Submitted by Teresa (not verified) on May 22, 2007 - 7:43am.
Ugh! I tend to drive around 5mph over the speed limit, since I feel that's a happy medium between getting a ticket and having the guy behind me up my @ss. After years of driving a mid-sized SUV, I switched last year to a small, zippy, gas-sipping convertable and it's scary as everything to look up in your rear-view mirror and see nothing but the grill and hood ornament of the jerk behind you. Nowadays, who knows whether the person behind you has a gun, insurance, or what they'd do if they hit you. Even if you're hit and they're insured, there's still the hassle of getting your car fixed while figuring out how to get to work. If someone is really badly tailgating, I tend to try to casually turn into a parking lot or some street that I can easily get back out onto the road without really being noticed too much. At night I've started just driving the SUV, even though it gets 1/2 the gas mileage, I just feel safer with 5-6' between me and the guy behind me, instead of my convertable's teeny-weeny trunk! People just need to calm down and have a little respect for ohters. If that person in front of you is going 10mph under the speed limit at night, they're probably drunk and you need to give them plenty of extra space so you're not involved in whatever wreck they cause. The person going the speed limit is probably trying to find something, and the way signage is around here, good luck! :) I'd rather be 5 mins late and at my destination in one piece than not get there at all.
Tailgating!
Ugh! I tend to drive around 5mph over the speed limit, since I feel that's a happy medium between getting a ticket and having the guy behind me up my @ss. After years of driving a mid-sized SUV, I switched last year to a small, zippy, gas-sipping convertable and it's scary as everything to look up in your rear-view mirror and see nothing but the grill and hood ornament of the jerk behind you. Nowadays, who knows whether the person behind you has a gun, insurance, or what they'd do if they hit you. Even if you're hit and they're insured, there's still the hassle of getting your car fixed while figuring out how to get to work. If someone is really badly tailgating, I tend to try to casually turn into a parking lot or some street that I can easily get back out onto the road without really being noticed too much. At night I've started just driving the SUV, even though it gets 1/2 the gas mileage, I just feel safer with 5-6' between me and the guy behind me, instead of my convertable's teeny-weeny trunk! People just need to calm down and have a little respect for ohters. If that person in front of you is going 10mph under the speed limit at night, they're probably drunk and you need to give them plenty of extra space so you're not involved in whatever wreck they cause. The person going the speed limit is probably trying to find something, and the way signage is around here, good luck! :) I'd rather be 5 mins late and at my destination in one piece than not get there at all.