Break checking tailgaters. Kosher?

[Gordz32]

My buddys and I drive down ever summer from jersey to gulf shores alabama. In 24hrs of straight driving we see alot of idiots. This year we were in I think South Carolina and this girl would not get off my butt even when I changed lanes for her to go around. Now this was at about 5:30 am and I had been driving since 10pm. They all have big lifted trucks and I made sure this year we put the cb's in. SO I get on the line and tell them to get next to me across the highway. 3 lanes, 3 trucks doing about 15 mph in a 75 mph limit highway. We did this for about 5 miles. I then called them off and the lady passed us politely and never saw us again. It was a great laugh at the worst part of the drive.

[toxicz28]

Yep - in MD several years ago a woman was taligating another woman for quite a while. She finally got fed up and hit the brakes. The woman behind overeacts and slids off the road and wrecks. She ends up dying and the brake lady ends up convicted of manslaughter (not vehicular either since they called it pre-meditated).

I remember reading about this story. IIRC she was coming up on heavy traffic and slowed down to avoid getting into an accident. She still got screwed.

[MonzaRacer]

Well as for me I was riding with a buddy who has a rear bumper, very well made from 1/4 in steel plate, looks like a step bumper and it is welded directly to the frame (frame was cut off with torch) and we had a car pull up right behind us, and rode about 8 inches from the bumper with highbeams(misadjusted) and driving lights on,,, let me tell you some real glare thier. so we got a shine from another car andsaw the car was driver only, so my buddy keeps sayin g he is going to chock it up, on and on ,and about 10 minutes later ,still beingtailgated.
Now my buddy has a camera in his rear bumper(came from his wifes totaled SUV that a semi rolled over the frontend) so he has several actual videos of the cars grill and front bumper(he set it up with an old video camera so he couyld get pics of people front licence plates, the funny ones atleast) well we are going along on a straight stretch, and I told him I bet its a cop, and he says cops dont drive trashed cars,,,,well all of a sudden just as soonas I turned back around about 20 deer run out into the road and my buddy locks them up and tada the car goes into and up, under the rear bumper, video of the grill and hood getting trashed, the freon and coolant coming out of the condenser and rad,,,,,totally hillarious.
Well he got a check for $2290 and the cop got 90 day suspension , no pay! Which as we learned this ment to survive he had to use vacation and comp time nad sick time and such to keep the bills paid. Turns out him and his wife go to buddies church, and now shes po'ed as they couldnt go onvacation this summer (ie no vacation time or money.
But wasso funny seeing him try to weasel out of the wreck and say my buddy had no brake lights, but you can plainly see my buddys super bright LED tail lights light up the whole front of the car everytime he taps the brakes.

[GetMore]

Brake checks are illegal. In the original instance, where the brake lights are turned on, but you don't slow down, it is my opinion that this is something else, and not hazardous.
A brake check is where you suddenly slow down in order to scare the other person.
A brake light check might annoy the driver behind you, but doesn't create a hazard. After all, there are many legitimate reasons for stepping on your brakes. You might be releasing cruise control, slowing down for traffic ahead, letting someone change lanes ahead of you, etc.

If you do a brake check you should have a reason, like a driver ahead of you swerved into your lane, or an animal ran into the road.
Further, you should never tell the cops the guy got what he deserved, or in any way say you did it on purpose.
If there is any kind of accident you should make sure the cops understand that you did what you could to avoid it. If you can, when someone tailgates you you should increase the distance between you and the driver ahead of you, to allow yourself additional reaction time, so the guy behind you has some time to react as well. (This is probably how the woman given as an example above got in trouble-she probably didn't allow any extra room and made it sound like she didn't care about the car behind her, or that she was happy that the idiot behind got into an accident.)

Calling 911 or the state police is always an option as well. Just remember when you are misbehaving that somebody could do the same to you.

[69Nova]

when someone tailgates you you should increase the distance between you and the driver ahead of you, to allow yourself additional reaction time, so the guy behind you has some time to react as well.

In a perfect world yes. But in the real world when you speed up to increase distance they also speed up, because they feel like you are speeding up because they rode your ass.

