Flashing brake lights if vehicle behind is too close?

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Wagon Sailor

Conversely, I was taught not to do this. The danger is that the driver behind will brake too hard and for those behind, unexpectedly. A chain reaction is set up and an accident becomes likely.

And that would be HIS problem... if he's fast approaching, and there's someone else behind them who is too fast and too close, then I would want them to have their own little pile up and leave me alone.

My favorite way of letting tailgaters know is the 6 inches if tarmac between the white line and the gravel on the outside lane of the motorway. Put your offside two wheels on that and the BMW or AUDI that is 5 feet behind you gets showered with stones and dust and 9 times out of 10 drops back.

If you have some selfish idiot tailgating you you are much more likely to become distracted yourself and either speed up sub consciously and/or have a significantly reduced level of concentration and observation for the road ahead.

I personally think rear facing photon laser guns should be an optional extra on most cars which automatically deploy if some selfish idiot gets closer than 1.5 car lengths for 10 seconds or more.

[Zebster]

Using the windscreen washers annoys drivers sitting too close behind. Works especially well with motorbikes.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Using the windscreen washers annoys drivers sitting too close behind. Works especially well with motorbikes.

I find these days it's very rare to be tailgated by a motorcycle (though it occasionally happens), they seem to be more self aware these days.

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

I find these days it's very rare to be tailgated by a motorcycle (though it occasionally happens), they seem to be more self aware these days.

Well I've been blasting them with screen wash for 40 years...

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Using the windscreen washers annoys drivers sitting too close behind. Works especially well with motorbikes.

Something i've seen and often thought about doing is adding an extra washer bottle and jet somewhere on the rear of the car so that it's directed backwards straight onto the windscreen of a vehicle that is too close.

Sounds pretty innocent so far, right? It's only water in there? Nah!

Add some food dye (red is good!) so that when you activate the tailgater-delete button, it squirts red liquid all over their screens. It washes off easily being just food dye but the red can give them a reality check of what their actions of following too closely could be.

As for dabbing the brakes to alert someone behind of your presence, perfectly legitimate in the right situation, however it does need to be the right situation.

If it's a bright sunny day and you are in a tunnel of foliage from a tree-lined road so in effect it's dark and there and Speedy Gonzales is hurtling towards your rear end at the speed of light, a quick dab on the brakes to show your car is there is fine. However there is a practice in the USA known as "brake checking" where the driver in front applies the brakes in an attempt to get the vehicle behind to slow down/stop. Often this appears to be done for no other reason than "because they can". The funny ones on YouTube are those where some idiot does this in front of an artic or as they're called stateside, a semi. Said car has pulled in front of said truck and applied the brakes, said car weighs somewhere between 1-2T and hence slows quickly.

The truck behind weighing 40+T can not stop in that distance and often destroys the car in question.

Normally this would be an open and shut insurance case, driver of the truck following too closely must be at fault so his insurance gets hammered, driver of the car gets a nice payout for their injuries and a replacement car.

It's all been recorded on dashcam though. Trucker gets his rig repaired/replaced on the car drivers insurance plus compensation for loss of earnings, personal injuries and so on and the car driver has to repalce their own car.

I still like that "Tailgater Delete" button/washer arrangement though!

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by Laird Scooby

Something i've seen and often thought about doing is adding an extra washer bottle and jet somewhere on the rear of the car so that it's directed backwards straight onto the windscreen of a vehicle that is too close.

Sounds pretty innocent so far, right? It's only water in there? Nah!

Add some food dye (red is good!) so that when you activate the tailgater-delete button, it squirts red liquid all over their screens. It washes off easily being just food dye but the red can give them a reality check of what their actions of following too closely could be:

While I can see you might think of this as a reasonable response, but if the person behind you had an accident, because the view out of their windscreen was obscured because of this, I would think the authorities would want a word.
Even without an accident, I think obscuring others windscreens while driving would be frowned on by the authorities.

[Laird Scooby]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

While I can see you might think of this as a reasonable response, but if the person behind you had an accident, because the view out of their windscreen was obscured because of this, I would think the authorities would want a word.
Even without an accident, I think obscuring others windscreens while driving would be frowned on by the authorities.

To be honest, that is what has stopped me implementing it.

However it could be argued that driving the way they are, they are destined to have an accident sooner or later and it rather it happened behind me than in front!

It also begs the question, if the authorities were doing their jobs and stopping people driving like numpties, would the thought ever have crossed my mind? Probably not.

[C30inFrance]

Originally Posted by Tannaton

I find these days it's very rare to be tailgated by a motorcycle (though it occasionally happens), they seem to be more self aware these days.

Indeed. I'd like to think that most bikers (and I am one) are only too aware of their vulnerability. Sadly, I'm probably being naive.

Conversely, I find there are car drivers that, in wet conditions, will follow me (on the bike) too closely. Motorcycles don't have, as a rule, the stopping power of a car, particularly in the wet. Approaching bends for instance, a bike will slow up further from the bend than the typical car will in the wet. A bike's only on 2 tyres, and those 2 tyres can only do so much in terms of grip on their lesser contact area. Grabbing a handful of brake upsets that equilibrium - 'Bambi on ice' might be an apt description!

I mention this not as a gripe (it's my choice to ride after all) but as a kind of public information broadcast for anyone who might not have realised. Nobody knows everything.

[john.wigley]

Very good point, 'C30inFrance'. I have long maintained that, ideally, all new drivers should serve an apprenticeship on two wheels before graduating to four. It inculcates an awareness of road and weather conditions which are not as visceral from inside the insulated cocoon of a modern motor car, and which remain with one for life.

Regards, John.

[Deck1ng]

In the meantime how about us sticking some red lights on the back of our motors🤷.