i was just goin to the shop this afternoon to buy a paper and some idiot in an audi gets right up me backside so i made sure i was doin exactly 30 to annoy him, and the idiot was even on his mobile phone.
people can be right idiots some times.

Thats when I like to slow down. General rule of thumb for me is 50% of speed limit. Once they back off I speed back up. Works everytime.

I did it to a van tailgating me outside a school, stayed on 25th, sat in 2nd gear, see's the national, see his indicator and i think no thank you mate and floored it, he was not happy

I was tailgted by a 40 ton truck on the M3 on Wed afternoon in slow moving heavy traffic in the fog, I just left enoiugh room for both of us to stop in and refused to be intimidated. I'm pleased he did not ram my Fiat because then I would have had to kill him. I agree with slowing down when you are tailgated, you have a right to protect youself and any passengers from the actions of others, sometimes they work it out, and sometimes like the no manners moron on the M3, they dont

Dont get too many traffic jams etc where I live but I often travel down manchester/birmingham way (rush hour time) and cant believe everyone doing 70-80mph on the M6 yet only a few feet apart...is it always this way?

afraid so mate, if you try to leave the correct gap you will always get some mofo pull into it

Here's something to think about - let's say you're being tailgated and approaching a set of lights. The light goes yellow, and you know for sure if you go through it you'll be snapped by the red light camera (assuming you know there's one sitting there). On the other hand if you don't go through with it, you know for sure the ****wit behind will not stop in time will ram your backside (which is obviously their fault).

So, question is, would you go through the red light (and get fined/lost points for it while the ****wit will probably get away with it by stopping in time), or do you stop and get rammed (which'll mean the hassle of settling claims/getting it fixed etc etc..)?

I'd prefer to be rammed!
seriously. I wouldn't find myself in that position. Allways find myself slowing down a bit coming up to lights even when they are green. And if i was being tailgated I'd already be going pretty slow.

This is an excellent point, you must do what you can to remain safe and the only way to achieve this in this very common situation is by slowing down gradually as you approach the lights. Thinking about this in advance, or after you have been exposed to danger is the right thing to do. Clearly if the moron then gets out of their car white van or w/e and threatens you then you can just drive off, passng the stop light at red would be perfectly justified, of course you would be responsible for doing so safely. I know some FF members would consider this an excellent chance to remove some noise from the gene pool, however I try to avoid situations where I may meet a fired up coke head with an illegal firearm

That's right, I always take it easy when I approach a green that's been a long green (aka old green). And that's why I always have a screwdriver in the car in case things get ugly

luvduvs said:

And that's why I always have a screwdriver in the car in case things get ugly

Click to expand...

Snap!
Drivers door card. Just incase!

Renegade_8 said:

I may meet a fired up coke head with an illegal firearm

Click to expand...

Visit Selby, it's full of them , why do you think i keep my wheelbrace with the socket fitted to it under my seat, never know when you need to deal with bagheads

T14086 said:

Dont get too many traffic jams etc where I live but I often travel down manchester/birmingham way (rush hour time) and cant believe everyone doing 70-80mph on the M6 yet only a few feet apart...is it always this way?

Click to expand...

I leave a decent gap all the time now after the car infront of me hit the car infront of that when the outside lane came to halt one evening on my way home. I only stopped and gave room to the car behind me to stop because I had left a big enough gap. Meant I braked at 70% and the guy tailing me had enough reaction time.

Also always leave a larger gap for bikes after seeing one stop and a traffic car hitting them on road wars.

T14086 said:

Dont get too many traffic jams etc where I live but I often travel down manchester/birmingham way (rush hour time) and cant believe everyone doing 70-80mph on the M6 yet only a few feet apart...is it always this way?

Click to expand...

Yep, always.

We live in Reigate area - jct8 of the M25

The joy!

And if the motorway goes down, we get 3hr jams on our roads

Best way to deal with tailgaters is to do just under the limit, come to a complete stop at every single give way sign and give way to on coming traffic even when you have right of way. They soon get bored and wizz past you

As for carrying weapons, if you can prove you have it for a valid reason then its ok (ie. screwdriver or wheelbrace). My dad got pulled by a copper once in his works truck. When they searched it they found a very sharp and potentially leathal flick knife, he just told them it was for cutting the string on the bundles of steel he was carrying and they couldn't do anything about it. I personally have a driver (golf club) in the boot, and carry my club card, what can they say?

smokeyjoe03 said:

I personally have a driver (golf club) in the boot, and carry my club card, what can they say?

Click to expand...

A lot.

I have a swiss army knife with my keys, never had a problem thus far...

Doesn't lock, try using a swiss army knife against somebody and you will probably end up hurting yourself more than them. Unless the person is doing something very dodgy, your average swiss army knife would be ignored. I can't carry my leatherman in the car anymore though unfortunately since I saw on TV somebody being arrested for it, previously I carried it as part of the tool kit.

It's not worth the risk, especially since if I am in a position to use/have a knife used against me, I will have made far too many mistakes already.

A friend of a friend used to carry a baseball bat he referred to as "Justin" - when asked why, it was "Just-in-case" lol.

i keep a spade in my car next to my seat (actually it's an entrenching tool which can be used as a pick axe and has a serrated edge on one side etc), always used to keep it in the boot, and it's been usefull on several occasions, such as making sandcastles on beach, clearing snow off of drive and also i was told to keep one by my friends dad incase i get stuck in the mud when seeing my friend (lives on farm at end of muddy road.) but my friends were forced to stop a while back by some blokes who then got out to beat them up for no reason, they even had a dog with them. they were only saved by some bloke who crashed into my friends car who saw what was going on and punched the driver of the other car through the window (the window was closed too!!!)

another thing to bear in mind at moment too though is the fog. people will may keep closer to the car in front due to the lower visibility its not all pricks. although when the weather is good and they don't make a space after 2 mins and are constantly right up behind me i slow down as slow down, gently braking too so they see its me slowing down and stay at the lower speed till they make space or w/e then i'll speed up again gently.