[Texas Hotrod]

I've seen it all myself, and I can't stand how the "average" person drives. Gives true reality to "stupid American driving".
I personally, watch my mirrors as much as what's in front of me. I can easily spot someone coming up and passing other traffic, and knowing that that person will eventually need to pass by me. So, I'll gladly get in the slow lane so he/she can pass on the left. I'm usually the one that's passing others, so I'll slow down, merge over, and then continue booking it once he's gone.

I had a C6 Vette coming up on my rear last weekend and I couldn't get over safely, but there was room about a 1/4 mile in front. I sped up (so he wouldn't have to slow down as much), flashed my right blinker and when I could get into an open space, I moved over. He passed, I got in behind the Vette, he flashed his hazards, I flashed my highs, and we happily went on.
The moral to the story: If there's someone on your tail, then you're going too slow. Move over and let them by. Plain and simple, the left lane is for faster traffic.

Tapping the pedal to light the lamps doesn't sound dangerous. It's just precautionary for the tailgater. Brake-checking is a different issue.

God forbid if any of you guys pulled this stupid crap in front of me (on an open highway). I won't tailgate, but you'll surely know that you need to get out of the way.

[dropit69]

if someone does that to me ..it always seems that is when a "dog" runs out into the road..lol...

[go-fish]

[quote=Texas Hotrod]The moral to the story: If there's someone on your tail, then you're going too slow. Move over and let them by. [quote]

Driving on the interstate I completely agree, 100%.
The instance I was speaking of in the initial post was on basically a 2 lane city street and I was going a liitle faster than the flow of traffic which was at least 10 mph over the 45 mph limit.
I saw thes two jokers "playing", cutting each other off, pretty much playing Too Fast Too Furious and I was impeeding their "fun".
On the interstate I do exactly what you would describe as "speeder friendly driving".

[69Pony]

I remember reading about this story. IIRC she was coming up on heavy traffic and slowed down to avoid getting into an accident. She still got screwed.

Yep - Rt795 south onto the beltway. She "braked" on the off ramp and that was all she wrote. It was rush hour and the beltway was stacked. really stupid all the way around.

[GetMore]

In a perfect world yes. But in the real world when you speed up to increase distance they also speed up, because they feel like you are speeding up because they rode your ass.

You should increase the distance between you and the car in front of you.

Though you did remind me of a friend's saying: "Sorry it took me so long to get here, the people behind me were going really slow."

[Aceshigh]

Well i just took an aggressive driving class over the weekend on sunday. Anyway I found out that brake checking is actually illegal and they will write a ticket for you. Also if it causes an accident your at fault. So I won't be brake checking people anymore.

First of all, they have to PROVE you brake checked.
So unless someone is dumb enough to not give a cop a valid answer
as to why they braked then they deserve what they get.

Common sense says that if you brake hard for a good reason and
someone rides up yer arse, it's THEIR fault for being too close.

I've seen it all myself, and I can't stand how the "average" person drives. Gives true reality to "stupid American driving".
I personally, watch my mirrors as much as what's in front of me. I can easily spot someone coming up and passing other traffic, and knowing that that person will eventually need to pass by me. So, I'll gladly get in the slow lane so he/she can pass on the left. I'm usually the one that's passing others, so I'll slow down, merge over, and then continue booking it once he's gone.

Same here. If someone is riding my arse, I'll move over to let them by. It's common courtesy.....unless it's a
1 lane road each direction. I'm not the type that feels I OWN a lane and have to flex my steering wheel tough guy
attitude by not moving.

[Scott Parkhurst]

I'm not the type to 'brake check' someone. That's dangerous.

However...

If someone is riding my bumper, I might have to get alongside a slower moving vehicle, and go even slower while the tailgater is blocked in.

If they back off, I'll let them by. But, they usually get really frustrated and angry...

...which I find incredibly entertaining.

~SP~

[BADVELLE]

I just slow down, frustrate them even more, then very slowly move to the right, did I mention very slowly!

[parsonsj]

If someone is riding my bumper, I might have to get alongside a slower moving vehicle, and go even slower while the tailgater is blocked in.

If they back off, I'll let them by. But, they usually get really frustrated and angry...

...which I find incredibly entertaining.

