to harass the person driving behind me just because I think they are tailgating me or for whatever other reason i do not think they should pass me. I have been behind drivers who have either done that to me or to a car ahead of me (and thus affecting the whole line of cars piling up behind them) and really, get over yourself.

[gammillgirl]

okay, now I have had a tailgater that did then fly around me and start slamming on the brakes, screaming and gesturing. I had no options on a 2 lane road, I slowed down, so did he… I did call 911. The dispatcher immediately told me I did the right thing by calling 911, the VSP were contacted and between the dispatcher, me and the trooper we were able to find a junction, there were 2 police, 1 jumped on the road rageous driver and another followed me to a pull off, where I gave my statement, the driver was later arrested…

so for all those saying don’t call 911…you just never know do ya?

[Ridge_Runner]

@farmgirl88;4362662

If anyone has ever driven through New York City with a horse trailer…a big horse trailer…you know what im talking about. If you take the direct route over the G. Washington Bridge, every road is completely filled with pot holes and you are so dark close to the fricken wall and other vehicles you just want to close your eyes and hope for the best. The cityidiots are swerving around the horse trailer, riding our ass, rushing up along side it and cutting in front of us only to jack on their brakes. they’re lunatics!!!

Yes, I have towed a large loaded horse trailer to JFK airport back in April for 3 horses being exported to EU and it was an interesting drive. I sat in traffic for 3 hours just to get across the damn bridge. After that it wasn’t too bad. I didn’t think the NYC drivers were much worse than any other city but my experience there was only a few hours…thank Heavens!

[cyriz_s_mom]

another vote for calling it in

where we live, there has been construction on the interstate recently. For some reason, even though the construction is just a bridge repair, they felt it necessary to narrow the interstate down to one lane for four miles. In the four months the work was going on, at least seven people died in wrecks (that I can remember off the top of my head, there may have been more) where the road narrowed. Distracted drivers (usually truckers) and otherwise occupied drivers (cell phone, etc) in every case.

It has made me a bit paranoid about what the other guy is doing now.

In almost all the wrecks, there will be no court case as the instigator died along with innocent people in other cars.

[JumpWithPanache]

[QUOTE=Renae;4364204]
Wow, so to “combat” tailgaters you intentionally try to anger the person behind you even more by tailgating the person in front of you so that the person behind you can not “win”? Back off a second and breathe- that is road rage at its finest.[/QUOTE]

The people who tailgate for several minutes, despite plenty of room to pass are the ones who have, in my experience, gotten in front of me and slammed on their brakes. After several narrow misses, and the story recounted in my initial post I won’t let it happen again. So no, I’m not going to allow space for them to cause an accident. In Virginia, the car that does the rear-ending is the driver at fault, regardless of why the accident happened. On an interstate around here, people don’t pull over with those kinds of accidents to give eyewitness accounts to the police because it’s such a common occurrence. It’s not about winning and losing, it’s about keeping myself out of an accident.