Once when someone was getting their jollies in such a fashion at my expense, I reached over and put on my DEA hat. I was the entertained one when they immediately sped up and moved over for me.

jp

[Scott Parkhurst]

Once when someone was getting their jollies in such a fashion at my expense, I reached over and put on my DEA hat. I was the entertained one when they immediately sped up and moved over for me.

jp

LOL ~!

I hear ya...but I typically roll at 5-10mph over the posted limit. If someone needs to go faster than that, it's their responsibility to find a safe way to pass. If the road is wide open, I'll gladly move over. But, if I'm in the L/H lane passing cars in the R/H lane, and someone gets right up on my bumper...it might be time for the whole class to slow down a bit...

~SP~

[parsonsj]

If someone needs to go faster than that, it's their responsibility to find a safe way to pass. If the road is wide open, I'll gladly move over. But, if I'm in the L/H lane passing cars in the R/H lane, and someone gets right up on my bumper...it might be time for the whole class to slow down a bit...

Sorry Scott, but I disagree. It is your responsibility as the slower driver to help the person driving faster than you get by. The accepted way is to move right, though I suppose there might be exceptions. As the signs say "Slower Traffic Move Right". It defuses frustration among all the drivers and lets the traffic sort itself out easier, which makes the highways safer.

As for me: I want a speeding driver ahead of me as quickly as possible: that means they get the ticket. It's a win-win.

jp

[LateNight72]

My rear foglights on my DD are extremely bright, almost as bright as my headlights, just red in color. If I have a tailgater, I will usually use my fogs and flash them a couple times. They know it's not brake lights as they are low on my rear bumper, and the 3rd brake light doesn't light up.

Eventually they will get the picture and back-off, I will move over, or they go around.

I can NOT brake check in my car, my 3rd brake light is a 3ft row of LEDs that are EXTREMELY bright, they are also on the top of the rear window, so they are pretty much ideal for being visible, but because they're so bright, I've had people overreact when I tapped the brakes for cruise or something. To the point of them nearly locking it up, and sliding of the highway.

-Todd

[gchandler]

I have seen 100's of accidents in my 300,000 miles of L.A. driving, many of them could have been avoided by a little common sense and defensive driving.

Being a speed enforcer can get you seriously hurt or killed. Just because you think that you are going "fast enough" does not mean that the person behind you agrees.

I remember a few years back watching a college girl die out on I-5 through Central California as the car she was riding in tried to get around a couple of cars who thought that a "rolling roadblock" would be a hoot. Maybe the "roadblock" was not in the wrong, but they will get to carry the image of a dying girl out in the median of I-5 for the rest of their lives.

Think about your own safety and move over, nobody "wins" in a collision.

[Texas Hotrod]

Looks like this thread has gone from "Brake checking???" to idiotic driving. It is an issue that needs to be addressed more often anyway.

When we vacationed in Germany a few years ago, we rented a car and traveled around a bit. I consider myself a good sensable driver, so I was all for it.
All I can say is that the Europeans know how to drive (and with respect). I loved it, I was in my element. There is nothing else like traveling down the Autobahn, and yes, there is no speed limit in most areas. Stay to the right, pass on the left. There were the usual Porsches here and there, but mainly Bimmers and Mercedes. 90% of the cars are diesels w/stick shifts. The rental was a respectable VW TDI.
The average American driver would have gotten his a$$ run over.
My dream vacation would be shipping the pro-tourer to Europe and travel the Autobahn on the way to the Nurburgring.

I was booking it to my parents house (a 7 mile trip) when my dad had his stroke. I had my flashers going and my high beams on, and people were still oblivious to what was behind them. The American auto manufacturers could cut costs and stop providing rear view mirrors. Everybody is so busy yacking on their cell phones that mirrors have become useless.

[go-fish]

Everybody is so busy yacking on their cell phones that mirrors have become useless.

It is a sad reality, talking without a handsfree device should be a ticketable offense nationwide. I have to admit I do it but often I will put it on speaker. I would gladly comply because there are more people that "get lost" in their conversation and ignor the road to make it a worthwhile law.
What is really bad is the texters and the sunvisor beauticians.